Filed under: Predictions | Tags: Arsenal, Bolton, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Predictions, Premier League, West Ham
Arsenal, United and City are all in action today, taking on West Ham, Liverpool and Fulham respectively. If all things go according to form, the top four of the Premier League come 7PM will involve all three clubs and Chelsea. The way things are looking, that top four won’t change for the rest of the season.
Arsenal are more than capable of losing at West Ham today. Their only London derby of the campaign so far was a tight 1-0 win at Fulham, which could have gone against them at various moments in the second half. If the North London club really want to be seen as challengers to United’s crown, only three points will do; however they get them. Arshavin, Fabregas and van Persie must avoid being physically dominated by a neat West Ham spine and the budding partnership of Gallas and Vermaelen will be relied upon to supply only their third league shut-out of the season.
United and Liverpool go head to head in an hour or so, I’ve got analysis fatigue when it comes to this game, you can read my thoughts on it here, here and here.
Manchester City will expect a win today but shouldn’t underestimate Fulham who took Roma to the wire on Thursday night. Hangeland will take heart from Bramble’s performance against Adebayor last week for Wigan, while Hodgson will have to think long and hard about his best options up-front. An away goal is needed, does he have the man to get it? Jonathan Greening should look forward to lining-up again after a fantastic performance in Europe.
Bolton and Everton both take indifferent form with them to The Reebok Stadium this afternoon. Moyes will have to put his side’s thrashing at Benfica behind him as he attempts to break down a stubborn Bolton side. Megson on the other hand, will rely on Davies to bully a bonding Everton defence into making the mistakes that may decide the game. Everton’s classy attacking players will need to make efficiency their main objective today.
My predictions for the fixtures are…
PREMIER LEAGUE
Bolton-0 Everton-2
Liverpool-1 Manchester United-3
Manchester City-2 Fulham-1
West Ham-0 Arsenal-2
Filed under: Predictions | Tags: Championship, Cheslea, Henri Lansbury, Predictions, Sheffield Wednesday, Steve Bruce, Sunderland, Watford
Henri Lansbury celebrates for Watford
Despite an unappetising fixture on paper, last night Watford (horrible home record) and Sheffield Wednesday (horrible away record) put on a show The Championship could be proud of (less so Wednesday who were deflated early by a couple of 50/50 decisions from the officials).
Malky Mackay’s young squad is finding its rhythm this season in no small part thanks to Tom Cleverly (on loan from Manchester United) and Henri Lansbury (on loan from Arsenal). It was the latter whose star shone brightest at Vicarage Road last night with the footwork, vision and confidence of an Arsenal first-teamer. Henri played on loan in League One last season, helping Scunthorpe to the play-offs at the first time of asking, unfortunately he missed the final with a foot injury but did manage to shake it off for the Arsenal youth FA Cup Final when a side lead by himself, Jay-Emmanuel Thomas (currently on loan at Blackpool), Jack Wilshire and Francois Coquelin (expect him to grace the Premier League before season’s end) pummeled an underdeveloped Liverpool side into oblivion in front of some 20,000 at The Emirates Stadium.
An aura of class surrounded Lansbury last night as Wednesday grew weary at his presence, he began to find it easy to draw space and ultimately supply the killer touch; two top quality finishes and a fantastic assist topped off a fantastic evening for the North-of-London side. His and Cleverly’s loan-spells come to an end at Christmas and if Watford are to have a chance of the play-offs this season he’ll need to protect them from burn-out and hope Wenger and Fergie do him a solid by letting them stay until May (Wenger’s the more likely with Watford’s training ground a stones throw from London Colney).
TOP DIVISION
Champions League and Europa League fixtures have rendered the greatest kick-off time in the world somewhat flaccid this afternoon.
Sunderland at Birmingham should be a spicy meatball with Bruce taking a performing team back to St Andrews where he found himself a little mistreated (although I think he learned a lot from that period and righted a lot of wrongs in his approach, certainly the media, but also to other managers). Darren Bent will be hoping to continue his fine run of form with a winner in what’s shaping up to be a tight affair in the West Midlands. Despite investment, Phillips remains Blues’ greatest goal threat to my eye, but Chucho can unleash his clear potential at any moment…still waiting though.
