Last weekend the Premiership seemed to erupt with goals. City beat United 4-1 in the Sunday’s Manchester derby and on Saturday goal strugglers Newcastle and West Ham both scored twice, although their opposition scored three. In all twenty nine goals were scored, averaging just under three goals in each game.
What will be the talking points be come this Monday morning around the water cooler? Will we see as many goals as last week? Maybe not, but you can bet there will be more than a couple of talking points. I will do my best to tell you how I think the weekend will pan out.
Saturday (All Kick Off times 3pm BST/10am ET)
Spurs v Chelsea (Kick Off 12:45 BST/7:45 ET):
Tottenham have been on a roll recently but this will certainly be one of their biggest tests to date. Don’t get me wrong, you can only beat the side in front of you but that said their opening two games against Palace and Swansea were both won 1-0 and both on penalties. Recently against Cardiff they had almost 30 shots but only scored their winner deep into added time. Yes they beat Villa convincingly in the Capital One Cup midweek but when they faced Arsenal at the beginning of the month they lost 1-0, despite having more attempts. That said, you cannot argue with their current position, 2nd only on goal difference with the only team to beat them in the League this term.
Last season this fixture saw a 4-2 defeat by the visitors but now they are without Bale and Dempsey. That said the guy who scored a brace in that game for Chelsea, Juan Mata, cannot get a game under the returning Mourinho.
Chelsea have recently come off two 2-0 wins the latest being against lower league opposition in the Capital One Cup. Before that Mourinho had one of the worst weeks in his Chelsea career with a 2-1 loss to FC Basel at Stamford Bridge after initially being 1-0 up. That had followed a 1-0 loss away to Everton in the league. Chelsea are not the power houses they were in Mourinho’s first tenure as Manager. As a result the Tottenham camp will probably have no better opportunity to buck the trend in the recent results of this fixture.
An interesting sideline to the story of the match will be the return of the apprentice and the master. Mourinho and AVB used to work together but their relationship broke down and both went their separate ways. A look to the touchline at the beginning and at the end of the match will certainly be worth a look.
Prediction: 1-1
Aston Villa v Manchester City:
Aston Villa will be without Christian Benteke for the visit of an on fire Manchester City side Saturday. Last Saturday Paul Lambert got one over his old side yet again as Villa came away from Norfolk with all three points. Midweek however they were literally caught with their pants down as Tottenham dumped them out of the League Cup by a 4-0 score line.
Over the same period of time their opponents beat last years title winners and local rivals, Manchester United 4-1. Then they followed that up with a 5-0 win against Wigan to get some kind of revenge against the side which beat them in last seasons FA Cup. Pellegrini the Engineer shouted full steam ahead as the Citizens have recently steamrolled everyone in their way.
The real question for Manuel now is who to leave out for the trip to the Midlands. Recent and historical form say nothing but a City win, however that’s what everyone said about their trip to Cardiff, and that’s why we love the game.
Prediction: 1-3
Fulham v Cardiff:
Both sides have had a good result each so far this season but failed to build on it. Fulham kicked off with a win against Sunderland, which looked like a very good result at the time. However the recent failure to secure the three points at home to a struggling West Brom left a real foul taste in the mouth.
Cardiff on the other hand had that fantastic result against Manchester City in the second game of the season but then struggled against Hull. To be fair though it could be argued that the results they got, outside the Manchester City win, were expected.
Fulham will be the team looking to get their season back on track and have the three points come the Final whistle. A number of injuries for Martin Jol will not be helpful but with their midweek win against an undefeated Everton side will certainly have given the side a boost. The question is now can they build on that.
Prediction: 1-0
Hull v West Ham:
Stevie Bruce would be very pleased with his sides win last weekend against Newcastle. His dance down the touchline, although not a threat to any Dancing with the Stars celebrities, will be a sign to his rivals. The midweek Capital One Cup victory means they have now won their last two games and wins breed confidence.
West Ham are struggling with injuries to their strikers but despite that still scored twice against Everton last weekend and then three times against Cardiff in the Cup midweek. Is this the start of a West Ham run in the season? The stats from recent history between the two sides have seen the ‘Ammers unbeaten in their last five games.
Certainly neither side will want to lose this one and see their streak come to an end.
Prediction: 1-1
Manchester United v West Brom:
Against City last week United were terrible. Sure they were without RVP but certainly still should have put on a better showing than that. Rooney’s free kick was the only highlight for the red side of Manchester but in truth the blue side by that time had already mentally retired to the dressing rooms.
Midweek David Moyes did a good job of avoiding a disastrous week after defeating Liverpool in the Capital One Cup. Certainly that will all be for nothing if the result Saturday is anything other than a United win against West Brom.
