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Tottenham Top of The Premier League
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Spurs' Form
If the Premier League was taken over the last 10 games then Tottenham would be top of the table. The North London side are in blistering form at present having won 9 of their last 10 games, and as Defoe pointed out in his post match interview after the 3-1 victory at West Brom last week, Spurs actually have 2 very good starting 11's at their disposal with players like himself using competitions like the Europa League to push for places in the league team whilst staying sharp and playing football which is far more competitive than the reserves in order to prove their worth.
This has been a winning formula for Harry Redknapp and you have to give huge credit to Harry for keeping his boys Happy in this way, especially as anyone who's honest with themselves will admit that they tipped Spurs to probably drop out of the top 6 this season, so being 3rd in the league with a game in hand is mighty impressive and on this form you'd bet your house on them beating Bolton at White Hart Lane this weekend, especially with Bolton having lost 4 of their last 6 games and looking in serious trouble.
Spurs' Attack
Whilst Spurs are some way short of Man City's goal scoring (then again who isn't?) their average of 2.2 goals per game is actually the 3rd best in the league and they've now hit 3 goals in 3 of their last 4 games. They could easily have had more than the two they put past Villa or the 3 they put past West Borm last week too. In fact it does look as though with the volume of late goals Spurs have been scoring of recently, any team who is already 2 or 3 behind against them going in to the last 15 could suffer serious punishment and we could see Spurs deliver on a big score line.
Bolton have only prevented 3 of their 13 opponents this season from scoring 2 or more goals against them and they could well be in line for a battering against Harry's in form Tottenham, especially if Van Der Vaart is fit and Adebayor continues his goal scoring streak.
The One Flaw
If there is one criticism you can make of Spurs, it's the lack of clean sheets, they've kept just 1 in their last 8 games and always seem to find a way to let in a single goal so Bolton will test them. Despite their woes The Wanderers are actually the 8th highest scoring side in the league and if lapses against PAOK drag in to the league game (even with a different back line on the pitch) Bolton will stand a good chance of at least getting on the score sheet.
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| (Published: Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:39:32 -0800) |
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Liverpool Brilliant at The Back, But Struggle in Attack
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Downing, Kuyt, Suarez and Carroll's droughts are surely going to end sooner rather than later but there is an issue that needs to be looked at here. As good as Dalglish's men have been at the back, they've been poor in equal measure going forward.
Liverpool's Defence
The 12 goals Liverpool have conceded can not be bettered by any team in the league and they seem to have become a more solid back line since Carragher was laid to rest on the bench. In fact only one team has put more than 1 goal past Liverpool so they should be praised very highly for that and will be looking for a Clean Sheet against a Fulham side who have hit only 15 goals in their 13 games. The defence is certainly one of the major strengths and the signing of Enrique over the summer has been particularly astute.
Liverpool's Attack and Fulham's Defence
The shocking thing is the fact that Liverpool, with all their talent and quality have managed only 2 more goals than Fulham this season averaging barely over a goal a game. Liverpool may find it a struggle to get goals against a Fulham team who have a giant backline who with 17 goals conceded this season actually have the 7th best defence in the league. With things solidifying under Jol they could give the Reds more trouble than it may first seem on paper and this could be another one of those infuriating away days which have been banished from Reds fans minds of late, but not for so long that they won't be able to remember the away form that has hampered their progress in so many of the past few seasons.
All the stats here are pointing to a low scoring game, perhaps with Liverpool snatching it by a single goal (they have actually won 4 away games on the spin now), but the stats have been wrong many times this season and you may be of the thinking that quality, well overdue players like Suarez could quite easily turn up and get a hat-trick.
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| (Published: Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:34:46 -0800) |
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Liverpool can kick it with the big boys, but can they turn up for Fulham?
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Liverpool were exceptional against Man City last week and had it not been for the heroics of Joe Hart towards the end of the game Man City would have suffered their first defeat at Anfield.
