The NFL comes to Wembley

St Louis "host" Patriots in sixth International series game for London

When Bill Belichick's team arrived in the UK earlier this week, star quarterback Tom Brady drove home a message concerning the attitude of his team regarding playing football in London. 

He expressed the fact that 'this is not a sightseeing tour, we are here to play football'. It is hard to doubt the focus of Brady, who knows what it takes to win here - the 35-7 defeat of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers  back in 2009 was an undeniably convincing performance from his team, and arguably worked to generate a wider fan base in London. 

However, the dominant performance of the Patriots three years ago would not only seem to boost the confidence of Belichick's squad, but could possibly detract from the hopes of the St Louis Rams as well. 

In 2009, Tampa Bay were the home team, yet perhaps due to the more recent successes of the Patriots (who won the Superbowl three times in five years from 2001-2005) the crowd seemed to negate the supposed home advantage of the Bucs, despite the promotion and cues that are set up to encourage the crowd to root for the 'home' team. 

There are fears that a similar problem will occur at the expense of the Rams, who have been one of the weaker teams in the league of late. However, this season has seen a team predicted to have one of the worst records in the NFL, step up, particularly defensively with the addition of corners Janoris Jenkins and Cortland Finnegan.

They have been competitive in possibly the most closely fought division in the league, the NFC West, and three weeks ago, all the teams in that division boasted a positive record. With this improvement to a team that went 2-14 in 2011, this years London game could be more even affair than many first thought when it appeared on the schedule.

The Rams have been training here all week at Arsenal Football Club's Hertfordshire training facilities, hoping to acclimatize quickly to not only the time difference but also the colder climate, that contrasts from their home on the west coast.

With the Rams' surprising performances this year, and New England struggling by their own standards at 4-3, it should make for an interesting matchup for the always enthusiastic fans at Wembley. The different culture, weather and atmosphere could also play a part in this game, possibly providing further excitement and some extra twists.