Hyundai A-League Preview – Week 16

Week 14 of the Barclays Premier League kicks off late on Saturday night our time, and if it’s anything like last week we are in for some great entertainment. 

We start proceedings with Newcastle United facing their third massive test in as many weeks, taking on a Chelsea side that looks to have hit form once again following their 3-0 win over Wolves at the weekend. However this was brought to a halt yesterday morning as they were well beaten (2-0) by Liverpool at home in the Carling Cup, albeit with a slightly understrength team. 
 
Nevertheless, the confidence that was gained from their weekend Premier League romp may have slightly evaporated following that cup exit, Newcastle may well take advantage of that this week. Newcastle hung on for a 1-1 draw against Manchester United last week in what was a gutsy performance with 10 men on the pitch for the the last 15 minutes. 
 
That point for Newcastle kept them in 4th place just above Chelsea and they would love nothing more than to go 4 points clear after this match, I can’t see them getting all 3 points here despite being played at St James Park, but I think they will have enough in them to get another point against a genuine top 4 competitor.
 
A run of 5 games at 2am Sunday morning our time gives us a bit of choice, if you’re anything like me though you’ll end up watching bits of every match and getting constant scores updates. 
 
The first of these games sees Blackburn hosting Swansea City at Ewood Park following their 2-0 loss to Cardiff City in the Carling Cup. Things seem to be going from bad to worse for Blackburn as they sit rooted to the bottom of the table after 13 weeks on just 7 points. Swansea City currently occupy 13th place and they have been a bit of a surprise packet so far this season.
 
Defensively Swansea City have been quite solid, it’s just the goal scoring department they seem to be struggling and in January they may just have to dip into the market if they want to consolidate their place in the Premier League next season. At home, Blackburn have scored just 6 goals, but Swansea have not fared much better away from home with no wins and 4 losses from their 6 away games. I can see that trend continuing here and am going for a narrow home win.
 
Next up we have Manchester City playing hosts to Norwich City, fresh from their narrow 1-0 Carling Cup win over Arsenal, they will no doubt rotate their quality squad and put out another team of superstars here. Last week Man City played out a 1-1 draw with Liverpool to keep their unbeaten start to the season going and they also kept their 5 point lead at the top if the table in tact.

 
 
Norwich City beat fellow newcomers QPR last weekend and that pushed them up into the top half of the table for the first time this season. To be honest I can’t see them getting a result against Manchester City at home, I think there will be plenty of goals in this one, I just think most of those if not all of them will be beside Man City’s name on the scoresheet come fulltime. 
 
West Brom travel to London to take on a QPR side on the end of a 2-1 loss to Norwich City last weekend. Both sides currently sit mid table and many pundits wrote both of these sides off at the beginning of the season as relegation fodder. Whilst they may never get into the European places, or even the top half of the table for that matter, they still have enough about them this season to ensure they’ll be back to give it another crack next season.
 
I may be getting a bit ahead of myself there but there are many teams below them that have more to worry about at the moment and I can see both beating the drop quite comfortably. The last time these two sides met was in the 2009/10 Championship season, QPR won the match 3-1 but it was ultimately West Brom who would be promoted that season. I fancy an away win here with West Brom to continue QPR’s woeful home record.
 
Tottenham host Bolton at White Hart Lane in the fourth of our viewers choice matches. Tottenham are coming off the back of a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Monday morning which makes it 5 wins in a row now in the EPL. The last time they failed to secure all 3 points was against Newcastle on the 16th of October and their last defeat came just 2 weeks into the season when they were smashed 5-1 by Manchester City at home, that seems to be the wake-up call they needed and they are now a genuine chance to make the top 4, as much as I hate to say so as a die-hard Gooner!

Bolton on the other hand, well their season could not be any more different, they have lost 4 of their last 6 games but surprisingly enough their form away from home has been better than that of their home form, but that isn’t hard considering they have just the 1 win at home and 6 losses from 7 games played. I can’t go past a Tottenham win here and by at least a couple of goals.

The last of the 2am fixtures sees Arsenal travelling to Wigan on the back of an unbeaten streak in the Premier league that extends to 2 months prior to kick off in this match. Arsenal last tasted defeat on the 2nd of October against Tottenham and their only defeat since then came just yesterday at the hands of Manchester City in the Carling Cup. A strong performance by the young Gunners was not enough as they just could not put the ball in the back of the net, this may lead Wenger to splashing out on a quality backup to Robin van Perise as the others just don’t seem to be able to cut it at the moment, most notably Maroune Chamakh.

Last weekend goals at either end by Thomas Vermaelen ended the Gunners winning streak as they stumbled to a 1-1 draw at home to Fulham.