Burnley will be hoping to scare a growing Wigan side into an away defeat at Turfmoor today, Martinez’s side must find consistency if they’re to draw themselves away from the bottom seven in the early stages of the season.
Chelsea host Blackburn, who will have nothing to lose (scoring two goals at The Emirates and still being humiliated shows there’s not an inch given that isn’t taken away with gusto in the top-four). The West-London side’s form has been erratic so far, looking unplayable at their best and clueless at their worst, problems in the Ancelotti family may work in their favour as the Italian’s influence may be proving a little Scolari-esque with the dropping of Carvalho and the insistence on starting Deco proving potentally ominous signs.
Paul Hart will see a trip to Hull as the best and probably last chance of saving his job before the new owners at Portsmouth get rightly pissed-off and give him his marching orders. The steady improvement in the Pompey side over the last few weeks should see the South-Coast side pick up the away win against Phil Brown’s clueless side. A lack of biting edge in the final third could well prove their undoing though. If they’re to claim the much needed three-points, Dindane’s going to have to concentrate when it’s time to pull the trigger.
Spurs will continue their fine start to the season (remember their start last season? What a difference a twitchy con-man can make) at home to Stoke today. Despite Tony Pulis’ men performing fantastically in the league already this season, I wouldn’t expect them to collect any points today. Still; it’s worth noting the comfort with which Stoke sit in the Premier League this season, a worthy and settled addition to the top division, if they snatched a draw I wouldn’t be surprised but I can’t really see it.
Wolves host Villa in the early kick-off (twenty minutes in fact. I’d better hurry-up). Villa will see the local derby as an opportunity to improve on their shocking tally of just twenty-two shots on target all season. The opportunity to sit in the top four, if only for a twenty-seven or so hours may prove daunting to a Villa side that last season failed to match their expectations when Saturday came.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Birmingham-1 Sunderland-2
Burnley-1 Wigan-0
Chelsea-2 Blackburn-0
Hull-1 Portsmouth-2
Tottenham-2 Stoke-0
Wolves-1 Aston Villa-3
THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Barnsley-1 Bristol City-2
Coventry-1 West Brom-1
Crystal Palace-1 Nottingham Forest-1
Derby-0 QPR-2
Newcastle-3 Doncaster-0
Peterborough-1 Scunthorpe-1
Plymouth-1 Ipswich-2
Preston-2 Middlesbrough-1
Sheffield United-3 Cardiff-2
Swansea-1 Blackpool-2
MY LEAGUE ONE AND LEAGUE TWO FIXTURES CAN BE FOUND HERE
Filed under: Predictions | Tags: Championship, Hicks & Gillett, League One, League Two, Liverpool, Predictions, Rafa Benitez, Sheffield Wednesday, Sir Alex Ferguson, Watford
I feel a bit Liverpool obsessed this week, I probably have been all season though to be fair. I didn’t expect them to challenge for the title this season and had serious doubts about their top-four credentials depending on whether Villa, City, Spurs or Everton got their shit together early doors. With the exception of the latter (Everton will pull a run together after Christmas) they’ve all exceeded my expectations so far; both in terms of success and quality. Liverpool’s current run of four straight defeats, while always a possibility, was never a probability in my mind; that said, it’s happened and Rafa finds himself staring down the barrel of Fergie’s loaded gun praying for a result, that on current form, would be nothing short of a miracle. He pulled one out the bag last season though, in probably the funniest ninety minutes I’ve seen in a long time. As if to imply that Benitez’s job is very much under consideration but that he shouldn’t worry about it on Sunday, George Gillett of Gillett and Hicks fame declared “Our family is extraordinarily pleased with him” . Wait a minute, that suit, that beard, that Spanish accent…does Gillett think Rafa’s his butler? Gillett must have known he was buying a shambles and an international joke when he bought Liverpool, I think; he thinks all English companies are Fawlty Towers! He’s creating cross-over comedy gold, imagine those two rich guys from Trading Places, bought and ran Fawlty Towers, with hilarious results. We’ll base it in the North, we can tie in the whole “Beatles” thing, we’ll make it about soccer, if it’s not working we’ll draw out some great guest stars (sixty-seven in five years). Sorry guys, it doesn’t work without 1980s Eddie Murphy. If you think you can just replace him with Ryan Babel you are sorely mistaken, we’re a savvy bunch sirs, we can tell the difference. News that Rooney may be out as well as Fletcher (who is always crucial in the big games) will come as potential relief to the rosy cheeked Spaniard who is still shitting his bloomers about potentially lining up without Gerrard, Torres or Glen Johnson at right-back.
