SINCE 1998
"It's been updated!"
 

0 users online

Preview of Weekend Premiership games

last updated Friday 20th January 2006, 1:01 PM

Fulham are away in East London in the Premiership Matchday 23 programme playing West Ham, newly returned to the top flight.The Cottagers have made a pigs ear of their away fixtures this season and hold the proud distinction of being the only squad in the Premiership without an away victory so far this campaign. The last eight away defeats have been by no more than one goal and the addition of Niemi and Bridge in defence should be worth a goal or two. As far as West Ham is concerned we have had two visits in the Premiership to Upton Park and we have won one and drawn the other. West Ham had an excellent start to their return to top flight football but are starting to show signs of distress. They have now lost four of their last six games and have also lost their last four home games. With a favourable set of results over the weekend Fulham could go into 10th spot in the Premiership which would be a great result for the squad and boss Chris Coleman. A set of poor results could see us drop to 15th.Elsewhere relegation threatened squads will be taking lumps out of each other and Man Utd's bid to avoid having to qualify for Champions League soccer next season might come unstuck with the visit of in-form Liverpool. Individual match comments below come from Dave Tindall and Jonathan Turner at Bettingzone.

Premiership Match Day 23 Games
Home Away KO T.V.
Saturday 21st January 2006
Everton Arsenal 12.45 ppv
Birmingham Portsmouth 15.00  
Bolton Man City 15.00  
Middlesbro' Wigan 15.00  
Newcastle Blackburn 15.00  
Tottenham Aston Villa 15.00  
West Brom Sunderland 17.15 ppv
Sunday 22nd January 2006
Chelsea Charlton 13.30 sky1
Man Utd Liverpool 16.00 sky1
Monday 23rd January 2006
West Ham Fulham 20.00 sky1
Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Gd
1 Chelsea 22 20 1 1 48 11 61 37
2 Man Utd 22 13 6 3 41 20 45 21
3 Liverpool 20 13 5 2 29 11 44 18
4 Tottenham 22 11 7 4 31 19 40 12
5 Arsenal 21 11 4 6 34 15 37 19
6 Wigan 22 11 1 10 25 27 34 -2
7 Bolton 20 9 6 5 25 20 33 5
8 Man City 22 9 4 9 30 25 31 5
9 Blackburn 21 9 4 8 26 25 31 1
10 West Ham 22 8 5 9 29 31 29 -2
11 Charlton 20 9 1 10 26 30 28 -4
12 Fulham 22 7 5 10 26 30 26 -4
13 Newcastle 21 7 5 9 20 24 26 -4
14 Everton 22 8 2 12 15 31 26 -16
15 Aston Villa 22 6 7 9 26 32 25 -6
16 West Brom 22 6 4 12 21 31 22 -10
17 Middlesbro 21 5 7 9 25 37 22 -12
18 Portsmouth 22 4 5 13 16 34 17 -18
19 Birmingham 21 4 4 13 15 31 16 -16
20 Sunderland 21 1 3 17 16 40 6 -24
Everton v Arsenal (KO 12.45 - Saturday - 21 January 06)
Everton's relegation odds improved after three successive Premiership wins lifted them out of the bottom six. But they'll have to sort out a way of playing the Gunners having suffered 2-0, 7-0, 3-1, and 4-1 defeats against the visitors in the last four meetings. True, three of those came at Highbury but it's still a horrid record. However, prior to that Everton had won two and drawn one of the previous four Goodison Park encounters so they have shown an ability at home to halt this current free-flowing Arsenal side. We saw the very best of the Gunners when they steamrollered Middlesbrough 7-0 last time out but Everton will obviously give them a much tougher test than that depleted Boro side. Robert Pires has scored four goals in his last five games against Everton and three in his last two games so the Frenchman could again be a likely goal scorer. Verdict: Everton 1 Arsenal 1
Birmingham v Portsmouth (KO 15.00 - Saturday - 21 January 06)
The relegation picture could look a whole lot clearer after this match and West Brom v Sunderland - and Portsmouth look like being the big losers to us. Harry Redknapp's return to Fratton Park has galvanised their home form - at least until Everton's visit last weekend - but they remain an easy touch on their travels. They've lost five on the bounce away from home now and eight out of 11 in total. Added to which they take on a Birmingham side that's finally starting to win a few points in front of their home fans. They've beaten Fulham and Wigan and drawn with Manchester United in their last three and are suddenly starting to get some key men back - Mikael Forssell and David Dunn the latest examples after both played the full 90 minutes in the midweek FA Cup win over Torquay. The pressure remains very much on Blues boss Steve Bruce but a win here should ease things considerably. Verdict: Birmingham 2 Portsmouth 0
Bolton v Man City (KO 15.00 - Saturday - 21 January 06)
Home advantage hasn't counted for a great deal in this fixture recently, with the last four renewals all going to the away side. City will certainly be on a high after their 3-1 win in the Manchester derby but the last time they beat their neighbours - that famous 4-1 win in March 2004 - they lost to Leeds next time out and didn't win for seven games. Bolton are sure to give them a stern test and Sam Allardyce's men have lost just once at home this season and conceded just four goals. Big Sam is sure to have had ref Rob Styles' statistics checked out and the good news for Allardyce is that he didn't show a single card to a Bolton player in the last game he took charge of at the Reebok - a 2-0 win over Newcastle. Styles does have a habit of booking Radhi Jaidi but he won't be able to show him the yellow this time as the big defender is away on African Nations duty. Bolton are hit hardest of all the Premiership sides in this respect and, with four key players missing, City may be able to come away with a point. Verdict: Bolton 1 Manchester City 1
Middlesbro' v Wigan (KO 15.00 - Saturday - 21 January 06)
