Thursday 26 September 2013

Barclays Predictions League 3

Tottenham v Chelsea (Saturday, 12:45pm)

This is now the third meeting for Andre Villas-Boas against the club who sacked him in March 2012. He only managed one point from his previous two meetings with Chelsea, with a 4-2 home defeat followed by a creditable 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Spurs have been on great form in the league this season so far, only losing at their North London rivals Arsenal. But they have won every other game and sit second in the table only behind the Gunners.

Chelsea's start to the season before their 2-0 win over West London rivals Fulham was claimed to be poor by Jose Mourinho but I stated one or two results go in your favour and it can change everything.

But this is going to be a tough test for them, especially at White-Hart Lane. I still back Chelsea to win the league as it is only five games in but Tottenham's confidence will be on a high and it should set up an entertaining game.

Score: 1-1
Aston Villa v Man City


The only negative for Aston Villa fans is influential striker Christian Benteke is ruled out for up to six weeks. They do have others who can score goals but he will be a big miss.

Man City, unlike Villa, set themselves up for a trip to St James' Park as a result of thrashing Wigan 5-0 in Tuesday's Capital One Cup tie.

This match should be tight but I am sure Villa will want to be more tight in defence after conceding four goals against Tottenham on Tuesday.

I think City will win this one, but Villa will still be in for a good campaign.

Score: 1-2
Fulham v Cardiff

Martin Jol and Malky Mackay's sides experienced contrasting fortunes in the Capital One Cup in midweek. Fulham are through after beating Everton at Craven Cottage while Cardiff despite a spirited comeback from 2-0 down lost 3-2 at West Ham.

In the league, Cardiff are getting to grips with life in the top flight and Fulham haven't particularly made a great start with only four points but at the risk of sounding repetitive, it is still very early.

Cardiff only have one away point this year and I think it will continue into this game as I see Fulham easing the pressure on Martin Jol.

Score: 3-1

Hull v West Ham

With both teams having secured passage to the fourth round of the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night, both Steve Bruce and Sam Allardyce return to improve their respective points tallies.

Hull are also on the back of a creditable away win at Newcastle and will be arguably the more confident of the two. Another thing which works in their favour is that West Ham's away record isn't usually that good.

But what will be a concern to Sam Allardyce is the Hammers haven't won since their opening day win over Cardiff as their most recent league outing was a 3-2 home defeat to Everton.

I could be wrong, but I the best I see them getting here is a draw, if that.

Score: 2-1
Man Utd v West Brom

Well, what a week David Moyes has had! Very mixed fortunes, after being thrashed in his first Manchester derby there was a bit of redemption after they beat Liverpool at Old Trafford in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday night.

Moyes has also said that it was always going to be difficult to follow in Sir Alex Ferguson's footsteps and it will take time for everything to fall into place. I think this is the case as the squad there is not strong enough at the moment without Ferguson to seriously challenge for the title.

But that will come in time. As I said in my table predictions in August, if they finish in a Champions League place and win a cup then that is a good first season in my book but feel free to have your own opinion.

West Brom finally got their campaign started with a much deserved and needed win over Sunderland and they continue their run of costing opposition managers their jobs after beating their respective teams, such as Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea and Mick McCarthy at Wolves.

Score: 3-0

Southampton v Crystal Palce

Southampton got what was one of their best results in their history by beating Liverpool at Anfield. It impresses me the strides they have made considering just three years ago they were a League One club and now look where they are.

That is mainly thanks to former boss Nigel Adkins but Mauricio Pochettino has done just as good a job with the squad he has inherited.

Crystal Palace at home is a game you would normally expect the Saints to win and I think they will. Palace were very poor in their home defeat by Swansea last week and seem drained at the moment.

But for the millionth time, it is still too early in the season to say they will definitively go down.

Score: 2-1
Swansea v Arsenal (Saturday, 5:30pm)

Two teams who are on great runs at the moment. Swansea having drawn with Liverpool, beat Valencia in the Europa League and followed that up by comfortably beating Crystal Palace.

Arsenal since the opening day loss to Aston Villa have won their following four fixtures and currently sit top of the table.

Michael Laudrup and Arsene Wenger each experienced an away win last season in the Premier League, but Arsenal won 1-0 in a third round FA Cup replay.

Arsenal are likely to be favourites for this game but Swansea are a hard place to go and get a result so I think they will have to make do with a point to take back to North London.

Score: 1-1
Stoke v Norwich (Sunday, 1:30pm)

Mark Hughes has got Stoke playing better football which I am sure the fans will be enjoying. Under Tony Pulis they kept on playing counter attacking football which if you get results, it is fine but if you don't it gets noticed in a negative way.

To be fair to Pulis, they did give it a good go at the big teams at the Britannia Stadium and Hughes has already done that against Manchester City.

They have beaten Norwich here in the previous two seasons and they should be in for a hat-trick of home wins.

Chris Hughton's team have made a so-so start to the season and even though they created chances against Aston Villa they still lost. But, in time, I think they will get better.

Score: 2-1
Sunderland v Liverpool (Sunday, 4:00pm)

Sunderland will have made the headlines all week since the sacking of Paolo Di Canio on Sunday after the players complained about him to the club.

I still believe Sunderland were going in a better direction under Di Canio than when Martin O'Neill was in charge simply because they were at least having a go at teams which the fans constantly wanted last season.

However I say going in a better direction but it may not have been the most enjoyable one. Premier League players have too big egos and power these days. Di Canio was brought in for the immediate new-manager impact in order to keep Sunderland up which, to be fair, did work.

But Di Canio's regime didn't work with the players and Kevin Ball will be in charge for this game after guiding them to a comfortable Capital One Cup win over Peterborough in midweek.

Sunderland's recent home record against Liverpool is not that bad. They have only lost one out of the last four visits from the Reds but they will not be underestimated.

Liverpool have now lost their last two games in all competitions and they will be determined to not have a third straight loss.

It will also be an emotional and interesting day for former Black Cat Simon Mignolet who joined Liverpool in the summer.

It should be an interesting atmosphere on Sunday and I think Sunderland could get a point out of this game if they turn up - the fans deserve a good performance and a good result.

Score: 1-1
Everton v Newcastle (Monday, 8:00pm)

There has been loads of debate over who should play at left-back for England: Leighton Baines or Ashley Cole?

Personally, I would choose Baines because he offers a little more in an attacking sense and he is particularly masterful and deadly when it comes to set-pieces.

Cole has been great for England over the years but he is not getting any younger and Baines could be a good replacement for him. I would even go as far, also, to say Southampton's Luke Shaw could be one for the future.

But in the immediate future, Everton have to play Newcastle, who lost at home to Hull last weekend which came over as a surprise to me.

Leading twice in that game and then throwing it away was a setback but they can still have a good season.

Here they will have a difficult job keeping Romelu Lukaku quiet as Roberto Martinez has got a good team on his hands here.

Alan Pardew has a good team as well and if key players such as Hatem Ben Arfa and Yohan Cabaye perform then a result here is not out of the question.

Score: 2-1

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