This weekend will see another massive few days of football, as the title chase looks to be going to the wire in the English Premier League.
Last week saw league-leaders Manchester United continue their strong season with a 5-0 drubbing at Wolverhampton, while rivals Manchester City kept at the pace, beating the visiting Chelsea.
The battle for the top four continued, with Tottenham dropping points at home to Stoke, while Arsenal manufactured a 1-0 victory at Everton, to leapfrog their North London rivals into third place. Chelsea and Newcastle remain just outside the Champions League spots, with Liverpool still in touching distance.
The relegation scrap continued to deliver some amazing results; that saw both Blackburn and QPR climb out of the bottom three. Wolverhampton’s battering at the hands of United sees them rooted to the foot of the table.
This weekend’s action begins with Chelsea playing host to staunch-rivals Tottenham. Chelsea were beginning to look quite strong following the departure of Andre Villas Boas, yet slipped up mid-week at Manchester City. While Chelsea went ahead – though a deflected Gary Cahill strike – City dominated them all match, and earned a deserved 2-1 victory. Spurs on the other hand had to rely on a 93rd minute equaliser from Rafael Van der Vaart to take a point at White Hart Lane, after Jerome had earlier given the Potters the lead from a set-piece.
Both sides are rather patchy at the moment. They seem to either play fantastic, top four quality football one week; then or mediocre stuff the next. I can see them cancelling each other out here, even though both sides are desperate for the three points, with Arsenal now looking to establish a hold on third place. A 1-1 draw.
The Gunners this week take on the travelling Aston Villa. Arsenal moved to third place last week, when an early header from Thomas Vermaelen ultimately proved the difference between them and Everton. Villa’s match last week was postponed, following the tragic health concerns suffered by Bolton’s Fabrice Muamba. Arsenal should be too strong for Villa this week, and will look to strengthen their grip on third place. Arsenal to win 3-1.
Next sees Norwich entertaining the struggling Wolves. Norwich’s strong season hit a stutter last week, when a trip to Tyneside saw them lose 1-0 at Newcastle. Wolverhampton’s form continues to slide, after consecutive losses to Blackburn and Manchester United. Norwich should be too strong in this one, and will in 2-0.
QPR travel north to Sunderland this weekend, and will look to back up their 3-2 win over Liverpool at the Stadium of Light. QPR came back from a two goal deficit, with Jamie Mackie’s cool finish in the 93rd minute snatching the points. Sunderland were handed a 2-0 loss from Blackburn during the week, and need to keep their seasons momentum going. The Black Cats should be too much for QPR, and should win 1-0.
Lancashire rivals Blackburn and Bolton will face off this weekend, in what will be Bolton’s first match back following the on-field collapse of Muamba – which led to a number of their matches being postponed. The football world was stunned when Muamba fell to the ground and became incapacitated last week, during an FA Cup tie against Tottenham. The Bolton midfielder went into cardiac arrest in the Spurs game, and was rushed to hospital. He has remained in intensive care all week.
The outpouring of support for Muamba has been fantastic, with teams and players across the world showing their support.
Bolton – Blackburn matches are often fiery encounters, and Steve Kean’s Rovers have hit a vein of form in recent weeks, and following a brace from Yakubu last week, will probably manage a win over the embattled Bolton. Blackburn to win 2-1.
Everton were very unlucky against Arsenal during the week, when the linesman wrongly disallowed Royston Drenthe’s equaliser in the 20th minute – which at the time would have levelled the score. The Toffees have had a reasonable season, and would have moved about their Mersey-side rivals last week, if not for a Steven Gerrard hat-trick. This week they travel to Wales and take on the plucky Swansea.
Swansea managed a strong 3-0 victory at Fulham last week, largely thanks to key man Gylfi Sigurðsson. The Welsh side are having a good first year in the top-flight, but I feel Everton are getting into some decent form, and will win 2-1.
Liverpool host Wigan this Saturday, and will be desperate to reverse their fortunes of last week. Liverpool led at QPR by two goals, deep into the second half, but had only themselves to blame when three defensive howlers – allowing two free headers inside the penalty area, as well as a missed clearance – allowed QPR to snatch the most unlikely of victories.
Wigan could only manage a draw with West Bromich Albion last week, and remain in the bottom three. The Reds should have a routine win here, and win 3-0.
Manchester City’s hectic schedule continues, when they travel to the Britannia Stadium and Stoke City. City’s squad depth will be fully tested against Stoke, having played (and beaten) Chelsea just three days prior. City wasted a bag-full of chances early on against Chelsea, and had to rely on a late goals from Aguero and Nasri to win all three points, and remain within touching distance of Manchester United.
Stoke is one of the tougher away fixtures of the season – for any side – and will provide a stern challenge for City. The return of Carlos Tevez could either make or break City’s title challenge, and as long as he doesn’t cause another major rift with manager Roberto Mancini, City will have a strong push for the title. They’ll beat Stoke 1-0.
West Brom will play Newcastle United at The Hawthorns on Monday morning (AEST), with both sides sitting pretty comfortably in the middle of the table, not really threatening to push for European spots or relegation. The Magpies should have a win here, 2-0.
And the last match of the round sees Manchester United host Fulham. United have all eyes of the premiership now, having been knocked out of the Europa League last week by Athletic Bilbao. United followed up their disappointing performance in Spain with a comprehensive 5-0 victory over Wolverhampton, with Antonio Valencia running riot – scoring a goal and providing two assists. United should account for Fulham with relative ease, and continue their march toward title number 20. They’ll win 3-0.
*Due to an unforseen road accident involving one of our sports contributors; this week’s EPL preview was forced to take on a written form. Next week will see the return of Jake and Shane behind the desk.
Shane Palmer is a third year Bachelor of Journalism student at La Trobe, and is part of the upstart editorial team. You can follow him on Twitter: @SDPalmer12.
