Saturday Aug 19
Burnley (10) v
Wimbledon (16)
Wimbledon boss
Terry Burton has called on his strikers to find their form against
Burnley or face being replaced by a big-money new arrival.
Burton was critical of his frontline after they wasted several
chances to beat Tranmere on the opening day of the season and
now he is looking for an improvement. "We had five or six
really good chances to win the game and although I was disappointed
with the result I was reasonably happy with the performance,"
he said. "We have looked at this league and what we know
is that you have got to have a goalscorer." "I am looking
to turn the side around from the one that was relegated last year
and to do that I need to bring in some top-quality players."
Prolific striker Andy Payton will miss Burnley's first home game
of the season as he battles to recover from a broken toe, but
Phil Gray will again take his place having recovered from a knee
injury.
Wimbledon are likely
to keep faith with the side which drew at home to Tranmere on
the opening day, although boss Terry Burton will be looking for
a better return from his strikers and may opt to start with Paul
Robinson up front.
Last season: No corresponding
fixture
Last five league matches:
Burnley W W W W D, Wimbledon L L D L D
Top scorers: Phil
Gray (Burnley) 1
Ref: S Baines
other fixtures
source=sportinglife
Saturday Aug 19
Crewe (22) v Blackburn
(2)
Home support could
be the key to Crewe securing an unlikely win against big-spending
Blackburn - but assistant boss Neil Baker is not banking
on it. "It's another very difficult game as they are going
to do well, so anything we get against teams like these is a bonus
to us. "It's obviously easier to play at home and our supporters
will be looking forward to it after we did well against them last
season," he added.
Crewe will wait until the last minute to decide whether Rodney
Jack can start after returning from international duty, but Dave
Walton will miss out with a back injury while David Wright should
be fit despite an ankle knock.
Blackburn boss Graeme
Souness is likely to keep faith with the same side that won at
Crystal Palace as new-boy Craig Hignett is still sidelined with
an Achilles problem and Lee Carsley suspended.
Last season: Blackburn
0 Crewe 1, Crewe 0 Blackburn 0
Last five league matches:
Crewe W D L W L, Blackburn D D L L W
Top scorers: Nathan
Blake, Matt Jansen (Blackburn) 1
Ref: M Brandwood
other fixtures
source=Sporting Life
Saturday Aug 19
Norwich (19) v
Nottm Forest (8)
Despite losing out
to ten-man Barnsley on the opening day of the season and selling
star striker Craig Bellamy to Coventry for £6.5million this
week, Norwich are confident of chalking up their first
points of the campaign at home to Nottingham Forest. "Football
is full of ups and downs, but we have trained hard and worked
hard for Saturday," said boss Bryan Hamilton.
The Canaries face up to life without star striker Craig Bellamy,
sold to Coventry for £6.5million this week, and could also
be without the injured trio of Matt Jackson (ankle), Malky MacKay
(knee) and Daryl Sutch (foot).
Swiss-born striker
Gaetano Giallanza is in line to take Bellamy's place in the starting
eleven.
Andy Johnson (hamstring)
is a major doubt to face his former club with his place in the
Forest side likely to be taken by Riccardo Scimeca, while Tony
Vaughan could make his return after knee surgery last season.
Last season: Nottm
Forest 1 Norwich 1, Norwich 1 Nottm Forest 0
Last five league matches:
Norwich D L W L L, Nottm Forest D D W W W
Top scorers: Jon Olav
Hjelde (Nottm Forest) 1
Ref: S Tomlin
other fixtures
source=Sporting Life
Saturday Aug 19
Portsmouth (24)
v Grimsby (17)
Jamaican defender Darren Moore is set to return
for Portsmouth who face a Grimsby side boosted by
the return of Tony Gallimore and Stacy Coldicott.
Portsmouth captain
Darren Moore could make his first appearance of the season having
recovered from a hamstring strain although fellow defender Andy
Awford will sit out the match with an neck injury.
