Premier League discussion Sat 18/Sun 19/Mon 20 December 2010

Saturday, 18 December 2010
Sunderland v Bolton, 12:45
Arsenal v Stoke, 15:00
Birmingham v Newcastle, 15:00
Blackburn v West Ham, 15:00
Wigan v Aston Villa, 15:00
Liverpool v Fulham, 17:30

Sunday, 19 December 2010
West Brom v Wolverhampton, 12:00
Blackpool v Tottenham, 13:30
Chelsea v Man Utd, 16:00

Monday, 20 December 2010
Man City v Everton, 20:00

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The final set of fixtures before we tuck into our roast turkey, take a swig of wine and ask a family member to pass us the facking gravy.

But whick teams will it be a merry Christmas for?


Sunderland vs Bolton

A nice early fixture to wake up bleary eyed to. Both teams will be absolutely delighted with their season so far both in where they lie in the table and with the football they are playing. Bolton are only 5 points off 4th place and have only lost 1 in 7 in a game where they were unfortunate to lose away at City. Players like Lee and Holden have really impressed this season with the centre back pairing of Cahill and Knight looking very solid also. They've only lost 3 all season but have only won 2 of their 8 away games.

Sunderland are unbeaten at home and have only conceded 5 times at the SOL. IMO they've played their best football this season when Bent hasn't started and Gyan and Welbeck have been paired up front but Bent remains a top finisher and a favourite of Bruce, I'm just not sure he fits into the new style of play Bruce has been experimenting with this season with the quick passing and getting the ball into the flanks.

Prediction: Home win.

Arsenal vs Stoke

A poor matchday last time out for Arsenal with an uninspiring performance at Old Trafford; they didn't look like they believed they could go there and win, Wilshere didn't have a particularly effective game, Song gave too many fouls away and by the end the desperation showed as Wenger risked Fabregas who clearly wasn't fit and brought on Walcott who only added to the frustration.

Despite this, Arsenal could take massive advantage of Chelsea and/or United dropping points on sunday but if memory serves me Arsenal have had a few poor results vs Stoke in the last couple of years and they are exactly the sort of side that can get into them, close down space and test Arsenal's diversity. It hasn't been a great season for Stoke but they've been getting points on the board lately. They'll be dissapointed with a loss at home to Blackpool but will come here looking for the point, no doubt about it, and they're often extremely apt at getting it.

Prediction: Home win.

Birmingham vs Newcastle

What a week it was for Newcastle; the despair of the sacking of Hughton followed by a great win over Liverpool (I wonder how many times I'll say that this season ) leaves the fans with mixed emotions I'm sure. Perhaps Pardew had nothing to do with the victory and it was simply down to adrenaline but Newcastle looked comfortable at home which they haven't done for large parts of the season. Pardew may not be as attack minded as Hughton was but if he can add a bit of stability at the back then Newcastle can still have a strong season.

Birmingham haven't enjoyed this season so far. Just 3 wins, none away from home but they've only been beaten at St Andrews once. The problem they have is up front, Gardner is there top scorer with 4 league goals, Zigic has 2, Jerome has 3. Perhaps Mcleish just needs to focus on bringing an out and out finisher in, in January. Of course, Kevin Phillips has been out most of the season which doesn't help as he does this job brilliantly.

Prediction: Draw

Blackburn vs West Ham

Speaking of manager's being sacked...Allardyce is no longer at the helm, his tea drinking days with Ferguson may increase but it was a bitter blow for a man who was using Blackburn as a stop-gap before taking on the job at Camp Nou in a couple of years time. In terms of their league position, they're doing quite well. They're on course for a comfortable mid-table finish but if they Bring Diego Maradona in then it could, fuck it, it will all go tits up.

West Ham are just waiting for the inevitable now really, they're a championship side plus Scott Parker.

Prediction: Home win.

Wigan vs Aston Villa

Houllier got a big win vs West Brom last weekend that's just made his job a bit more comfortable but Villa have only won one away from home this season and this is a game where they should expect to win. Heskey showed why he was picked for the World Cup this summer by getting the winner but will Houllier stick with him? This reporter says yes.

Wigan are another rubbish team beginning with the letter 'W'.

Prediction: Away win

Liverpool vs Fulham

Fuck. Are we playing again?

I've said all I need to say about Liverpool this season really. We'll probably win this seeing as Hodgson must surely know how to beat Fulham but then we'll go and lose to Blackpool the following week away from home. Our performance last weekend was one of the worst of the season, the game last night was a disgrace to football, Gerrard will still be out, Carragher too. On the plus side Konchesky gets to show Fulham fans why he made the leap to a big club, perhaps he'll even be given the captains armband.