TUDGAY & CLEVERLY DOUBTS
Watford are back at Vicarage Road tonight playing host to Brian Laws’ Sheffield Wednesday. The two sides are entirely too comfortable in The Championship and will more than likely play out a bore-draw this evening. Wednesday are in the trap they found themselves in a few years ago when League One beckoned, if you show no ambition in the second tier you’re bound for failure. Saying that, the optimist in me looks forward to a potentially explosive Marcus Tudgay (facing a late fitness test) who’s a good bet to score at least one goal and a Malky Mackay Watford team who have seen results and performances improve since losing 0-4 to Cardiff a couple of weeks back, tonight could also be a great opportunity to scout loanee Tom Cleverly (another late fitness test) further.
I’m going to do my League One and League Two predictions today as four divisions of scores might explode my tiny mind tomorrow.
CHAMPIONSHIP (tonight’s game)
Watford-1 Sheffield Wednesday-1
LEAGUE ONE (Saturday fixtures)
Brentford-2 Stockport-0
Brighton-1 Oldham-2
Bristol Rovers-2 Yeovil-1
Carlisle-2 Southend-0
Colchester-2 Walsall-0
Exeter-1 Wycombe-1
Gillingham-1 Charlton-2
Hartlepool-3 Tranmere-1
Huddersfield-1 Leyton Orient-2
Millwall-1 Leeds United-2
Norwich-3 Swindon-1
Southampton-2 MK Dons-2
LEAGUE TWO (Saturday fixtures)
Barnet-3 Darlington-0
Bournemouth-2 Grimsby-0
Bradford-1 Hereford-1
Bury-1 Rotherham-2
Chesterfield-1 Burton Albion-0
Lincoln City-1 Torquay-0
Macclesfield-1 Dag & Red-3
Morcambe-1 Northampton-1
Notts County-3 Crewe-2
Port Vale-2 Cheltenham-0
Rochdale-2 Accrington Stanley-1
Shrewsbury- 3 Aldershot-1
Filed under: Predictions | Tags: Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Benfica, Celtic, Europa League, Everton, Fulham, Hamburg, Predictions, Roma, Sir Alex Ferguson, Stan Kroenke
The father of modern British football, Arsene Wenger turns 60 today. Having revolutionised the game in just about every way imaginable, Wenger’s greatest off-pitch achievement to me, came in 2002 when he forced Sir Alex Ferguson to reconsider retirement by winning the domestic double in what would have been the Scotsman’s final season. English football owes a lot to Arsene Wenger, he’s destined to change and further the game in this country for as long as he remains. He is of course, much discussed and much admired so I don’t need to remind you of his achievements or his memorable moments I’ll just say happy birthday and hope he enjoys it.
KROENKE
Arsene Wenger looks set to receive a gift of a new owner today, as American sports-tycoon Stan Kroenke’s scooping up of shares has lead neatly to Arsenal’s AGM this afternoon. No official word has come from the Arsenal board or Kroenke that he is in fact the club’s next owner, but the 29% shareholding that forces an outright bid for the club will soon be surpassed (it may have been yesterday). I doubt Arsenal would hold an AGM and ignore the elephant in the room (no, not Uzmanov) despite reports. Arsenal fans appear split on the news that an American billionaire will soon own their club, but the friend of Jay-Z is already a multi-franchise owner in the states (St Louis Rams-NFL, Denver Nuggets-NBA, Colorado Avalanche-NHL, Colorado Crush-AFL, Colorado Rapids-MLS, Colorado Mammoth-NLL) so will bring a serious level of experience to The Emirates.
