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The Premiership puts on a midweek programme for round 3, albeit excluding squads in the qualifying stages of the European Cups such as Man Utd.
Tuesday evening's three games involve five squads on the same or fewer points than Fulham. If the experts are right the results could be reasonably favourable for The Cottagers. Comments and predictions, below, for each of the games on Tuesday are from Jonathan Turner
at bettingzone.com.
|
|
| Pos |
Team |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts |
Gd |
| 1 |
Tottenham |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
6 |
4 |
| 2 |
Charlton |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
| 3 |
Man Utd |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
3 |
| 4 |
Chelsea |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
2 |
| 5 |
West Ham |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
| 6 |
Man City |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
| 7 |
West Brom |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
| 8 |
Liverpool |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
| 9 |
Arsenal |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
| 10 |
Blackburn |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
-1 |
| 11 |
Everton |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
| 12 |
Aston Villa |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
-1 |
| 13 |
Bolton |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
-1 |
| 14 |
Birmingham |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
-1 |
| 15 |
Fulham |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
-1 |
| 16 |
Middlesbro |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
-2 |
| 17 |
Newcastle |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
-2 |
| 18 |
Wigan |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
-2 |
| 19 |
Portsmouth |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
-3 |
| 20 |
Sunderland |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
-3 |
|
| Premiership Weekday Games |
| Home |
Away |
K.O |
| Tuesday 23 August 2006 |
| Birmingham |
Middlesbrough |
19.45 |
| Portsmouth |
Aston Villa |
19.45 |
| Sunderland |
Man City |
19.45 |
| Wednesday 24 August 2006 |
| Arsenal |
Fulham |
19.45 |
| Chelsea |
West Brom |
19.45 |
| Blackburn |
Tottenham |
20.00 |
| Bolton |
Newcastle |
20.00 |
|
Birmingham v Middlesbrough (19.45 KO) It's hardly been the ideal start for either of these two sides.
The Blues played out a goalless draw at Fulham on the opening day of the season and then saw an eight-month unbeaten run at St Andrews ended by Manchester City at the weekend. They've lacked a cutting edge up front so far and the news that striker Emile Heskey is unlikely to have recovered from a thigh injury in time for Tuesday's game is hardly ideal, especially as Mikael Forssell is still short of match fitness.
Boro are suffering from a similar problem though and despite the £7.5million signing of Yakubu they've failed to manage a goal this season. Boss Steve McClaren was quick to leap to goalie Mark Schwarzer's defence after his weekend clanger against Spurs, inisting that missed chances at the other end cost Boro dear but the stats simply don't back that argument up as Boro have had just five efforts on target in their opening two matches.
Given their shaky starts this could develop into an attritional affair and going low on the goals is the logical call.
Verdict: Birmingham 0 Middlesbrough 0
Portsmouth v Aston Villa (19.45 KO) Two games and two defeats means the alarm bells have already started ringing at Fratton Park.
With so many changes in the summer there was always a chance that the team would take a while to gel and Alain Perrin's side have to be the outsider to win. It's now nothing more than a myth that they have a great home record - only relegated Crystal Palace lost more matches in front of their own fans last season.
And relegation form is what Pompey have been showing for a while now - managing just 13 points from their last 21 games in the top flight.
Villa aren't exactly flying themselves, with just one point from six, but this represents by far their easiest task following opening fixtures against Bolton and Manchester United. They did the double over Portsmouth last season and looklikely to maintain their superiority.
Verdict: Portsmouth 1 Aston Villa 2
Sunderland v Manchester City (19.45 KO) It's now 17 successive Premiership defeats for Sunderland following opening losses against Charlton and Liverpool.
But their display at Anfield on Saturday at least offered plenty of encouragement. Harshly reduced to ten men, the Black Cats refused to buckle and made the European champions work hard for their 1-0 win. Defensively it was a vastly improved showing and much of that can be put down to Alan Stubbs who was outstanding on his debut for the club.
They now welcome an unbeaten Manchester City side to the Stadium of Light, Stuart Pearce's men on a high after coming from behind to beat Birmingham at the weekend. That success suggests City are starting this season as they finished the last campaign and Andy Cole's winner against the Blues showed he's still a real threat at this level.
Verdict: Sunderland 0 Manchester City 1