Tony Gallimore and
Stacy Coldicott return to the Grimsby squad having missed out
on the opening match through injury and suspension respectively,
but Peter Handyside and Wayne Burnett remain sidelined.
Last season: Grimsby
1 Portsmouth 0, Portsmouth 1 Grimsby 2
Last five league matches:
Portsmouth D D L L L, Grimsby D L L D L
Top scorers: Steve
Livingstone (Grimsby) 1
Ref: R Beeby
other fixtures
source=Sporting Life
Saturday Aug 19
Preston (5) v Sheff
Utd (4)
French defender Nicolas
Weber made an impressive debut for Sheffield United against
Portsmouth and assistant boss Kevin Blackwell has backed him to
do the same against Preston. He said: "Nicolas pleased
me, he has got better and better in every game for us and looked
more comfortable as Saturday's game went on, so much so that the
lad he was marking was substituted."
Sean Gregan is forced to sit out Preston's first home match in
Division One because of a suspension and he is joined by Bjarki
Gunnlaugsson who has been ruled out until September because of
a groin injury.
Defensive duo Keith
Curle (knee) and Lee Sandford (back) will again miss out for the
Blades, so French defender Nicolas Weber has the chance to build
on his good start to the season.
Last season: No corresponding
fixture
Last five league matches:
Preston W L W W W, Sheff Utd D D L D W
Top scorers: Michael
Appleton, Jonathan Macken (Preston) 1; Paul Devlin (Sheff Utd)
1
Ref: P Dowd
other
fixtures
source=Sporting Life
Saturday Aug 19
Sheff Wed (11)
v Huddersfield (18)
Sheffield Wednesday's
Andy Booth will not be moving to Huddersfield in the near
future, Terriers manager Steve Bruce has admitted ahead of their
match with the Owls.Bruce said: "It's wrong for me to keep
talking about other club's players when we haven't made a bid,
and if I was Paul Jewell I would be absolutely sick of the sight
of my name linked with Andy Booth."The situation is that
we haven't yet made a bid, we know what the situation is and are
monitoring that situation. Whether we can afford Andy remains
to beseen."
Wednesday boss Paul Jewell will keep faith with goalkeeper Kevin
Pressman despite his sending off at Wolves while loan duo Simon
Grayson and Ashley Westwood look set to start.
Steve Jenkins and
Chris Beech are doubts for Huddersfield going into a Yorkshire
derby as Jenkins battles against a knee problem and Beech has
a calf injury.
Last season: No corresponding
fixture
Last five league matches:
Sheff Wed L L D W D, Huddersfield L W L L L
Top scorers: Andy
Booth (Sheff Wed) 1
Ref: J Robinson
other
fixtures
source=Sporting Life
Saturday Aug 19
Stockport (1) v
Wolverhampton (12)
Surprise early leaders
Stockport face a tough challenge when they host Wolves,
but Molineux manager Colin Lee is not underestimating County.
"They are going to be buoyant," said Lee. "We know
that teams like Stockport are always up for games against the
likes of ourselves. "They will be positive and strong and
if we can match that approach we have a chance. If not we will
be making problems for ourselves."
Brian Carrigan could make his comeback from a groin injury for
the early Division One leaders, but striker Ian Lawson is likely
to miss the match as he continues to struggle with a pre-season
knee injury.
Robert Taylor could
make his Wolves debut after his move from Manchester City, while
boss Colin Lee will hope that Temuri Ketsbaia will return fully
fit from international duty with Georgia.
