premier league preview

1. Game of the Weekend? Kick off – Saturday 3pm Stadium- Brittania Referee- M.Clattenburg Both sides have made relatively positive starts to the season. After a disappointing opening day draw at Anfield against Sunderland, Liverpool have bounced back to win their two forthcoming matches - 2-0 at the emirates against Arsenal and 3-1 at home to Bolton to which many fans have started praising the football that Liverpool have been playing and the togetherness and freedom we can see the players playing with. Equally Stoke have managed an impressive draw at home to Premier League runners up Chelsea 0-0 on the opening game at the Brittania. They have since drawn to Norwich at Carrow Road 1-1 after fans favourite, striker Kenwyne Jones scored a 90th minute equaliser. They then scored another late goal in a tough away match at the Hawthorns against a usually stubborn West Brom team. Both teams seem to be playing with a lot of confidence and spirit at the moment as shown by Liverpool’s improving results and performances and Stoke’s late, salvations in matches when they haven’t looked like stealing anything. Begovic Huth Woodgate Shawcross Wilson STOKE VS LIVERPOOL Pennant Whtehead Palacios Etherington By Nathan Jacobs With the summer transfer window finally closed it’s now time to get back down to business in the Premier League. Stoke who were one of the many teams looking on the market for potential bargains came up with some deadline day specialities. For a start they gained a central midfielder with plenty of energy and work rate in Wilson Palacios who would like to prove his former employers Spurs wrong for dropping him out of the first team and selling him for 8m to Stoke. They also managed to add some extra fire power upfront with the likes of Cameron Jerome joining for around 4m and Peter Crouch following Palacios in a move up north from Tottenham for a reasonable 10m although he is now Stoke’s record signing. Jonathan Woodgate has also incredibly made it a trio of players moving up north from the capital to join Stoke City and Crouch has since stated this was key for his own transfer to succeed. Similarly to Stoke though, Liverpool have also spent big this summer. Very big. Big enough for Liverpool to be highly regarded as a possibility for at least top 4 this season and maybe even more when at this stage last season they were languished near the foot of the table managed by Roy Hodgson. Fans favourite Kenny Dalglish has since resumed his reign in charge and looks to be guiding them to a much rosier future now under the help of Liverpool owner John Henry. Jones Crouch Suarez Kuyt Downing Adam Henderson Bellamy J.Enrique Agger Skrtel Carragher Reina Nathan’s Predicted score Stoke 2-1 Liverpool Best Bet- Peter Crouch OR Luis Suarez to score at anytime 13/5 (William Hill) Don’t start Crouch on the bench! In 30 appearances for Spurs last season he scored 11 goals. He came on as a sub 16 TIMES and didn’t score as solitary goal. This grit and determination could make for a very interesting affair at the Brittania this Saturday afternoon when the Premier League returns after a stoppage for internationals.

2. Arsenal Vs Swansea Kick off - Saturday 3pm Stadium- The Emirates Referee- Stuart Atwell Kick off - Saturday 3pm Stadium- Stadium Of Light Referee- Lee Probert Sunderland Vs Chelsea Vorm Caulker Taylor Rangel Williiams Dyer Britton Agustien Routledge Graham Sinclair Mignolet Brown Bramble Bardsley O’shea Sessegnon Gardner Cattermole Larsson Colback Gyan Interesting stat - Last time Swansea played against Arsenal in January 1983 they lost 2-1 at Highbury. Could the same result repeat itself again? Interesting Stat- Both teams “key men” upfront (Gyan and Torres) have both failed to score yet this season but ,Sunderland, unlike Chelsea have struggled for goals as a whole. First team to score to win? Maybe. Van Persie Benayoun Torres Anelka Malouda Mikel Lampard Ramires Cole Ivanovic Terry Bosingwa Hilario Nathan’s Predicted Score Arsenal 3-0 Swansea I believe Arsene Wenger has finally spent enough and quite well in the summer (although I still believe they lack in strength and depth upfront) and are much to powerful and experience for Swansea to show any resistance even if they do play some free flowing football. Arshavin Arteta Walcott Traore Koscielny Mertesacker Djorou Nathan’s Predicted Score Sunderland 0-1 Chelsea If the formations are as I predict I highly doubt Sunderland’s attack will have enough firepower to walk through the powerful Chelsea defence. Chelsea to nick this one. Szczesny Howard Distin Jagielka Heitinga Baines Nevile Barkley Osman Drenthe Cahill Anichebe Heskey Bent Agbonlahor Delph Petrov N’Zogbia Warnock Dunne Collins Hutton Given Everton Vs Aston Villa Nathan’s Predicted Score Everton 1-1 Aston Villa Not the most exciting game of the weekend but one which inevitably sees another disappointing Everton performance against a stern Villa side who are still improving under their new manager. Kick Off – Saturday 3pm Stadium - Goodison Park Referee- Michael Oliver Interesting Stat - Villa Everton haven’t beaten Aston Villa in a league match since March 2006 so the omens on this one definitely don’t shine in favour of Everton due to the history of these matches and I think this baron run of not beating Villa will continue this weekend in a score draw.