Whilst Dalglish' men have come a very long way under the guidance of the Liverpool legend (I seem to recall odds of only around 17/1 on them to be relegated at some stage last season), and they have shown they are a match for any of the leagues' best team, the only thing still hampering their confirmation as a top 4 side again is the occasional inconsistency against the leagues, lesser lights, teams like their opponents Fulham would be a very good example.
Liverpool's Tale
Won points against: Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Man United
Dropped points against: Swansea, Norwich, Stoke, Sunderland
In effect all the great work done against those 4 big teams is undone by dropping points against teams they're expected to beat which leaves them a float rather than charging upwards. If they can get that out of their systems they will be a title challenging team.
Fulham
Event though Liverpool have now won 3 away games on the spin, and have one of the best away records in the league, Fulham will have plenty to give them hope of another upset even if you put aside Liverpool's poor record against teams just like them.
Before Liverpool last week Fulham were the only tam to stop Man City winning this season, and were perhaps unlucky not to get all 3 points at Craven Cottage when the two sides met and they've also won a point from Arsenal at The Emirates last week so they are more than capable of upsetting the big sides. Whilst Liverpool look in good form, it would be foolish to ignore their record against teams like Fulham and The Cottagers ability to battle hard against the big boys.
Whilst there is scope for genuine doubt of the result against Fulham, 75% of the users on our website believe that Liverpool will take all 3 points from Craven Cottage, so confidence is certainly very high.
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| (Published: Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:30:18 -0800) |
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Man United, Arsenal and Man City All Slip Up at Once
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Man United, Arsenal and Man City all contributed to points being dropped at the top of the table last week, though City's point was a good one, United and Arsenal would have been disappointed at their failure to capitalise by winning their home games in matches where they were heavy favourites.
Liverpool were once again more than good value for the point they got against yet another of the leagues' top sides. Title chasing Man City dropped points for only the second time this season, and perhaps for the first time were actually lucky to get away with even one point. In the grand scheme of things a point at Anfield, with 10 men may in fact turn out to be an excellent result especially as United failed to win.
Man City vs. Norwich
This week Man City are at home to Norwich in a game where nothing but all 3 points will do. In fact If you add the Champions League defeat last week to the failure to win at Anfield this becomes City's worst run of results for some 25 games, which should tell you just how brilliant they have been for more than just this season.
Norwich's temporary slide down the table, was ended last week with a win over QPR at Carrow Road but chances of winning at City are slim to none, so they should just be out to put in a good account of themselves. Though if you look at the fact that Fulham and Newcastle heroics away at two top sides last weekend got them a point Norwich might have a side ways glance at a major upset here, but I wouldn't bet s penny on it.
Wigan vs. Arsenal
Arsenal were one of the form teams in the league before they failed to beat Fulham at The Emirates. That brought an end to 5 wins on the spin and they will feel the most disappointed with their result, especially as their start to the season has left them off the pace and out of the Champions League spots, with 6 or 7 teams in serious contention for those 4 spots any opportunity missed like this could come back to haunt them. Wenger has qualified for the competition for 15 straight seasons and an experienced campaigner like him knows all teams drop unlikely points but that if you follow up a home draw with Fulham by failing to beat Wigan then you can confirm your run of good form is over and you'll have to start all over again from a position of serious disadvantage, potentially 6 points off Champions League pace ad a full 15 from the top.
Wigan were away winners at Sunderland last week, and even though it took some comedy last minute defending to scramble all 3 points and bring in their first Premier League win in 10 games, they know they would have lost the game had Sunderland had any sort of quality in attack, so their troubles are far from over, but they may have a chance of a point at The JD as Arsenal have won just 2 of their 6 away matches so far and were beaten by Blackburn earlier in the season.
When we asked our users whether or not Man United, Arsenal and Man City would all win this week nearly 40% though at least one of them would slip up again.
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| (Published: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:03:35 -0800) |
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Aston Villa vs. Man United Match Preview
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Man united were very unlucky not to win against Newcastle last week, it seemed the football gods, the goal posts, the linesman, arms, legs and shoulders were thrown in with the kitchen sink to deny them a win, but all the record books will show is a 1-1 draw with Newcastle and a devastating result that could cost them dear come the final reckoning.