A man who went toe-to-toe with notoriously hard-headed juggernaut Vince McMahon over the use of Pepsi Centre (double booked for a Denver Nuggets game and a WWE television show) Kroenke saw McMahon back down and move his show to Staples Centre only to attack a look-a-like in the ring during the event. Look-a-like or no, it was clear who had won the battle. Kroenke’s other warming point for Arsenal fans is that he clearly represents the current board and Arsene Wenger’s preferred choice of owner since David Dein’s backer Alisher Usmanov has consistently insisted on pumping endless finance into Arsene Wenger’s warchest (he’s never needed it) which smug Arsenal fans have always looked down on as buying success (they’re right). It would be fairly typical of Arsenal for us not to hear anything official today (much more likely in an international break or as late as May 2010) but the time draws near for the last locally owned side in the top 4 to be scooped up by a foreign billionaire (only Everton remain in the top 6).
UEFA CUP
Last night’s European games seem to have passed with little hangover (although I’d love to be in Madrid today) so I’ll move on to a selection of tasty looking UEFA Cup fixtures for this evening. Celtic host Hamburg, two bi-polar sides so far this season, Hamburg have had injury problems but easily have the quality to turn over Mowbray’s side, the Celtic Park factor can never be underestimated though. A Roma team managed by Claudio Ranieri visit West-London to play Fulham in the game I’ll endeavour to watch this evening, Hodgson and Ranieri are bother wiser than they’re often given credit for and Danny Murphy at the speed of the Italian game on a European night (when he always seemed to excel for Liverpool) could be a thing to behold. Lazio are a pale imitation of their former selves but still boast undeniable quality in their ranks while Villareal are still a side proving doubters wrong at every turn. I expect a Spanish victory today. Benfica are a fledgling side that seem to boast favour across Europe exemplified by their unbelievable potential in the loan market and Everton are capable of sending out an eleven that could reach the knock-out stages of a modern Champions League competition. Whether those players rise to the occasion is always the question though, they’ve been known to collapse under expectation.
Predictions…
EUROPA LEAGUE
Celtic-1 Hamburg-2
Fulham-2 Roma-2
Lazio-1 Villareal-3
Benfica-2 Everton-1
Filed under: Predictions | Tags: Blog, Champions League, Championship, Cheslea, CSKA Moscow, Gareth Southgate, Ian Holloway, Liverpool, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Nigel Pearson, Predictions, Real Madrid
I hate when fans of other teams pipe up with opinions on my manager, I always think that’s an area that only a fan can truly judge. Boro fans clearly didn’t like the job Southgate was doing and told Steve Gibson by booing, by phoning into local radio stations and eventually, by avoiding games. A low turnout of 17,000 odd saw Middlesbrough easily beat Derby last night, but there are surely considerations to be made? Namely that Boro have always to my mind, struggled with attendance, the side were off the back of a couple of shoddy home performances, we’re in the middle of a pretty nasty recession that doesn’t seem to have affected ticket prices a great deal and Middlesbrough on Wednesday October 20th at 7:45PM sounds like rock tits. Obviously the decision had been in Gibson’s mind for a few weeks or he’d have let him take the next home game to see if the figures improved, you’d imagine that being one point off the top, having seen Newcastle lose to Scunthorpe and West Brom at home to Swansea would have given those stay-away fans a little bit of perspective.
Gareth Southgate hasn’t always been a favourite of mine, as a distraught pre-teen in 1996 I spat every time I heard his name, his move from Villa to Boro always seemed quite an unambitious one to me and his column in The Evening Standard used to stink of delusion (I remember in 2002 him writing that he wasn’t sure whether Sol Campbell or Rio Ferdinand would be partnering him at the World Cup…uhhh yeah). But he was undoubtedly a fantastic player and despite a rocky start, in my opinion has developed into a quality manager, balancing the books, nurturing local talent and drawing a few shirt selling names along the way. Relegation last year was a kick in the teeth because there were times in the season when they really weren’t a bottom three team, but it happened and on the balance of things, only Hull were worse than the teams that went down and Boro were never lucky enough to get a run as good as Hull’s early season one. I had a great respect for Steve Gibson when he let Southgate carry-on and ultimately I think he was going to be proven right, a young manager with the ability and wisdom of Southgate needs a solid chairman to develop the confidence needed to manage at the top level and I worry now that a path back into the game for Gareth could be Coleman-esque (I believe Chris Coleman will manage in the Premier League again, I actually believe he can do a lot with Coventry, it may take him a couple of years though). Maybe that shows I have less faith in Southgate than I thought.