3. Wolves Vs Tottenham Kick off – Saturday 3pm Stadium - Molineux Referee- P. Walton Kick Off – Saturday 3pm Stadium – Etihad Stadium Referee- M.Atkinson Man City Vs Wigan Henessey Stearman Ward Berra Elokobi Jarvis Henry O’hara Hunt Doyle Fketcher Defoe Adebayor Kranjcar Huddlestone VDV Lennon Bale Dawson Kaboul Corluka Friedel Hart Richards Kompany Lescott Clichy Barry Nasri Toure Silva Aguero Dzeko Di Santo Rodallega Gomez Watson Maloney Moses Figueroa Boyce Caldwell Piscu Interesting Stat- Wolves greatest win at home to spurs was a 6-2 thrashing in the 1934/35 season and I’d say this is one of the best times wolves could find themselves against a struggling spurs. Can Wolves produce miracles like Man. City did? Interesting Stat- The last time Wigan beat Man City in the premier League was in September 2008 when they won 2-1 due to goals from Egyptian Amr Zaki and Ecuadorian Antonio Valencia who has since moved to City’s arch rivals United. City goalscorer was Kompany. Al Habsi Nathan’s Predicted Score Wolves 3-1 Spurs Wolves seem to be gelling well finally in the Premier League and I believe all wolves supporters should be optimistic for this season whereas it is stark contrast for Spurs who are looking a bit shaky right now. Nathan’s Predicted Score Man City 4-0 Wigan City are playing invincibly and finally look like they could challenge for the Premier League title this year whereas I see contrasting fortunes for Wigan who have lost their top player in N’Zgobia and although they've made a bright start to the season they’ll be outplayed here. Jaaskelainen Steinson Knight Cahill Robinson Petrov Muamba Reo-Coker Eagles Davies N’gog Rooney Hernandez Young Anderson Cleverly Nani Evra Evans Jones Smalling Bolton Vs Man United Kick Off - Saturday 17:30pm (ESPN) Stadium - The Reebok Referee – A.Marriner Nathan’s Predicted Score Bolton 0-2 Man United Man United are on top form similar to Man City’s form as both teams remain the only two teams not to draw or lose. If Bolton have a David N’gog firing on all cylinders it could be tough for United but I see them coasting past this one honestly. Interesting Stat- It’s been three years since Bolton won a game against Man united when Anelka netted in a 1-0 victory at the Reebok to sink United. The way United are playing a repeat of that result seems unlikely and it will be interesting to see how Cahill performs if he does start. De Gea

4. Norwich Vs West Brom Kick Off – Sunday 13:30pm Stadium- Carrow Road Referee- M.Halsey Kick Off- Sunday 16:00pm Stadium- Craven Cottage Referee- H.Webb Fulham Vs Blackburn Rudd Pilkington Barnett Tierney De Laet Naughton Johnson Crofts Hoolahan Holt Martin Long Brunt Morrison Scharner Mulumbu Olsson Shorey Tamas Tchoyi Foster Schwarzer Baird Hangeland Hughes Briggs Ruiz Sidwell Murphy Duff Dempsey Dembele Yakubu Goodwillie Vukcevic Nzonzi Dunn Hoilett Givet Samba Dann Salgado Robinson Interesting Stat- Look at for Clint Dempsey to do some damage as he has scored 4 in his last 5 against Blackburn. Also Blackburn have lost three games in a row and this is there worst start in top flight since 1947/48. Interesting Stat- Norwich haven’t lost to West Brom in the last 6 Top flight clashes with them. However they have lost three straight games against West Brom when they were in the Championship. Nathan’s Predicted Score Fulham 2-0 Blackburn Although I do think Blackburn spent will on deadline day I believe Craven Cottage is a fortress for Fulham and they WILL use home advantage to beat Blackburn. Walk in the park. Nathan’s Predicted Score Norwich 0-0 West Brom I definitely don’t see this as a game most people will remember come the end of the season. Certainly not a classic but a healthy sharing of the points to hopefully kick-start both teams in the right direction - Up the table! Kenny Hall Ferdinand Gabiddon Traore S.W.P Barton Faurlin Taarabt Smith Bothroyd Obertan Best Lovenkrands Gutierrez Tiote Cabaye Santon Coloccini S.Taylor R.Taylor Krul Nathan’s Predicted Score QPR 2-2 Newcastle Both teams seem to be playing quite well. Both signed well although I don’t believe Barton should have been sold by Newcastle. This should be quite an exciting game and I can see both defences struggling in this one. Plenty of goals! Qpr Vs Newcastle Kick Off – Monday 20:00pm Stadium - Loftus Road Referee – P.Dowd Interesting Stat- Newcastle could extend their unbeaten run to seven league games against Qpr which willequal their best run from April 2008. This is also Newcastle’s best start to a season since 1995/96 when they finished 2nd . Unusually Qpr have won 1 and lost 2 games which is the same way they started there last four Top Flight seasons.