Blackburn vs. Arsenal
Kean shuffled his pack last time round against Fulham and saw his team get off the mark on the League table. The Dann-Samba partnership looked impressive; however Gamst-Pederson is still out with a hamstring injury. Arsenal arrive at the back of a very creditable midweek draw away at Dortmund, with Van Persie scoring and Wenger claiming that his side has “turned the corner”. They’d need to give the hapless rovers a good old battering to vindicate that claim.
Prediction: 1-2
Villa vs. Newcastle
Villa had a laudable draw at Goodison as the Bent-Agbonlahor partnership threatens to become an EPL force again. N’Zogbia has had time to settle and must look to deliver. Newcastle meanwhile, have been unexpectedly radiant in the first four games. With 3 clean-sheets in 4, it is going to be a straight head-to-head between Villa’s attack and the Magpie defense.
Prediction: 1-1
Bolton vs. Norwich
Bolton need to get last Saturday out of their system and focus on capitalizing on Norwich’s dip in morale. Klasnic could get his hands full against Lambert’s regularly tampered defense. Norwich need to create opportunities for Holt if they want to compete robustly.
Prediction: 2-0
Everton vs. Wigan
Last time out, Moyes played Cahill upfront with Osman behind him, and Coleman and Bilyaletdinov were deployed in the midfield to further provide attacking impetus. The gaffer should continue with the stratagem against a permeable Wigan defense. Martinez played Rodallega on the wing and Di Santo more central in attack against QPR – the pair must combine well to give their side any hope at Goodison Park.
Prediction: 2-0
Swansea vs. West Brom
Routledge returns to the Swansea midfield which is helping Sinclair and Graham look way out of their depth in the EPL. The team is yet to score and they need to get hold of their linkup play against the Baggies, who mustered up their first win at Norwich. Nevertheless, the Odemwingie-Long duo should be too much for the lightweight Swansea backline.
Prediction: 1-2
Wolves vs. QPR
Jarvis will be back, following the ankle, to stimulate Wolves’ attacking intent. Warnock’s multitude of last-ditch summer signings started bedding-in during the stalemate against Newcastle and they must live up to their hype against an exciting Wolves side to stake an early claim of climbing out of a potential relegation dogfight.
Prediction: 2-1
Spurs vs. Liverpool
Although Spurs’ youngsters impressed with their grit in the Europa League draw on Thursday, Redknapp will welcome back the big guns against a well rested Liverpool side. Lennon and Van Der Vaart will be missed but Adebayour and Defoe gelled in well in a commanding win at the Molineux. Gerrard is closing in on a return to Liverpool; however Dalglish would probably persist with his recent lineup. With both defenses susceptible, it’s a question of which team’s strike-force puts more in.
Prediction: 1-1
Fulham vs. Man City
Fulham will be down after two back-to-back winnable home draws against Blackburn and Twente. Dembele should be back to partner Zamora, after Ruiz’s no-show. Mancini’s side had their first taste of Champions’ League action as Napoli gave them a conspicuous reality check. With the plethora of games at all fronts expect Mancini to continue with squad rotation. Fulham away is always a potential banana skin and could halt City’s winning streak.
Prediction: 1-1
Sunderland vs. Stoke
With Gyan’s bizarre transfer to Al-Ain, Bruce is now relying heavily on Bendtner to deliver up-top. Both of the Sunderland goals thus far have been meaningless consolations and they need to up the ante against a Stoke side which has only conceded a single goal so far. However Stoke might be fatigued from the midweek trip to Ukraine and the late Kiev equalizer will not have eased any stress.
Prediction: 0-0
Man United vs. Chelsea
Sir Alex rang several changes for his side’s midweek trip to the Stadium of Light with Chelsea in mind. Expect the recently stampeding combination to be back in action on Sunday. Villas Boas himself rested Terry and Lampard as his side builds up to their biggest challenge of the season. Sturridge’s strike at the weekend has further added to the striker-selection conundrum for the Blues although Torres impressed on Tuesday, although still did not manage to score. Wayne Rooney has scored back-to-back hat-tricks but his strenuous run out against Benfica could hamper his performance. Nonetheless, Hernandez, Young and Nani are well rested for the big showdown and if United can reproduce the form that they have displayed during the first four games, they should have enough to topple Chelsea. Chelsea, on the other hand, have an array of players who can shoot from distance (especially if Drogba is deemed fit to play), and should look to test the susceptible De Gea from distance – a ploy unanimously used by all of United’s opponents thus far.
However it’s hard to bet against the dynamic United side, firing on all cylinders at the moment.
Prediction: 2-1