Fulham are the draw specialists with 10 draws this season, this really worries me. The longer the game goes on the more chance we wont make the breakthrough and the itchier Roy Hodgson's face will become.

Prediction: Home win (but only just)

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The other summaries will have to wait for tomorrow, I'm such a fucking teaser.

Previews


Spuds-Blackpool is the game of the weekend, neither side can defend, only one goalkeeper between them, and plenty of attacking talent on show. Should be a corker.

Ballast wrote:Previews


Spuds-Blackpool is the game of the weekend, neither side can defend, only one goalkeeper between them, and plenty of attacking talent on show. Should be a corker.

I expect the Chelsea game to be a massive bore-fest.

City game could be interesting.

Chelsea-ManYoo will be shit, and will almost certainly end in a draw.

Stoke-Arsenal should be an arse kicking, the result is largely irrelevant as long as a couple more Arsenal players get injured.

Birmingham-Sports Direct FC could go any way, but I'm expecting a relatively stale match as reality bites for Pardew, and because Birmingham are a bit shit.

Citeh-Everton will likely be a City win, but the Tevez factor could screw everything up. Still, he's being replaced by Yaya Toure as City's most important player, and you never know, Mancini might actually grow a pair and pick more than one proper forward.

Gyan vs. Elmander - heart says Sunderland, head says Bolton, will probably end up a good score draw. Worth watching for those up early on Saturday.

Blackburn-Wham should be a win for Blackburn as Big Sam's reign of terror is over.

Likely managerial casualty of this weekend - gotta be Mick McCarthy. Rumour is he wants to sign Robbie Keane and Joleon Lescott, which should be worth a sacking regardless of anything else.

Any games in danger of being called off?

I guess Blackpool is the most likely due to no underground heating.

It's snowing very heavily in Liverpool so I'd imagine our game is in danger.

No Snow in North London luckily as I should be going to the Arsenal game

Villa is very likely to be off. Bloody Wigan


edit: yep, postponed.

Game there got postponed last year too when their undersoil heating failed. This time they say pitch is fine, but the surrounding area is too treacherous. Lame.

Also the Oxford-Shrewsbury game I was going to is off

Fuck you snow. No longer going to the game because my friend cant get there cos of the snow.

Snowing in North London now though.

Liverpool vs. Fulham is now postponed.

Rosicky wrote:

Fuck you snow. No longer going to the game because my friend cant get there cos of the snow.

Snowing in North London now though.

Why don't you just find a better friend? Or do they have the tickets

debaser wrote:

Rosicky wrote:

Fuck you snow. No longer going to the game because my friend cant get there cos of the snow.

Snowing in North London now though.

Why don't you just find a better friend? Or do they have the tickets

They have the tickets sadly.

Anyway judging by the snow now i reckon the game stands a high chance of being called off.

Brum v Newcastle off. It's been seriously blizzarding down in North London for the past hour and the snow is settling, won't hold up hopes of Arsenal match being played.

Arsenal surely will be off and maybe Blackburn

It's confirmed - Arsenal vs. Stoke has been postponed.

Not surprised its snowing like a bastard.

Good thing I held off on leaving. I was just on my way out when I heard it was postponed. Can't say I'm too disappointed, it's bloody cold out there and I'm horribly hungover, so this is undoubtedly the most convenient outcome.

Only games are Sunderland and West Ham. Thank fuck for La Liga

Pathetic, if our game against Chelsea could go ahead then so can all the others. Birmingham should get a point deduction.

Arsenal v Stoke off.

Is pretty lame like..all the games seemed to be going on the other week when the snow was shitting down around here..all these faggots get a bit of snow and they're calling it off.

The worst thing about this is that MOTD won't deal with there being less matches by showing longer highlights, but by having more of Shearer and Lawro blathering on about absolutely nothing.

This is embarrassing, have they even tried to do anything about it? We've known that this snow was coming for ages. We got a surprise 2 feet and the Chelsea game still went ahead.

I dont think they know about grit down there. They just see snow and instantly feel the need to frolic.

If it was ice I could understand but is snow really that dangerous? It's thick snow here in Liverpool, it's a bit difficult to walk in maybe but to cancel a game? Not so sure really.

I now have 4 Fantasy footy players And it will probably decrease to 3 once Spurs is called off

Chelsea v Utd off.

Fucking hell..

TheCrazy58 wrote:Chelsea v Utd off.

A full 24 hours in advance?

1-0 Welbeck

Good goal..Great touch from Bent prior to that.