Last season: Wolverhampton
2 Stockport 2, Stockport 3 Wolverhampton 2
Last five league matches:
Stockport L W W L W, Wolverhampton W W L W D
Top scorers: Ian
Moore (Stockport) 2; Temuri Ketsbaia (Wolverhampton) 1
Ref: M Cowburn
other
fixtures
source=Sporting Life
Saturday Aug 19
Tranmere (15) v
Gillingham (21)
Newly-promoted Gillingham
are still chasing their first points in Division One and assistant
boss Ricky Hill admits it will be a tough battle when they take
on Tranmere. "We've had Tranmere watched and they're
going to be tough to beat, but we were tough to beat last Saturday,"
said Hill. "We've got to be wary of all their players. This
is the first time in the club's history that we've been here (Division
One)."
Tranmere midfielder Nick Henry is available for selection despite
suffering a bad neck wound against Wimbledon while Alan Morgan,
Jason Koumas and Michael Black all return after suffering groin
injuries.
Gillingham manager
Andy Hessenthaler will pick from an unchanged squad as his side
aim to score their first points in Division One after losing to
Stockport on the first day of the season.
Last season: No corresponding
fixture
Last five league matches:
Tranmere L D W L D, Gillingham D W W L L
Top scorers: Guy Butters
(Gillingham) 1
Ref: A Kaye
other fixtures
source=Sporting Life
Saturday Aug
19
Watford (6) v Barnsley
(7)
Meanwhile, Dave Bassett
has picked defender Carl Regan for their Barnsley's clash
withWatford despite last week's sending off against Norwich
for an horrific two-footed challenge. "It was a bad tackle,"
Bassett said. "He took off and when you jump into a challenge
like that then the referee is always going to send you off. "But
he has apologised. It's his league debut and he is shattered because
you don't want to be remembered for something like that. He knows
he will miss three games, which could lead to him losing his place
in the team."
Watford manager Graham Taylor is without striker Heidar Helguson
who is suffering from a mild dose of shin splints. That is good
news however for the Hornets who had feared the Icelander had
picked up a stress fracture.
Mitch Ward and Chris
Barker have recovered from injuries and could feature for Barnsley
boss Dave Bassett who is also likely to keep faith with defender
Carl Regan despite his red card against Norwich last week.
Last season: No corresponding
fixture
Last five league matches:
Watford L L D W W, Barnsley L W W L W
Top scorers: Neil
Cox, Tommy Smith (Watford) 1; Lee Jones (Barnsley) 1
Ref: D Crick
other
fixtures
source=Sporting Life
Saturday Aug 19
West Brom (20)
v Bolton (9)
Bolton could turn to the experienced pair
of Paul Warhurst and Dean Holdsworth as they travel to West
Brom who are without Daryl Burgess.
The Baggies will be
without Daryl Burgess who broke a bone in his foot during training
and will not feature Ruel Fox, whose transfer from Tottenham broke
down during the week.
Injury-ravaged Bolton
could call on the experience of Paul Warhurst and Dean Holdsworth
while Per Frandsen and Jussi Jaaskelainen should be fit after
safely coming through midweek international duty.
Last season: West
Brom 4 Bolton 4, Bolton 1 West Brom 1
Last five league matches:
West Brom L W D W L, Bolton W W W W D
Top scorers: Larus
Sigurdsson, Per Frandsen (Bolton) 1
Ref: P Joslin
other
fixtures
source=Sporting Life
Sunday Aug 20
Crystal Palace
(23) v QPR (14)
On Sunday, Crystal Palace host their first
league match of the new season when they take on London rivals
QPR. The Eagles welcome Simon Rodge
Palace hope to welcome
back midfielder Simon Rodger who has recovered from a thigh injury
and are also boosted by the return of David Woozley from suspension.
Loan signing Paul
Furlong could make his Rangers debut as former Arsenal man Chris
Kiwomya is struggling with swollen glands, Jermaine Darlington
is also doubtful with a foot injury and Richard Langley has a
hamstring problem.
Last season: QPR 0
Crystal Palace 1, Crystal Palace 3 QPR 0
Last five league matches:
Crystal Palace D L L W W, QPR W D D W D
Top scorers: N/A
Ref: F Stretton
other fixtures
source=Sporting Life