Premier League discussion thread 29th Sept - 1st Oct 2007

Saturday, 29 September 2007
Man City v Newcastle, 12:45
Chelsea v Fulham, 15:00
Derby v Bolton, 15:00
Portsmouth v Reading, 15:00
Sunderland v Blackburn, 15:00
West Ham v Arsenal, 15:00
Wigan v Liverpool, 15:00
Birmingham v Man Utd, 17:15

Sunday, 30 September 2007
Everton v Middlesbrough, 16:00

Monday, 01 October 2007
Tottenham v Aston Villa, 20:00


. . . . . . . .

From the title challengers, we have the biggest test of the weekend. I actually think this is a bigger game than the Sevilla one in terms of shaping our season.

Chelsea should easily win at home and you would expect Man Utd and Liverpool to win away from home.

If Bolton can't beat Derby, then Gartside should do something that he has never done before. Sack a manager.

The power of Ashton and the pace of Bellamy could cause Arsenal some problems, but how good will the West Ham defence/midfield be against Arsenal?

I think Arsenal will win but West Ham did do the double over Arsenal last season.

Well Gallas is still out through injury, so it will be Senderos and Toure at the back for us. Toure should have enough to cope with the pace of Bellamy. Senderos will need a big game to take care of an in-form Dean Ashton.

West Ham beat us twice last season with a score of 1-0 in each game. They also held us to a 0-0 draw at Upton Park and defeated us 3-2 at Highbury the season before last. Two years previous to that they were in the Championship so we have not beaten them since 2003.

Hopefully we can keep our very good form up and running.

Time to score a few goals i reckon. 0-4 pretty confident on that.
Not really a blockbuster this week.

L r d wrote:Time to score a few goals i reckon. 0-4 pretty confident on that.
Not really a blockbuster this week.

Hasn't every prediction you've made so far involved you scoring 4?

I'm still not sure whether Gilberto or Diarra will start for us. We may need to play a high tempo game verses the Hammers so Diarra may be the better option

I'm looking forward to the Arsenal West Ham game.

Tests for both teams, whether West Ham can compete with some of the so called 'top 4' and whether Arsenal can maintain their good run of results passed a solid outfit.

You feeling confident Tweeds?

@ FG

No, not really. We lost both games last season. Mentally I'm worried that this may affect the players. Being away from home obviously compiles this.

I think squad selection for this game is key. We need players that will harry West Ham. I'm condfident that they won't outpass us but we need to be aware of their danger from set pieces, defend with a high line and try and win the ball as far up the pitch as possible. We have our own in form striker at the moment in Adebayor. I hope he continues this. When he's confident he plays without fear + he always seems to raise his game for the tough/big games.

I'd also be tempted to opt for Diaby still on the left as in the last two games to add some much needed steel to our midfield. The last two games he's been phenomenal for us

Tweedle wrote:

L r d wrote:Time to score a few goals i reckon. 0-4 pretty confident on that.
Not really a blockbuster this week.

Hasn't every prediction you've made so far involved you scoring 4?

Yeah....but the last game is the nearest it's been, so i wouldn't be so surprised this time

West ham v Arsenal is the biggest game of the weekend, if Bellamy is back they have a chance, otherwise probably Arsneal win.

Is RVP out?

Football Genius wrote:Is RVP out?

No. Rested last weekend as it was only Derby. He had 6 months without football so I think Wenger thought he'd give him a break to let him recover a bit after a run of about 7 games weekend and mid-week.

Our squad will probably be:

--------------Almunia---------------

Sagna---Touré--Senderos--Clichy

Hleb--Fabregas---*A*--------*B*

--------Adebayor--RVP-----------

*A* - not sure between Diarra, Gilberto or Flamini. Gilberto has apparently had a row with Wenger. Diarra has been exceptional every time he's played

*B* - Not too sure on Rosicky's fitness, nor for that matter, Hleb's. Diaby may be an option on either flank

Cesc wrote:From the title challengers, we have the biggest test of the weekend. I actually think this is a bigger game than the Sevilla one in terms of shaping our season.

Chelsea should easily win at home and you would expect Man Utd and Liverpool to win away from home.

If Bolton can't beat Derby, then Gartside should do something that he has never done before. Sack a manager.