NEXT MANAGER
I said yesterday that I believe both Ian Holloway and Billy Davies have what it takes to manage a team with greater resources in that division and take them up but since both are relatively new to their current positions I can’t see them moving on yet. Nigel Pearson’s name has been mentioned naturally, a Boro legend and current hot shit in the league, I’d like to think that he has too much left to achieve at Leicester this season to take the gig, the draw of the big job where he’ll be worshiped from the outset may prove too great though. Gibson has a record of bringing in young managers and Gary Neville’s name was mentioned as a potential number 2 at Boro over the summer, a totally random prediction in my mind but Steve must be aware that the side’s big name players are going to want a big name manager to continue their development. All the usual names have been mentioned already, Platt, Kinnear, Souness, Strachan, Benitez…okay I’m the first person to mention Benitez, but Liverpool might consider letting him discuss terms if Middlesbrough come knocking.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCH DAY 3 PART 2
After yesterday’s damp squib of a round, we have a stronger set of fixtures but a greater chance of draws this evening, only we don’t have any Championship fixtures on deck to provide genuine excitement. United travel to Moscow for an early evening game on astro-turf versus CSKA, of whom Alan Brazil said this morning “I don’t rate them. I really don’t. They’ve got nothing up-front” and while Wagner Love’s recent return to Brazil has left them short of quality they have the players to cause United problems, as well as having the man widely mooted as van der Saar’s replacement in goal, Igor Akinfeev. There is basically no point predicting the result of the game though as it’s being played in very artificial conditions with United missing a Champions League line-up in itself through injuries. Expect Fergie to protect the rest of his stars from ice skating injuries with Liverpool to think about on Sunday. Real Madrid welcome AC Milan tonight in the 7:45PM kick-off I’ll be watching (for half an hour at least, if it’s as shit as most Champions League games involving either of these teams I’ll more than likely resort to SkySports Multi-screen as usual). Will the arseless Madrid tame the slow, clueless and rather pathetic Milan? This observer says, yes, probably. Madrid will always be worth watching with Alonso in midfield, his range of passing on a good day warrants its own player cam. Bordeaux at home to Bayern could end up being quite a strong game, the French side are finding their feet at this level but have the players to further unsettle van Gaal’s shaky Bayern side. I expect Chelsea to do a professional job on Atletico who have started the season like they’ve got Diego Forlan up-front or something (respect due, his goalscoring record is incredible but he’s quite shit. I’ve given him several opportunities to impress me this season for club and country and he continues to fail). Essien will want to build on his incredible 96% pass completion achieved in Chelsea’s defeat against Aston Villa on Saturday, I expect him to boss the midfield completely. Maccabi Haifa could provide the shock of the round by winning in Turin. Now for predictions…
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Bordeaux-2 Bayern Munich-1
Juventus-1 Maccabi Haifa-2
CSKA Moscow-2 Manchester United-0
Wolfsburg-3 Besiktas-0
Real Madrid-2 AC Milan-1
FC Zurich-1 Marseilles-2
FC Porto-1 APOEL-0
Chelsea-3 Atletico-1
The next few days should be interesting for Liverpool and Middlesbrough. The highly predictable unraveling of Rafa Benitez post “Fact-rant” will be under serious scrutiny and Boro have the potential to make a huge statement with the appointment of their next manager, it could really go either way.
Filed under: Predictions | Tags: Blog, Celtic, Champions League, Championship, Liverpool, Lyon, Predictions
As a life-long football expert who’s easily and without question smarter than thou. I’m also a journalist in my own right and as such, have delayed the creation of Fat Ronaldo’s way longer than I ever should have; I found myself procrastinating in the relative luxury of the SPL writing about music and computer games and scoring hat-tricks against Partick Thistle as if such things would ever give me as much satisfaction as, say; scoring in a Champions League Final. Having buried my inevitable success behind dodgy blond dreadlocks* and a career threatening injury I’m finally on the road to redemption, which will see a brief stint in Manchester and a show stealing return to my first love…Floorball? Say what you will about Henrik Larsson, he crammed a lot into that final few years.
