English Premier League Round 13 (13-14/11)

Aston Villa v Manchester United
Manchester City v Birmingham City
Newcastle United v Fulham
Tottenham v Blackburn
West Ham United v Blackpool
Wigan Athletic v WBA
Wolverhampton v Bolton
Stoke City v Liverpool
Everton v Arsenal
Chelsea v Sunderland


Saturday, November 13


Aston Villa v Manchester United

Verdict: Both sides go into this encounter decimated with injuries to their respective squads. Despite this, there were some positives to take from midweek action with Aston Villa defeating Blackpool 3-2 and Manchester United having the better of a scoreless draw at Manchester City.

Aston Villa manager, Gerard Houllier, has no choice but to play a host of teenagers in consecutive matches with Reo-Coker, Petrov, Sidwell, Carew, and Heskey (to name a few) unavailable. Manchester United are better equipped to deal with just these sort of occassions and will field a strong enough (and experienced) team. Aston Villa struggled to defeat a Blackpool side that made 9 changes to their regular first team, just a few days ago, so it's hard to see them getting anything from this game.

Pick: Manchester United -0.5ah @1.80 (sbobet, 10 units)
Aston Villa 2 - 2 Manchester United


Manchester City v Birmingham City

Verdict: Birmingham City go into this game with one of the worst away records in the top flight. The 3-2 defeat at Stoke City midweek condemned the Brummies to a run of 6 away games without a win and a tally of 12 goals conceded. Meanwhile, Manchester City will be breathing fire after their poor display in the scoreless Manchester Derby. With just a single win in their last 4 league encounters, the pressure is building on Mancini to change his team's fortunes.

Manchester City has been relatively assured on their home turf so far this season with just the single defeat coming at the hands of Arsenal 3 weeks ago. It is also worthy mentioning that the Sky Blues have hosted Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool this term so to concede a meager 5 goals at home is a good effort. Considering that Birmingham City has conceded at an average of 2 goals a game on their travels, including 3 against poor scorers Stoke City midweek, Manchester will really fancy their chances of getting a big win here.

Pick: Manchester City -1.25ah @2.07 (sbobet, 10 units)
Manchester City 0 - 0 Birmingham City


Sunday, November 14

Chelsea v Sunderland

Verdict: League leaders Chelsea will look to further strengthen their stranglehold on first place, following the recent slip-ups of both Manchester clubs, when they face a hungry Sunderland side. In midweek, the Blues did enough to get over London rivals, Fulham, in a 1-0 win whereas Sunderland regained some pride after their Wearside mauling (5-1 loss to Newcastle United) with a battling 1-1 result at Tottenham.

For one reason or another, Chelsea has been unconvincing for close to 2 months now. The news that Lampard will not be back for another 3 weeks, coupled with the absence of Essien, Terry, and Alex - the league leaders are no where near their strongest at the moment. Sunderland will continue to miss the services of top scorer Darren Bent but Asamoah Gyan has been a revelation since joining the Black Cats from Rennes while the backline, led by the brilliant Turner, is a hard one to break down. With Chelsea lacking the aforementioned players and in poor form, I give the visitors a good chance to keep this close.

Pick: Sunderland +1.75ah @2.03 (sbobet, 10 units)
Manchester City 0 - 3 Sunderland


Everton v Arsenal

Verdict: Everton will look to stretch their unbeaten league run to 8 games when they welcome title-chasing Arsenal. In midweek, the Toffees had to rely on a late goal by Jermaine Beckford to snatch a 1-1 draw against Bolton, despite dominating possession and creating most of the opportunities. Arsenal made easy work of an in-form Wolves side with a 0-2 win at The Molineaux.

Everton will miss the services of the suspended Marouane Fellaini with Johnny Heitinga most certainly coming in as his replacement. Arsenal are almost at full strength with the exception of long-term injury victims, Vermaelen and Koscielny. With Everton's physical approach, spearheaded by Cahill and the improving Yakubu, I feel the Toffees can cause Arsenal a problem or two in defence.

Pick: Everton +0.25ah @1.85 (sbobet, 10 units)
Everton 1 - 2 Arsenal