Premier League Preview September 28th - 30th
Tottenham vs
Chelsea
Tottenham will go into this one with
all guns blazing after their 0-4 win at Villa Park in the cup on Tuesday. They
have utilised their squad tremendously winning every game since losing to
Arsenal.
There is a mood in the Tottenham camp
where they feel like they can really achieve something this season. The sale of
Gareth Bale has seemed to allow Spurs to find a collective of quality signings
and this fixture will be pivotal for them to gather early season momentum on in
their title push.
Chelsea recovered from a horrible week
a fortnight ago with two wins this past week and they will be hoping to
continue that run at White Hart Lane on Saturday.
Fernando Torres played well at Swindon
in the cup in mid-week and it will be interesting to see whether or not he will
get a start on Saturday.
Chelsea sit in 4th place in
the Premier league heading into this game and could leapfrog both Tottenham and
Arsenal into top spot with a win.
This will be a tight game, Tottenham
will be a tough nut to crack at home but Chelsea were very good in midweek, so
will be looking to build on that. I’m predicting a draw here.
Prediction: Tottenham 1-1 Chelsea
Aston
Villa vs Manchester City
Villa are now out of the Capital One
Cup, and to be honest it might be a blessing in disguise for them as now they
can focus on what really matters this season, winning games in the Premier
League.
A win at Norwich last Saturday gave
Villa only their second win of the season and manager Paul Lambert, but now
their prized asset Christian Benteke is out injured for between 4-6 weeks, They
have a backup in goal scorer from last week Libor Kozak, but Benteke will be
sorely missed for the Villa.
Manchester City will be buoyed by two
high scoring wins including one against rivals Manchester United and with
Bayern Munich coming up on Wednesday it will be interesting to see if he chops
and changes his team for this match at Villa Park.
City were shaky against Stoke in their
last away game, so it will be interesting to see how Manuel Pellegrini will set
up against another side away in the Premier league. He has got most of his
squad available and at his disposal it is important that they get a good result
heading into the match with Bayern on Wednesday.
Prediction:
Aston Villa 0-3 Manchester City
Fulham vs
Cardiff City
Fulham just managed to scrape through
to the next round of the Capital One cup against Everton on Tuesday, mainly
thanks to the partnership of Darren Bent and Dimitar Berbatov up front, so it
seems that they will have to stick with that partnership to score goals in this
game against Cardiff. They have not won since beating Sunderland on the opening
day.
Cardiff were unlucky to lose out to
Spurs last weekend in the last minute, with goalkeeper David Marshall in
inspired form and they will be hoping he will be in the same kind of form,
coming up against Fulham’s attack.
Fulham should win the game, but I feel
Cardiff won’t go down quietly.
Prediction:
Fulham 2- 1 Cardiff City
Hull vs West
Ham
If West Ham want to do well they will
really need to start scoring more goals away from home. It doesn’t help the
cause that they haven’t really got many options up front with Andy Carroll
still out injured.
Hull got an excellent result at
Newcastle last weekend thanks to Sone Aluko’s volley in a 2-3 win.
Steve Bruce is developing Hull into a
team that could really consolidate a place in this league. Danny Graham is
still without a goal but he is getting closer and closer. Once he does score
that should give him the confidence to keep on scoring as he is proven from his
time at Swansea in this league.
If West Ham score one goal, I think
they will try to shut up shop so to speak and try and hold Hull. Will it work?
Not for me.
Prediction:
Hull 1-1 West Ham
Manchester
United vs West Brom
A shambolic display against rivals Man
City last week saw United lose for the second time away in the Premier League
this season.
Beating Liverpool in the cup this past
week should give them confidence to beat West Brom in this fixture. They
weren’t they better side on Wednesday, but it is the result that counted in the
end and they were on the positive side of a 1-0 win, so that is all David Moyes
could have wanted .
West Brom have been short of goals
this season, until last week when they scored three against a hapless
Sunderland. They will also be tired from taking Arsenal all the way to
penalties and losing out on Wednesday.
Robin Van Persie is still out injured
for the Red Devils, but I suspect with other strikers Rooney and Hernandez in
tow, United will win this comfortably.
Prediction:
Manchester United 2-0 West Brom
Southampton
vs Crystal Palace
Palace were
totally out played and out classed by Swansea last week which will be a worry
for boss Ian Holloway. They will need to step up their game if they want to get
anything from this fixture.
Southampton
were really good at Liverpool and got their just rewards with a 0-1 win. They
have a really good team and with the strike force that they have at their
disposal it should be the difference in this game.
Prediction:
Southampton 2- 0 Crystal Palace
Swansea vs
Arsenal
Swansea have
been brilliant since losing their first two games of the season against
Manchester United and Spurs. They have drawn with Liverpool and hammered
Valencia in the Europa League.
They lost in
their defence of the Capital One Cup in midweek but Michael Laudrup seemed to
pick a team that would rest his key players so they will be prepared for this
game and others coming up.
Arsenal are
scoring freely away from home and have won their last 11 away games.
Giroud and
Ramsay have got the majority of their goals this season, with the latter being
in excellent form, almost unrecognisable from previous seasons, which has given
Arsene Wenger’s side belief that this could be the year to finally end the
trophy drought.
This is a
tough one to call; I think it will be a draw.
Prediction:
Swansea 2-2 Arsenal
Stoke
City vs Norwich City
Stoke are
ticking along nicely. They should be disappointed at the way they conceded
against Arsenal, but a win in the cup in mid-week should have put that to bed.
Norwich will
be concerned by the way they couldn’t convert their chances against Villa last
weekend. Having to go all the way in extra time to beat Watford last week would
not have helped Chris Hughton’s men.
I think
Stoke will win this one, there has been talk that Chris Hughton might lose his
job if the result goes against him, however I doubt that will happen.
Prediction:
Stoke City 2-1 Norwich
Sunderland
vs Liverpool
Sunderland are under pressure to
perform. Bottom of the League, everybody’s eyes on them after it was found out
that they complained about former boss Paolo Di Canio before he was sacked last
week.
A result against Peterborough in
mid-week should have them psyched up ready for this one against a Liverpool
side who lost last weekend, so they will feel that they are theirs for the
taking.
Liverpool will be worried as they have
lost their last two games, in league and cup, but Brendan Rogers will try to
assure them that they are the better team and make sure they keep their heads
and come away from the north east with a win.
Prediction:
Sunderland 1-3 Liverpool
Everton
vs Newcastle United
Everton were good value for their win
at West Ham last weekend, mainly thanks to the addition of Lukaku and McCarthy
at half time.
A defeat in the cup at Fulham on
Tuesday was their first in any competition this season, it was a random
selection choice by Roberto Martinez and I’m sure he was regretting his
decision after as they could have gone far in the competition.
Newcastle will be upset that they
couldn’t beat Hull in their last game, and they are not quite ready in my
opinion to scale the heights of yesteryear.
Everton have depth now, whereas
Newcastle do not. Given this I think Everton will win.
Prediction: Everton
2 -0 Newcastle
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