I registered this domain name with WordPress on Thursday and have thus far struggled with that “Women footballers should wear tighter shorts” flash of brilliance to kick it all off with, so I decided to do what I usually do and just ramble on about nothing in particular. It’s Champions League Match Day 3 tonight which should bore most neutrals to tears. The only excitement in Champions League group stage fixtures seems to come from Liverpool who will invariably, at some point find themselves short at least 1/3 of their holy trinity (formerly the holy…quadrinity?) and struggle to find a goal, which when you think about it, is about as entertaining a concept despite today’s papers trying to convince me otherwise, as a night out with Peter Crouch and Jonathan Woodgate- what’s that Crouch? Doing the robot? Yeah I get it. Say what Woody? Chasing and attacking random blokes up the street? Actually that could be quite fun. Not the robot part, “Smithy” from Gavin and Stacey’s painfully unfunny England team sketch saw any remaining charm in Crouch’s celebration dissolve in a flurry of cocaine induced mock-a-knee twatishness. Liverpool are without Torres tonight but welcome back Gerrard after injuries saw the pair miss their loss to Sunderland on Saturday. Not known, is whether Andriy Voronin who shall hence-forth be known as Stone Cold Steve Voronin due to his wrestler like appearance, will be trusted to replace the Spaniard up-front or whether Rafa Benitez believes N’Gog can score the necessary suplexes to defeat a somewhat underwhelming Lyon side. While OL still boast a spine of genuine quality (Makoun, Kallstrom, Toulalan) the heady Houllier days of Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben-Arfa and Juninho appear to be well and truly behind them. Bordeaux’s explosive Gourcuff, Chamakh, Gouffran and Cavenaghi are the new power in French football, whether or not Lauren Blanc can keep hold of his stars for as long as Lyon managed though remains to be seen.
Predictions for tonight’s games…
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
AZ-0 Arsenal-2
Barcelona-3 Rubin Kazan-0
Debrecen-0 Fiorentina-1
Inter Milan-2 Dynamo Kiev-1
Liverpool-1 Lyon-1
Olympiacos-1 Standard Liege-2
Rangers-2 Unirea Urziceni-0
VfB Stuttgard-2 Sevilla-2
THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Blackpool-2 Sheffield United-2
Bristol City-3 Plymouth-1
Cardiff-2 Coventry-1
Doncaster-1- Peterborough-1
Ipswich-1 Watford-1
Leicester-1 Crystal Palace-0
Nottingham Forest-2 Barnsley-1
Scunthorpe-0 Newcastle-3
Sheffield Wednesday-2 Preston-0
West Brom-2 Swansea-1
Middlesbrough-2 Derby-1
QPR-2 Reading-0
I expect pure tedium at Anfield but I always do, the casual fan may enjoy the OTT commentary generally afforded to Liverpool’s European nights but don’t expect to see any decent football, not from the home side at least. I also expect Rangers to record their first Champions League win of the season tonight, not just because of the quality of opposition but contrary to most observers I believe their squad is 3 or 4 times that of Celtic’s this season and they actually have a decent shot of making the knock out stages, Sevilla should walk the group but Stuttgart have a fight on their hands for second place. The rest of the games on the continent will go as scheduled. I don’t think Roy Keane will get his first win tonight, Watford are growing into quite a stubborn team with a few flash players who can grab their much needed away goals. Leicester and Crystal Palace was a hard call because again, I think Palace have the players to snatch a draw but their squad is thin and I’m not sure how they’ll respond to a tough away fixture against Cardiff on Saturday. Newcastle will rediscover winning form away at Scunny, as will Boro at home to Derby, if only due to the fact that I think under Clough Derby have become more open to expansive teams. QPR will pile the pressure on Brendan Rodgers and maybe even cost him his job.
While I could generally give a fuck less about Notts County this season; for their fans alone I’m actually quite glad that Sven’s ruled himself out of the Sweden job, despite it clearly being the job he was born to do.
I will write way better and way more purposefully tomorrow. This will do for now crap bags.
* Let the record show I never had dreadlocks, blond or otherwise.
