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Preview of MatchDay 19 games

last updated Wednesday 28th December 2005, 3:45 PM

On Wednesday evening Fulham are at home to Aston Villa in the second game of the festive period, Matchday 19. Fulham boss Chris Coleman will have this game on his must win list. No game is easy in the Premiership but as The Cottagers have already beaten, Liverpool, Man City, Bolton and Blackburn at home they should be able to shrug off The Midlanders. Apart from the valuable points a victory would result in Chris Coleman could also celebrate a win in his 100th game as boss at FulhamAston Villa have proved tough opposition for The Cottagers with the last win for Fulham back in February 2003.Elsewhere Everton and West Brom, just below us in the league, both have reasonably challenging home games while Charlton, just below us in the table, have a long difficult trip to Newcaste. If the results go in Fulham's favour they could rise to 12th place while if the results are poor then The Cottagers could drop one place to 15th. Individual match comments below come from Dave Ord, Jonathan Turner and David Tindall at Bettingzone.

Premiership Match Day 19 Games
Home Away KO T.V.
Wednesday 28 December 2005
Arsenal Portsmouth 19.45
Birmingham Man Utd 19.45
Fulham Aston Villa 19.45
Man City Chelsea 19.45
Newcastle Charlton 19.45 Aban
West Brom Tottenham 19.45
West Ham Wigan 19.45
Blackburn Sunderland 20.00 Aban
Bolton Middlesbrough 20.00 Aban
Everton Liverpool 20.00 sky1
Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Gd
1 Chelsea 18 16 1 1 40 9 49 +31
2 Man Utd 18 12 4 2 34 14 40 +20
3 Liverpool 16 10 4 2 22 8 34 +14
4 Tottenham 18 9 7 2 27 16 34 +11
5 Bolton 17 9 4 4 22 14 31 +8
6 Wigan 18 10 1 7 23 21 31 +2
7 Arsenal 17 9 2 6 23 15 29 +8
8 Man City 18 8 3 7 27 21 27 +6
9 West Ham 18 7 5 6 26 23 26 +3
10 Newcastle 18 7 4 7 18 19 25 -1
11 Blackburn 18 7 3 8 21 24 24 -3
12 Charlton 17 7 1 9 21 27 22 -6
13 Middlesbro 18 5 5 8 23 28 20 -5
14 Aston Villa 18 5 5 8 20 26 20 -6
15 Fulham 18 5 4 9 20 25 19 -5
16 Everton 18 5 2 11 9 27 17 -18
17 West Brom 18 4 4 10 17 28 16 -11
18 Portsmouth 18 3 5 10 14 27 14 -13
19 Birmingham 17 3 3 11 11 25 12 -14
20 Sunderland 18 1 3 14 14 35 6 -21
Arsenal v Portsmouth - (KO 19.45 - Wednesday - 28 December 05)
The Gunners continue to try and walk the ball into the net and they finally achieved their aim with a 1-0 victory over Charlton on Boxing Day. More clinical finishing should have seen that advantage trebled. But Arsene Wenger will be glad to have arrested a three-game slide in the league as they desperately try and get some momentum going into the second half of the campaign. Harry Redknapp has instilled some confidence in Portsmouth but they still remain in the relegation zone. These two have met infrequently but you have to go back to 1957 for the last time Portsmouth beat Arsenal and if the latter find their scoring touch, they should be too slick for the revitalised visitors. Verdict: Arsenal 3 Portsmouth 1
Birmingham v Man Utd - (KO 19.45 - Wednesday - 28 December 05)
Blues boss Steve Bruce has still to manufacture a win over his former side and his tenure at St Andrews must be hanging by a thread despite a vote of confidence from upstairs. Their latest reverse came at Tottenham and the schedule does not get any easier as they now host the side that comfortably dumped them out of the Carling Cup only last week. The Red Devils are unbeaten since their exit from Europe, a run that has established them as clear second best in the Premiership. Having rolled over their opponents with such ease so recently it is easy to understand how it could well turn into a rout. Verdict: Birmingham 1 Manchester United 4
Fulham v Aston Villa - (KO 19.45 - Wednesday - 28 December 05)
Chris Coleman was full of praise for his side despite their defeat down the road at Chelsea and the spirit they showed there, blended with a good sprinkling of skill, should see them out of the danger zone sooner rather than later. Getting a string of wins together will be key and the only thing that seems to be holding them back is an unlucky rub of the green at crucial moments - particularly John Terry's fine diving save at Stamford Bridge which should have given them the chance to make it 3-3 from the penalty spot. This would have looked like a home banker but Villa gave themselves a much needed shot in the arm by hammering a weary Everton 4-0. The home side have managed just one win from their last eight clashes with Villa but they look capable of improving on that. Verdict: Fulham 2 Aston Villa 1
Man City v Chelsea - (KO 19.45 - Wednesday - 28 December 05)
City won this fixture last season but they will have to defend better than they did against Wigan the other day if they harbour hopes of a repeat when they gift wrapped the opposition four goals at the JJB Stadium. That said, they nearly pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a late rally and have scored 12 times in their last four games. Chelsea still show the way by nine points but were given a fright by Fulham and might well have dropped points at home until Hernan Crespo popped up with the winner. But just one league defeat on the road this season speaks for itself and Jose Mourinho will surely find a way to exploit any repeat of City's defensive disasters. Verdict: Manchester City 1 Chelsea 2
Newcastle v Charlton - (KO 19.45 - Wednesday - 28 December 05)
Game abandoned
West Brom v Tottenham - (KO 19.45 - Wednesday - 28 December 05)
The Baggies are in the middle of a tricky period of games and back-to-back defeats see them in danger of derailing a decent spell that previously saw them take eight points from a possible 12 in the league. Spurs were not at their best and survived a couple of scares before beating Birmingham 2-0 at White Hart Lane on Boxing Day. But that means they keep pace with Liverpool and shows a continued ability under Martin Jol to eke out three points under pressure. These two have met six times in recent history and three times the scoreline has ended 1-1. But I just have a feeling that Spurs will edge it this time around. Verdict: West Brom 0 Tottenham 1
West Ham v Wigan - (KO 19.45 - Wednesday - 28 December 05)
Two success stories of the season with both excelling since promotion. Jason Roberts and Henri Camara are making hay up front for Wigan and are too good not to have taken full advantage of the chances handed to them by Manchester City on Boxing Day. The Hammers rearguard better beware - it has not kept a clean sheet since Bonfire Night. The flip side of that is the goals have kept coming and the last time they failed to register was at Liverpool on October 29. Both play some attractive stuff and have players capable of rounding it all off so an entertaining encounter would not be a massive shock. Verdict: West Ham 2 Wigan 2
Blackburn v Sunderland - (KO 20.00 - Wednesday - 28 December 05)
Game abandoned
Bolton v Middlesbrough - (KO 20.00 - Wednesday - 28 December 05)
Game abandoned
Everton v Liverpool - (KO 20.00 - Wednesday - 28 December 05)
The Toffees gained their first win at Goodison over the red half of Merseyside since 1997 last season but it would be a brave man who would bet on them following up. Two 4-0 defeats on the trot has David Moyes looking over his shoulder once more and declaring his side looks "very fragile" at the moment. They are conceding far too easily and that does not bode well ahead of entertaining Rafa's Rampagers. The only reverse they have suffered since the end of October was in Japan against Sao Paulo - that is also the only goal they have conceded in two months. Talk of formbooks going out of the window for derby clashes is the norm but there will surely be only one outcome here with two sides in such a differing frame of mind. Verdict: Everton 0 Liverpool 3
Source Sporting Life