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Premiership Weekend Preview - 17.09.05

last updated Friday 16th September 2005, 7:33 AM

East meets West on Saturday when Fulham welcome West Ham to Craven Cottage for the first time since the East Londoner's promotion to the Premiership.

Fulham approach the game after good back to back home and away performances and just one defeat in the last 13 home Premiership games.

The Cottagers should be capable of maintaining their unbeaten home record with early signs that Cookie seems to have got his squad playing more committed football with a stronger team spirit.

The Hammers have done slightly better than Fulham in their opening games in the Premiership and in one less game have gathered in 2 more points than the Cottagers. They have also scored twice as many goals so Pardews men will be in a confident mood.

As the game is a London derby bragging rights will be at risk so the fans will be looking forward to a full-blooded clash.

Over the weekend Charlton are at home to the other team from Fulham in the other London derby. While Sunday could see further agony for Souey when Newcastle visit his previous club Blackburn. Individual match comments below come from Jonathan Turner for BettingZone.

Premiership Weekend Games
Home	Away	Res	T.V.
Saturday 17 September 2006
Charlton	Chelsea	15.00
Fulham	West Ham	15.00
Portsmouth	Birmingham	15.00
Sunderland	West Brom	15.00
Aston Villa	Tottenham	17.15	ppv
Sunday 18 September 2006
Liverpool	Man Utd	12.00	Sky1
Blackburn	Newcastle	14.00	ppv
Wigan	Middlesbrough	15.00
Man City	Bolton	16.00
Monday 19 September 2006
Arsenal	Everton	20.00	Sky1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Gd
1	Chelsea	5	5	0	0	10	0	15	+10
2	Charlton	4	4	0	0	8	1	12	+7
3	Man City	5	3	2	0	7	4	11	+3
4	Man Utd	4	3	1	0	6	1	10	+5
5	Bolton	5	2	2	1	6	4	8	+2
6	Tottenham	5	2	2	1	4	2	8	+2
7	West Ham	4	2	1	1	8	3	7	+5
8	Middlesbro	5	2	1	2	5	6	7	-1
9	Arsenal	4	2	0	2	7	4	6	+3
10	Wigan	4	2	0	2	3	3	6	0
11	Liverpool	3	1	2	0	1	0	5	+1
12	Blackburn	5	1	2	2	3	5	5	-2
13	Fulham	5	1	2	2	4	7	5	-3
14	Aston Villa	5	1	2	2	4	8	5	-4
15	Portsmouth	5	1	1	3	4	7	4	-3
16	Birmingham	5	1	1	3	4	8	4	-4
17	West Brom	5	1	1	3	5	10	4	-5
18	Everton	4	1	0	3	1	4	3	-3
19	Newcastle	5	0	2	3	1	7	2	-6
20	Sunderland	5	0	0	5	2	9	0	-7

Charlton v Chelsea (KO 15.00 - Saturday - 17 September 05)

This game pits together the top two in the table - and the only sides who still have 100% records so something has got to give.

It's looking ominous already for the rest of the Premiership because not only have Chelsea won five out of five without hitting top form but they are also yet to concede a goal.

They come up here against the top flight's leading marksman in Darren Bent whose five goals have helped the Addicks get off to their customary fast start - and they haven't let in a goal themselves since the opening day of the season at Sunderland.

It will be fascinating to see what sort of game materialises because Chelsea's 4-5-1 set-up (and the tactic used by some opponents of trying to frustrate them) has led to some dour affairs. This however is a fixture that has produced plenty of goals - the Blues cruised to a 4-0 success at The Valley last term but were on the wrong end of a 4-2 scoreline 12 months earlier - and Charlton boss Alan Curbishley has hinted that he'll be going in with a positive gameplan.

Verdict: Charlton 2 Chelsea 3

Fulham v West Ham (KO 15.00 - Saturday - 17 September 05)

Two wins and a draw from their opening four fixtures is an encouraging return for West Ham in their first season back in the Premiership and Monday's 4-0 thumping of Aston Villa showed them at their best. Marlon Harewood made most of the headlines for his hat-trick but it was the man who scored the Hammers' fourth goal, Israeli Yossi Benayoun, who really caught the eye. He's been superb since arriving at the start of the season and with Teddy Sheringham as effective as ever and a great workrate throughout the team, West Ham have been one of the top flight's most attractive teams to watch so far.

They make the short trip to Fulham to take on a Cottagers side which has got things back on track after a shaky start to the campaign. Chris Coleman's men all but ruined Michael Owen's debut for Newcastle last weekend and crucially seem to have sorted out their form at Craven Cottage. No side lost more games at home last season than Fulham but only two of those seven defeats came in the second half of the campaign and they are yet to lose in front of their home fans this term. That all makes this a tricky game to call and a score draw has to be the logical call.

Verdict: Fulham 1 West Ham 1

Portsmouth v Birmingham (KO 15.00 - Saturday - 17 September 05)

A little of the pressure on Pompey boss Alain Perrin was released by last weekend's victory at Everton and looking at that in a positive light it could be argued that his much-changed team is finally starting to gel. However the fact remains that Portsmouth have taken just 17 points from the last 72 on offer so it may pay not to get too carried away just yet.

Birmingham haven't been much better themselves in that time period though and they remain far too brittle on their travels - their only away victory so far in 2005 came in the derby clash with West Brom. That's an appalling record and while Portsmouth aren't the force they were at Fratton Park it's hard not to give them the benefit of doubt.

Verdict: Portsmouth 2 Birmingham 0

Sunderland v West Brom (KO 15.00 - Saturday - 17 September 05)

It's not too early to be taking about relegation 'six-pointers' and this fits perfectly into that category. The Black Cats have now lost 20 Premiership games on the trot, five of them this season, and not surprisingly prop up the table. In fairness there have been some encouraging signs recently and they did make champions Chelsea work hard for the points at Stamford Bridge last weekend.

However they desperately need to kickstart their season by getting something out of this and the good news is that West Brom's confidence must be just as fragile after a derby defeat against Birmingham and a last-minute loss to Wigan. Bryan Robson's men have now shipped nine goals in their last three so the fact they've got options aplenty up front isn't much use right now. It all suggests this will not be a great game and a share of the spoils is only a token call.

Verdict: Sunderland 1 West Brom 1

Aston Villa v Tottenham (KO 17.15 - Saturday - 17 September 05)

"They out-fought us, out-muscled us and the goals we gave away were dreadful." That was David O'Leary's response to Villa's abject 4-0 defeat at West Ham on Monday night and it won't have escaped his attention that his side were also blitzed 5-1 by Spurs back in May. Whether he can get the desired reponse in this rematch remains to be seen.

There were lofty expectations surrounding Spurs at the start of the season and Martin Jol's outfit have just about lived up to them, their only defeat coming against Chelsea when they played the bulk of the match with ten men. There's just got to be a slight worry that they've failed to find the net in their last three matches.

Verdict: Aston Villa 0 Tottenham 1

Liverpool v Man Utd (KO 12.00 - Sunday - 18 September 05)

Comment to follow ....

Blackburn v Newcastle (KO 14.00 - Sunday - 18 September 05)

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Wigan v Middlesbrough (KO 15.00 - Sunday - 18 September 05)

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Man City v Bolton (KO 16.00 - Sunday - 18 September 05)

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Arsenal v Everton (KO 20.00 - Monday - 19 September 05)

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