West Brom hammered Sunderland 3-0 last weekend and took Arsenal to extra time and penalties on Wednesday in the cup. The last time these two met it was Alex Ferguson’s last game in charge of United when the final 10 minutes saw West Brom score three times to get a 5-5 draw.
Make no mistake though West Brom will have to be on the top of their game if they are to get anything from this game.
Prediction: 2-0
Southampton v Crystal Palace:
Southampton have struggled of late in the Premiership at home and no disrespect meant to Palace but they should be winning games like this. Pochettino has set up his men well recently and the result away to Liverpool last week will certainly have give them a Bob the Builder type mentality, can they do it? Yes they can. They do though have to take care of the clubs like Palace if they are to improve on last seasons finish.
Palace will welcome back Ian Holloway to the dugout after serving his two match ban. Last time out they faced a defeat to Swansea but didn’t have a Cup game midweek and so the boys would no doubt have been working all week on this fixture and hopefully stop the rot. The Palace manager has rightly said that there are no easy games in the Premiership and this season that is truer than ever before. The key for Palace is to get as many points away from home as they can, and that must start Saturday.
Prediction: 1-1
Swansea v Arsenal (5:30 BST/12:30 ET)
How Swansea will handle the pressures of European football and Premiership football was a big question for me at the beginning of the season. A lot of clubs without the resources of a United or Chelsea can struggle with the travel demands of competing in Europe and what we call the European hangover in the following league game zapping teams of their energies.
The first game after such a game knocked that theory on the head with a 2-0 win away to Palace which followed a 3-0 win away to Valencia. This week they were dumped out of the Capital One Cup which may not be such a bad thing. Certainly it is the cup they won last season so why try to win it again when you have other bigger fish for your net.
Midweek Arsenal also went to extra time and then penalties with West Brom but nothing about tiredness should be read into that as the majority of the side were youngsters and fringe players. Have no fear that Giroud and Ozil will be well rested and raring to go.
Prediction: 2-1
Sunday
Stoke City v Norwich (Kick Off 1:30pm BST/ 8:30am ET)
Mark Hughes has had a reasonably good start to his Stoke City career this season. The ex Manchester City and QPR manager certainly has something to prove after he started his managerial career with success with the Welsh National side and Blackburn followed by less than successful times at City, Fulham and the QPR.
The last six games for Stoke have certainly been on the right path with wins against every opponent except away to Arsenal and home to his old employers Manchester City. Norwich should be another scalp for him and move his side further up the table with the Norfolk side on a less than agreeable run.
A single win against Southampton is poor return for the money spent on attacking players this term. A defeat against Hull and Villa certainly garnered groans from the Norwich faithful and midweek was almost another disaster.
2-0 down against lower league opposition before Josh Murphy gave the canaries hope. Hooper scored with virtually the last touch of normal time to set up extra time. It was the ex Celtic striker again five minutes before penalties to save Hughton’s blushes.
Now Sunday we find if Tuesday was just a band aid over a wound or whether the canaries have fixed their wings and will now fly straight.
Prediction: 2-0
Sunderland v Liverpool (Kick Off 4pm BST/ 11am ET)
A midweek 2-0 win against Peterbro in the Capital One Cup was certainly way overdue for the Sunderland fans. That said though the fans would probably swap progress in the Cup for three points in the league. DiCanio was sacked last weekend after another woeful display and even a bizarre sign language conversation between him and some fans was not enough to stop the inevitable. Now where do Sunderland go from here? As I have said before it was the amount of players brought in I think was the first mistake and if that’s the case then the problem still remains. For players to gel takes time, everyone knows that, but also DiCanio’s man management skills left something to be desired also.
Liverpool, although defeated by Southampton last weekend, will not be a team you would want to meet when you are trying to get your first Premier League win. However for caretaker manager Kevin Ball it is a win-win situation.
If you lose against Liverpool then that is exactly what is expected but if you get a point or even three then the Black Cats have a new hero. Even if he doesn’t get the job full time, which going by reports he will not, then at least you will always be known for the turnaround.
Prediction: 1-1
Monday:
Everton v Newcastle (8pm BST/3pm ET)
They may have been dumped out of the Cup midweek but as far as their Premiership record goes there are not much better. They may be three points behind top boys Arsenal but they are the only side in the League who remain undefeated.
Newcastle beat their opponents in the midweek cup game but lost last week at home to Hull City. That defeat however was the first since the opening defeat to Manchester City. That was away and on a Monday as is this fixture.
Everton’s undefeated run has to end eventually and maybe Newcastle will be the ones to do it. Stranger things have happened and certainly a Newcastle win will not raise as many eyebrows as Cardiff beating Manchester City or Southampton beating Liverpool.
Prediction: 1-1