Wigan head into this match having won their first match in over a month with a 2-1 win over Sunderland. In saying that though, Sunderland have major problems at the moment with Steve Bruce just sacked by the club, but a win is a win and it may just start them on their way back up the ladder. I can’t see that continuing this week though as Arsenal should hit back after that 1-1 draw last weekend, Arsenal by a couple of goals for me.

The last of the Saturday matches (Sunday our time) sees Aston Villa hosting second placed Manchester United at Villa Park. Manchester United as I write this have just lost 2-1 after extra time against Crystal Palace in the Carling Cup albeit with a team full of kids bar Dimitar Berbatov, so they’ll probably consider the loss a blessing in some ways as it allows them to focus on more important competitions such as the Premier League, and they still have to try and qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Aston Villa put up no fight against Tottenham in a 2-0 loss last weekend but there is no doubt that a couple of their players were shaken up by the news of Gary Speeds death earlier that morning. Goalkeeper Shay Given was visibly shaken up and was reduced to tears during the minutes silence. Villa have been good at home this season and I think they will give United a real run for their money here, United themselves are going through a rough patch of form and I can see the most likely outcome here a draw.

Monday morning sees two matches with the first being Everton v Stoke City from Goodison Park. Everton are looking for their 3rd win in a row after wins over Wolves and Bolton in recent weeks. They have decent home form going into this one with 3 wins and a draw from the their six games and they currently site in 8th spot on the ladder with a chance at a European place up for grabs for them.

Stoke City bounced back with a 3-1 win over Blackburn last week after 4 straight defeats and conceding 14 goals in the process. Stoke’s away form has been pretty miserable this season with just 1 win from 6 matches. Their last away match was a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Bolton and I can’t see that form improving this week, for me this should be a relatively easy win for the Toffees at home.

The second of the matches on Monday morning at 3am comes to us from Molineux Stadium with Wolves hosting Sunderland. I’m not sure how Sunderland are going to react after Steve Bruce’s sacking but usually this kind of adversity lifts a team even if it is just for the short term. Wolves only win in their last 6 matches came against Wigan 3 weeks ago and that coincidently was their last home match as well.

Sunderland are without a win since the 22nd of October this year and that no doubt had a lot to do with Steve Bruce being sacked. The Premier League is a cut throat business and the downward spiral that Sunderland were on could no longer be tolerated by the owners who are looking to build the club into a contender for Europe. Only 4 points from the bottom of the table shows just how far from that they really are and they will need to rebuild starting this weekend. I think Wolves at home should be able to delay that rebuilding for another week though but this will be a close game.

The final match of week 14 sees Liverpool travelling to Craven Cottage to tackle Fulham on Tuesday morning our time. Liverpool are coming off a hard fought 1-1 draw with Premier League leaders Manchester City on Monday and a 2-0 win over Chelsea in the Carling Cup yesterday morning. Fulham are coming off a good 1-1 draw against Arsenal at the Emirates and really could have even come away with the win in that one.

Liverpool currently sit in 6th place just a win outside the top 4 and their away form has far outclassed their form at Anfield so far this season with 4 wins from 6 games. From the match against Chelsea in the Carling Cup they have lost Lucas with what looks to be an ACL injury, this could see him out for the remainder of the season and could force Liverpool to dip into the market in January if that prognosis is confirmed. Despite this I think Liverpool should have enough in them to get all 3 points this weekend.

A cracking weekend of Premier League action awaits us and be sure to use the EPL hashtags below that us and our friend Dansportzblog.com are trying to get trending on Twitter. These hashtags are like the ones we currently use for A-League matches and the idea behind it is to get fans of both teams tweeting about the games for a bit of extra banter.

Match Hashtags & Tips - Week 14
#nufcvcfc – Draw
#brfcvscfc – Blackburn
#mcfcvncfc – Man City
#qprvwba – West Brom
#thfcvbwfc – Tottenham
#wiganvafc – Arsenal
#avfcvmufc – Draw
#efcvstoke – Everton
#wolvesvsfc – Wolves
#ffcvlfc - Liverpool

Banter’s Best Bets:
Newcastle v Chelsea – Newcastle +0.5 @ $1.83
Blackburn v Swansea – Total game score over (+2.5) @ $1.88
Man City v Norwich – Total game score over (+2.5) @ $ 1.38
QPR v West Brom – West Brom +0.5 @ $1.63
Tottenham v Bolton – Tottenham @ $1.30
Wigan v Arsenal – Total game score over (+2.5) @ $1.65
Aston Villa v Man Utd – Aston Villa +0.5 @ $2.20
Everton v Stoke – Everton @ $1.71
Wolves v Sunderland – Total game score under (+3.5) @ $1.22
Fulham v Liverpool – Total game score under (+2.5) @ $1.71