Last weekend was eventful with Arsenal, Chelsea and City strengthening their Premiership title credentials. Liverpool suffered a bad defeat while Tottenham and Manchester United did neither any favors when they shared the spoils.
Fulham lost again and that was enough to put the final nail in Martin Jols coffin so we will have a change of leadership in Wednesdays game against Tottenham. Can the new man pull them out of the relegation zone or was Jol not the problem at the Cottage. The next few weeks will certainly do something to answer some of these questions.
TUESDAY.
Crystal Palace v West Ham (Kick off 8pm BST/3pm ET)
Tuesday just sees the one game in which Tony Pulis takes charge of the Eagles for his second game, but his home debut. It was never going to be an easy fix with Palace and I am sure the mentality of the Palace boss is purely to stop the slide for right now and then strengthen in January.
West Ham did well to beat Fulham on Saturday and by three goals too. This will be a much tougher ask for Big Sams team though as I think although Palace do not boast a Berbatov or Bent, they have shown a willingness to scrap for points.
Prediction: 2-0.
WEDNESDAY.
(All kick off times 7:45 BST/2:45 ET unless stated).
Arsenal v Hull
Arsenal are flying right now and despite the fantastic win against Liverpool at the weekend I think this will be too much of a big ask for Steve Bruce’s men. After this game Arsenal face a very tricky run of games and so to get anything other than the three points here would be considered a slip up.
Hull will be looking to the 2008 away fixture when they came away from Arsenal with a 2-1 win but most likely it will be a repeat of the result almost exactly four years ago. That day the Gunners beat the Tigers 3-0.
Prediction: 3-0
Fulham v Tottenham (8pm BST/ 3pm ET):
This weekend I think Fulham made a big mistake by getting rid of Martin Jol. I do not think Rene Meulensteen will fair any better with this side and I think the rest of the season will be a struggle. I do not think they will go down, but I didn’t think that under Jol either.
Meulensteen will have wanted a different game for his first in charge with an under fire Andre Villas Boas ready to strike out after conceding eight goals to two Manchester teams in the past week. That made it four games in the league without a win and I doubt this will make it five.
Prediction: 1-3.
Liverpool v Norwich
Liverpool come into this game with a point to prove after a poor display against Hull midweek and Norwich, even though they won at the weekend, were not convincing at all. Add to that the fact Suarez is like a Canary killer, seven goals in the last three meetings mean I wouldn’t bet against multiple goals in this game again.
Norwich has an injury list of key players Snodgrass and Pilkington while big name Ricky Van Wolfswinkel has still to get back on the pitch and prove his worth. I do not see this going any other way than a big Liverpool win.
Prediction: 4-0.
Manchester United v Everton.
Moyes and Fellaini join Rooney in facing their old side, Everton this week. This fixture comes with Everton two points ahead of United and coming off a great weekend result. The last time Everton went to Old Trafford and got the win was back in August of 1992, the first year of the Premier League.
Both sides are unbeaten in their last six Premiership games each with three wins and three tied games. The difference is that two of Everton’s dropped points were against Spurs and Liverpool while United dropped points against Cardiff and Southampton.
I really think Roberto Martinez will have the measure of Moyes and if the home side play as they have recently then it should be a very interesting game.
Prediction: 1-1
Southampton v Villa
An injury to Artur Boruc on Sunday probably handed the win to Chelsea in the end. That may be a bit unfair to Chelsea but the replacement Gazziniga is untested and the go ahead goal came after the injury. For this reason I fear that all of the good work put in by Southampton and Pochettino could unravel somewhat with this injury. This is the first real test of Southampton’s back up goalkeeper and if he can handle Benteke and co then his confidence will only grow.
Prediction: 2-1
Stoke v Cardiff
Battle of the almost-basement sides when Cardiff visit Stoke on Wednesday. Everton hammered Stoke on Saturday which put their recent good results in check. Other than a narrow defeat at Old Trafford they were unbeaten but not really showing edge to go on and put teams away.
Cardiff also lost heavy at the weekend to Arsenal but before that had made things very difficult for Manchester United who relied on a very fortunate Wayne Rooney to grab them a point.
Prediction: 2-1
Sunderland v Chelsea.
I have a very funny feeling about this game and common sense shouldn’t lead anyone to any other prediction than a Chelsea win. Sunderland did beat Manchester City and Newcastle at the Stadium of Light and Chelsea have been inconsistent.
The last time Chelsea lost in the League was up in Newcastle and I wouldn’t be surprised if a similar result happened here too.
Prediction: 1-0
Swansea v Newcastle
Can Newcastle make it five wins from five with their trip to Wales? If they do it could see them launch themselves into the top four but I honestly do not think it will happen. A tied game looks the most likely outcome with home field advantage swaying my opinion in that direction.
Next up for Newcastle is another away trip to Manchester United on Saturday so any points here for the visiting side will be fantastic.
Prediction: 2-2
West Brom v Manchester City (Kick off 8pm BST/3pm ET):
Will Kompany be back for this game? I am not sure if Pellegrini will be rushing the Captain back before he is ready and so if he is in the starting eleven it will be great news for City fans. City have been lacking something in the defensive end. The winning goal for Sunderland was scored on one of Sunderland’s rare attacks and Englands number 1 was held responsible for mistakes before that. Since Pantilimon has come in the defense has kept three clean sheets in the League and scoring 16 goals in those three games. Even then the frailties in the City defense are still there for all to see. The question is can Long and Sessegnon exploit those gaps, when Swansea, Spurs and Norwich couldn’t.
The thing going for the Baggies is the fact that City have been poor away this season. Only one win away in the Premiership so far this season. That is, and will not be, good enough to lead City to a title and so something needs to change and soon.
Prediction: 1-3
