The Snowballing Predictions of the Weekend

Oh well, we are back after a thoroughly undeserved break- it wouldn’t be much of a fuss if we deserved it, would it?

This week, we’ve got the previews- we’ve increased our previews to six games- and the news that Patrick Viera has joined Manchester City.

Surely, they are not turning to a club of pensioners. Are they?

Never mind, off we go to the crux of today’s issue...

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND UP

Hull City (19) vs. Chelsea (1): The orange team with an orange manager have been on the downward spiral of late- 2009 was a year of uselessness for the Tigers.

They only got a few results when Phil Brown was the bookies favourite to get the chop and it coincided with Jimmy Bullard’s return to fitness.

Since he went back to the treatment table, they’ve gone back to being dire.

Meanwhile Chelsea have gotten themselves out of something of a slump and seem to be back firing in recent weeks. None the less, they will be missing their African contingent in January. The fixtures could really have been worse this month, but instead they’ve got games you really expect them to be winning.

With Manchester City demanding £7m as compensation for Daniel Sturridge, he has began to show why. And he has all of January to keep doing it...

...Away win.

Arsenal (3) vs. Everton (12): Most Arsenal fans won’t forget their first game of the 2009/2010 season in a hurry. And if you don’t know why, they scored quite a handful of goals, coupled with the debut of a certain Thomas Vermaelen.  They’ve still got problems upfront and problems with Cesc’s hamstrings. Those shouldn’t be worries though given that they will be welcoming back Andrei Arshavin.

Everton are in serious danger of becoming just another team in the premier league. After some wonderful seasons in the past, they’ve really done badly this season. The funny thing is that they’ve battled through adversity (the injuries) and their results haven’t been considered to be disasters.

Landon Donovan has another chance to impress in Europe after messing up the previous ones.

Time to stand up and be counted, Landon.

...Home win.

Wigan Athletic (16) vs. Aston Villa (5): On the opening day of the season, Wigan stunned Villa at Villa Park with a Rodallega belter and the nay sayers came out in full force against Villa. Little did they know that it was an off day for Villa and that Wigan will be very inconsistent under Roberto Martinez. They have the worst defence in the league and have received a fair few thrashings. They look like relegation candidates, except they can string a few good results together.

Aston Villa on their part are a very handy team, haven beaten Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. But they will want to stop the rot that seems to have crept in after a couple of defeats at the Emirates and at home to Liverpool. Their dynamic trio of Ashley Young, James Milner and Gabriel Agbonlahor have been quite good this season. And they will look to continue on that path.

...Draw.

Birmingham City (8) vs. Manchester United (2): After such a long sequence of games without losing, the blues from the Midlands seem like they can keep this run for a long while yet. They’ve named unchanged starting elevens for all the games they’ve been unbeaten and will continue take trend today at the St. Andrews. Their defence is as solid as it gets so there are no worries for Alex McLeish. Their run has to come to an end one day and I reckon this to be the day.

With the loss at Old Trafford to their great rivals, fuming will be waiting- impatiently- to get his team out and he will want to see a response from them. Considering that their Carling Cup semi-final with Manchester City was postponed due to snow, you’d think he will learn the lesson of taking one game at a time. With Cristiano Ronaldo gone, Wayne Rooney has become the team’s talisman, though he could do much better with his free kicks, he’s well on his way to surpassing his previous best total for number of goals scored in the premier league.

...Away win.

Liverpool (7) vs. Tottenham Hotspurs (4): Anfield seems a place of sadness these days, with the poor form and the lack of funds. They’ve gotten rid of Andrea Dossena and they will use the fund from his transfer to strengthen. On the field, it got better for some time until THAT performance at the Madejski stadium.

Spurs have been doing quite well, with a lot of column inches dedicated to the fact that they are on course to snatch Liverpool’s Champions League. They are very capable of achieving that and with Luka Modric back from injury, they have their playmaker back. But they will miss Aaron Lennon who has created more goals than any other Spurs player this season. But when Jermaine Defoe is in the side, they always feel they can nick something. Peter crouch will like to prove to Rafa Benitez that he shouldn’t have let him go.

...Draw.

Manchester City (6) vs. Blackburn Rovers (13): Roberto Mancini has suddenly made City a team that can defend. That was their problem in Mark Hughes’ time. Going forward they will stand against any team in the premier league. Now that they seem to know how to defend, they will be a very good prospect and with a certain Carlos Tevez in the team, they have one of the form players in the league. All they need is for Roberto Mancini to top making utterances that will get him sacked on the long run.

Since Sam Allardyce said that Blackburn were not in any threat of relegation whatsoever, they’ve actually been dismal and he will want to arrest the rot before it becomes impossible to treat.

Their most creative player this season, David Dunn will be missing. Meaning they will struggle at Eastlands on Monday.

...Home win.

Note: We have stretched the preview to include teams in the top six of the premier league. But as will have noticed, Liverpool haven’t been in that bracket for some time. We will include Liverpool in our previews if they fall outside the top six, since they are a traditional big four club...

SPANISH LEAGUE ROUNDUP

After a break from football in the western part of Iberia, play resumed last week to some truly stunning matches. With Villareal holding Barcelona to a draw (they actually should have won) and Real Madrid failing to beat Osasuna, Valencia cut the gap at the top with a very late victory at home to Espanyol.

At the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium in Andalucia, Sevilla (5) will host Racing Satander (14) and will want to get back to the top with victory at home. Their home form has been a bit sketchy of late but I reckon they will get the business done.

Over to Xerez (20) who seem to be on a mission to be worst team ever to feature in la Liga, although to be fair they have money problems and other issues which are common place in La Liga. They host Valencia (3) this weekend and frankly, I can’t see beyond an away win.

The Real Madrid (2) fans will be hoping their team can put behind the Osasuna setback and get back to winning ways against Real Mallorca (4). It won’t be an easy task considering how well Mallorca have been doing. But they will do enough to secure a win.

Tenerife (17) will welcome table toppers, Barcelona (1) will hope they can get a win against the odds. That’s where it ends, hope. Barcelona will take them apart in this one and I fancy Tenerife-born Pedro will stick one in.