Tottenham v Everton WBA v Fulham
Birmingham City v Blackpool
Chelsea v Wolverhampton
Sunderland v Aston Villa
Wigan Athletic v Bolton
West Ham United v Newcastle United
Stoke City v Manchester United
Liverpool v Blackburn
Manchester City v Arsenal
Saturday, October 23
Tottenham v Everton
Verdict: Fresh from their valiant 4-3 defeat at Inter Milan midweek, Tottenham face a resurgent Everton side. Everton won the Merseyside derby last weekend, defeating Liverpool 2-0 and consequently jumping to 11th with their third consecutive clean sheet. In the BPL, Tottenham squeezed passed Fulham in a 2-1 away win that was clouded with controversy after Tom Huddlestone's goal was initially ruled out for offside by the referee's assistant, only to be given as a goal by referee Mike Dean. Nevertheless, Tottenham moved to 5th, equal on 14pts with Manchester United and Arsenal.
In what was Tottenham's most high profile fixture (against Inter Milan) for as long as anyone can remember surely the game would of taken something out of the players, especially as they had to battle on with 10 men following Gomes' red card in the 8th minute. Everton are finally getting reward for what their good performances have deserved, since the start of the season, and with Pienaar rumoured to return the visitors may be further boosted in midfield. Nothing much has separated these sides over recent years. Current squads are similar in quality also but with the extra rest and good recent form, I expect Everton to get atleast a draw here.
Pick: Everton +0.5AH @1.87 (ibcbet, 10 units)
Tottenham 1 - 1 Everton
Birmingham City v Blackpool
Verdict: After doing so well last season, Birmingham City seem to be suffering from 'Second Season Syndrome' after only registering a single win in 8 games so far this season. The 2-1 loss at Arsenal condemned the Brummies to 17th position and just a single point above the relegation zone. In contrast, Blackpool has been one of the revelations of the BPL with their high octane performances (and results) turning alot of heads in the footballing world. The 2-3 home loss to title challengers Manchester City was probably cruel on the Tangerine, as they more than matched their more fashionable opponents.
Birmingham City remain without their most impressive midfielder in Craig Gardner (serves final match of suspension) while striker Jerome is likely to sit out with a knee injury. This is bad news for a side that has lacked goals and creativity in forward positions. At face value, Blackpool may seem like they have the worst backline in the division (conceded 18 goals - most in BPL) but lets not forget that they conceded 4 to Chelsea and 6 to Arsenal, hardly poor teams. Birmingham City has only scored twice in their last 5 games so I give a confident Blackpool side a strong chance of atleast giving as good as they get from the home side.
Pick: Blackpool +0.75AH @1.77 (188bet, 10 units)
Birmingham City 2 - 0 Blackpool
WBA v Fulham
Verdict: West Brom's amazing season to date got even better last weekend when they came back from a two goal deficit, at Manchester United, to draw 2-2. There was a touch of fortune with the goals as one was diverted into his own net by Patrice Evra and the other, a calamitous blunder by keeper van der Sar. It was though a good performance from the newly promoted side, backing up the 2-3 defeat of Arsenal on their previous away trip. Fulham lost their first game of the season when they went down 1-2 to Tottenham, despite taking a first half lead through Diomansy Kamara. The Cottagers were made to pay almost immediately when Pavlyuchenko converted after van der Vaart's clever chip bounced off the crossbar, and then a controversial, second half winner by Tom Huddlestone sealed the home side's fate.
Both sides are suffering from their fair share of injuries at the moment with WBA's star striker, Peter Odemwingie, likely to miss while Fulham's entire first-choice midfield is in doubt. Fulham though do have players that can do a job in midfield with Greening, Gera, Dempsey, and Baird all capable of filling in midfield roles. With the fit-again Dembele, Kamara, and the expected return of Andy Johnson, Fulham do have options going forward while their backline remains unchanged. I was dissapointed with WBA in their previous home game, a 1-1 draw against Bolton, and I believe the Londoners can catch the home side out after their heroics at Old Trafford a week ago.
Pick: Fulham +0.5AH @1.83 (ibcbet, 10 units)
WBA 2 - 1 Fulham
Sunday, October 24
Stoke City v Manchester United
Verdict: Stoke City will look to break a torrid run of six games without a point against the league's 'Big 3' in Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal. In fact, the Potters have conceded 20 goals and scored only 2 in their encounters against the aforementioned, last season. Despite a poor start by their standards, Manchester United remain the only undefeated club in the BPL. Their inability to finish teams off has really been their downfall so far and such was the case last weekend. Uncharacteristic blunders by van der Sar and Evra enable WBA to snatch a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford. In their respective clash, Stoke City were dealt a bitter blow when Bolton scored moments before the final whistle to make it a 2-1 loss.
Manchester United received good news midweek that Rooney signed on for another 5 years. He will though not play a part in today's game after an ankle injury during training ruled him out for up to 3 weeks. Berbatov, Hernandez (played only 12 minutes), Scholes, and Ferdinand were all rested in the 1-0 midweek Champions' League win over Bursaspor which indicates just how important this game is to Sir Alex and the Red Devils. Stoke City are without the services of midfielder Dean Whitehead (serves a suspension) while Fuller is touch and go after dislocating his shoulder again. Stoke will look to stifle Manchester United and get the ball to Kenwyne Jones whenever possible. I believe United can really trouble Stoke across the back with their pace and movement off the ball, especially in the wing-back positions which are manned by two centre-halfs in Huth and Collins. Despite their run of draws, Manchester United are still the league's second highest scorers. I fancy the visitors to finally break their bad away run against a Stoke side over-reliant on one man, Kenwyne Jones.
Pick: Manchester United -1AH @2.25 (ibcbet, 10 units)
Stoke City 1 - 2 Manchester United
Manchester City v Arsenal
Verdict: Manchester City will look to make it 5 consecutive wins in the BPL when they face Arsenal. The Sky Blues have done just enough in their games to come away with maximum points without really exerting themselves. They may need to dig a little deeper here though as half of Arsenal's injured brigade return for this game with Fabregas, Bendtner, and Walcott all included in the squad. Last weekend, Manchester City got lucky against Blackpool to come away with a 2-3 away win whereas a fortunate first half penalty helped Arsenal to a 2-1 win over Birmingham City. In midweek, an Adebayor hat-trick resulted in a comfortable 3-1 victory over Leck Poznan whereas Arsenal turned on the style in a 5-1 win over Shaktar Donetsk.
The two goals conceded at Blackpool marked the first time that Manchester City had conceded more than a single goal this season, in all competitions. Perhaps the fact that Yaya Toure was absent has to do something with that and he again will be sidelined today. On the plus side for the home team, Adebayor and Tevez are in good form and should pose problems for an Arsenal backline missing first-choice central pairing, Vermaelen and Koscielny. Arsenal will have gained alot of confidence from the emphatic midweek win in Europe. In addition, with Fabregas pulling strings in midfield, I expect Arsenal to test Joe Hart in the Man City goals.
Pick: Over 2.25 goals @1.75 (ibcbet, 10 units)
Manchester City 0 - 3 Arsenal
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