Both these sides have been depleted by injuries after hectic schedules and their Premiership form has suffered. A young Boro side were thrashed 7-0 at Highbury last time out and they're now not far away from being sucked into a relegation battle. At least Steve McClaren can still call on the services of top scorer Yakubu who has chosen not to play for Nigeria in the African Nations Cup after a fallout with national coach Augustine Eguavoen. The importance of that can't be overstated as Yakubu has netted 11 times for Boro in the Premiership this season and their next top scorer has only three. Yakubu is particularly deadly at home where he's scored 10 of his 14 goals in all competitions and that includes a brace in the FA Cup in midweek. He also netted against Wigan in the 1-1 draw at the JJB earlier this season. Wigan did well to come through their FA Cup replay at Leeds but they conceded three goals on the night and have let in 27 in their 22 Premiership games so far. That bodes well for our punt on Yakubu. Verdict: Middlesbrough 2 Wigan 1
Newcastle v Blackburn (KO 15.00 - Saturday - 21 January 06)
Michael Owen is back in training but, with his first-team return still way off, Newcastle continue to look vulnerable. A 1-0 loss to Fulham last time out was their ninth defeat in 21 Premiership games this season and that's way too many for a club of their stature. On the plus side they've only lost once at home and that stat puts us off supporting an improving Blackburn. Rovers have won five and drawn two of their last seven games in all competitions and also won their last three on the road. Craig Bellamy will be particularly keen to put one over Graeme Souness after a high-profile series of run-ins between the pair saw the Welsh striker depart St James' Park. But Bellamy and his men may have to settle for a point on Saturday, extending their poor run at St James' which has produced just one win since the start of the Premiership in 1992. Verdict: Newcastle 1 Blackburn 1
Tottenham v Aston Villa (KO 15.00 - Saturday - 21 January 06)
Spurs were a little unfortunate to lose to a Harry Kewell corker at Anfield but they should be able to keep up their push for a Champions League spot by beating Aston Villa. Although Mido is away on African Nations duty, that will give Jermain Defoe a chance to stake his claim for a regular starting place and the young striker needs goals to stay in Sven's World Cup plans. Tottenham have won seven out of 11 at White Hart Lane while Villa have shipped 18 goals on the road so Defoe has a golden chance to get his name on the scoresheet. Spurs won this fixture 5-1 last year but with Villa unbeaten on the road since October it shouldn't be as easy this time. Verdict: Tottenham 1 Aston Villa 0
West Brom v Sunderland (KO 17.15 - Saturday - 21 January 06)
West Brom won on the road for the first time in 10 months when bravely beating Wigan with 10 men last week but their away day woes resurfaced at Reading in midweek when a 2-0 lead evaporated and they lost 3-2 in extra-time. They should welcome some home comforts therefore and it's worth noting that they've won 16 of their 22 points at The Hawthorns. However, Sunderland showed enough in the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea last time to suggest that, with their fate virtually sealed, they can play with a little more freedom in the second half of the season and improve their results. This may just be a good place to start. Despite West Brom being a much better team at home, they've still been beaten five times in front of their home fans and they could be vulnerable. It's hard to argue a strong case for a Sunderland side which has won just one game in 21 (at least it was on the road!) but it may be their time. Verdict: West Brom 1 Sunderland 2
Chelsea v Charlton (KO 13.30 - Sunday - 22 January 06)
Charlton's fantastic start to the Premiership season began to come off the rails after they were beaten at home by Chelsea back in September but this is a fixture which the reigning champions haven't always found a breeze. It needed a last-gasp goal from Claude Makelele to settle it last season (though the title had long been wrapped up by that point) while it was also 1-0 in the 2003/4 campaign. Add into the mix the fact that Charlton have already knocked Chelsea out of the Carling Cup at Stamford Bridge this term and this might not be the foregone conclusion that many are expecting.Indeed, while Jose Mourinho's men just keep winning, they've been surprisingly pushed in their last two matches by both Sunderland and Huddersfield. For their part the Addicks have won three of their last four but there's a killer stat which shows they've suffered eight successive defeats against sides in the top nine of the Premiership table. That's got to knock the confidence of anyone thinking of getting with Alan Curbishley's men and another hard-fought Chelsea win is the call.

Verdict: Chelsea 1 Charlton 0
Man Utd v Liverpool (KO 16.00 - Sunday - 22 January 06)
Liverpool have edged in front of United in the Premiership betting 'without Chelsea' and they may well be able to justify those odds by winning Sunday's blockbuster at Old Trafford. The key to victory could lie in midfield where Liverpool's quartet look far stronger as a unit than their United counterparts. In fact, Liverpool have height and strength all over the pitch these days whereas United's talents seem more concentrated up front.If Liverpool can win the midfield battle and cut the supply line to Wayne Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy then a fourth win at Old Trafford in six seasons beckons. Given that they've taken 34 points from their last 36 Liverpool look likely winners. Player-wise, the man to focus on has to be Steven Gerrard who has been playing out of his skin for Liverpool for the last few months.

Verdict: Manchester United 0 Liverpool 1

West Ham v Fulham (KO 20.00 - Monday - 23 January 06)
Comments to follow ......
Source