Don't agree, Fulham are no mugs, whilst Chelsea have home advantage, it's still a good time to play Chelsea IMO, Fulham may grind out a point but Chelsea will probably win, it wont be easy though

Chelsea have been charged with failure to control their players in their game against Man Utd by the FA.

Is Hleb back for this game? We should find out today. Rosicky is obviously out. I would play Diaby as a wide player instead of Walcott. Maybe Eboue is back in contention for a start as a right sided wide player.

I would probably stick with Flamini for this game. I'm not buying Myles Palmer's "friend of a friend told me" rubbish though.

Sheffield gunner wrote:Chelsea have been charged with failure to control their players in their game against Man Utd by the FA.

disgraceful


the FA should be charged with failing to control their refs

Speaking of refs, has the rule where a player is offside from a corner when the defenders push out been abolished? how many times has that happened over the past few days

Sheffield gunner wrote:Chelsea have been charged with failure to control their players in their game against Man Utd by the FA.

I think Chelsea are in easy target regarding fines. This is a great oppitunity for the fraud association to make some more dosh.

COTR wrote:

Sheffield gunner wrote:Chelsea have been charged with failure to control their players in their game against Man Utd by the FA.

disgraceful


the FA should be charged with failing to control their refs

Nah , Terry is lucky he has escaped punishment. Also assistant boss Steve Clarke has also been charged with using abusive and/or insulting words towards officials.

L r d wrote:

Sheffield gunner wrote:Chelsea have been charged with failure to control their players in their game against Man Utd by the FA.

I think Chelsea are in easy target regarding fines. This is a great oppitunity for the fraud association to make some more dosh.

If mourinho was still in charge they would never be getting this charge. He would still be bleating on about the injustice from the game

In fact they would already have had numerous phone calls from the ref committee to apologise

Luis wrote:Speaking of refs, has the rule where a player is offside from a corner when the defenders push out been abolished? how many times has that happened over the past few days

you can't be offside from a corner. unless you're talking about the corner taker playing a one-two with someone else.

I think Luis means when the ball is cleared and the defenders come out and the ball is sent back in towards goal, like with the first Reading goal on Tuesday, or with one of Chelsea's goals yesterday where they had someone standing in front of the goalkeeper.

debaser wrote:

Luis wrote:Speaking of refs, has the rule where a player is offside from a corner when the defenders push out been abolished? how many times has that happened over the past few days

you can't be offside from a corner. unless you're talking about the corner taker playing a one-two with someone else.

Hehe.

Unless it's the 2nd phase of the corner.

Chelsea 4-3 Fulham

Lawrie Sanchez will once again show the spirit he's given his Fulham side, glossing over the awful defensive defencies, while Avram will show how he's an entertaining manager after 4 goals from long balls, glossing over the fact they are awful in defence.

At least in theory.

Newcastle for us, it will be a tough game but i think we have the ability to win it. I worry about Martins cos i think he is awsome but it hopefully Richards will be up for the challenge. Also Viduka always does well against us which is a concern. Its another good challenge for us and TBH after playing them we dont have many more top 10 teams left to play.

Oh yeah and i hope Barton starts cos i want to give that little c**t a load of abuse. Still if he isnt there Smith is a good target.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7008227.stm

Lawro's predictions.

He's tipping Arsenal to lose this weekend. Most of the other results seem about right though.

He's such a bellend!

Ray Parlour wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7008227.stm

Lawro's predictions.

He's tipping Arsenal to lose this weekend. Most of the other results seem about right though.

He's such a bellend!

There's precedant though and the Hammers have improved their squad. I've predicted us to lose as well

Ray Parlour wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7008227.stm

Lawro's predictions.

He's tipping Arsenal to lose this weekend. Most of the other results seem about right though.

He's such a bellend!

Bloody hell, what a wanker hey.

Lawro is a wanker though... doesn't matter if he predicts Spurs to Win, lose or draw, he's still a wanker.

Parks lives wrote:

Ray Parlour wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7008227.stm

Lawro's predictions.

He's tipping Arsenal to lose this weekend. Most of the other results seem about right though.

He's such a bellend!

Bloody hell, what a wanker hey.

I wasn't making reference to the fact he predicted us to lose, as TS said he's a wanker in general and talks out of his arse.

$h!t just heard Bianchi is out of the game on Saturday, that blows.