United have now won 3, drawn 2 and lost 1 of their last 6, which is decent, but far from the pace required to keep up with City and even though they remain undefeated on the road this season their lack of goals of late will make an away match against Villa a serious challenge for Fergie's men.
Villa are very tough to read right now. 8th in the table is impressive considering they were dicing with relegation trouble at the same stage last season and the fact that the league table has so many capable teams in it right now, but having watched their last two games there are danger signs there that if Bent and Agbonlahor dry up Villa could still end up in serious trouble.
Their loss to Spurs at White hart Lane and the 0-0 draw at Swansea last week were amongst the dullest games I have ever witnessed and with the men responsible for 10 of Villa's 16 goals this season having failed to find the net for 2 games running Villa may be on the slide so they will be keen to up their game and push United hard at Villa park.
Despite the lack of goals a draw at Swansea these days is actually a pretty good result, and Villa still have a good home record, they've only lost once those season at Villa Park and will have a good chance of a point against an out of sorts, and desperately unlucky Man United side.
If United get a little rub of the green they could put an end to this barren run which has seen them score onlt a single goal in each of their last 6 games, and who knows we might even seen an appearance on the score sheet from Rooney, Nani or Young, none of them have a goal to their names in at least 8 Man United games. But current form suggests a close encounter with Villa in with a great shout of getting a point.
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| (Published: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:56:54 -0800) |
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Newcastle United vs. Chelsea Match Preview
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Newcastle United
The early kick off on Saturday matches Newcastle against Chelsea at St. James' Park (I refuse to call it by it's sponsored name!), and this is the only top 4 clash of the weekend.
After a start to the season which is their best since the 1960's Newcastle's fixture list put them up against Man City, Man United, and Chelsea in consecutive games, and whilst they were dispatched without too much struggle by the Blue half of Manchester, their performance in the Red half last week had Pardew calling his men "Geordie Heroes" as they threw their legs, arms, shoulders, phantom penalties, goal posts and the kitchen sink at stopping Man United from getting their winning goal and they eventually succeeded though both managers were extremely critical of the bizarre decision which saw Rio Ferdinand's inch perfect tackle turn in to a Newcastle penalty and equalizing goal.
With Fergie's comments likely to land him in more hot water at a later date, he also stated that Pardew's comments about Newcastle's competitiveness in the game must have come from a different game of football or possibly an alternative reality, and he probably has a point, it's impossible to work out how Newcastle got away with a point, but they do deserve a lot of credit for many acts of heroism on the pitch and we shouldn't be surprised if the same is repeated in front of the home faithful against a Chelsea side far from their best and will have one eye on the critical upcoming Champions League fixture.
Chelsea
Chelsea bounced back from a torrid run against Wolves last week, which had got even worse when they lost a crucial Champions League game in a few days before. Whilst it would be a mistake to read too much in to a 3-0 home win against Wolves, at least their run of defeats has been broken up and their tally of clean sheets is up to 3 for the season. Even if none of those have been against a team currently outside of the bottom 6, all clean sheets are hard to come by and the Blues now have 2 from their last 3 games, even though the gap between their two center halves is often wider than the penalty area and is leaving huge gaps for opposing players to waltz through.
They should expect a much tougher test from an in form Newcastle team who remain undefeated at home this season and still have only a single loss on their over all record. Even though Chelsea have a respectable 3 wins out of 6 on the road, the vulnerabilities and patchy current form could provide a big opening for the Geordie Heroes.
In fact when we asked whether Chelsea could win only 44% of our users backed them to take all 3 points with 42% believing Newcastle would get at least a point.
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| (Published: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:40:52 -0800) |
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Out of Form Premier League Attackers
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After 9 goals in the first 5 league games of the season it's now 8 matches since Rooney appeared on the Man United score sheet, but he's not the only Premier League attacker to be seriously out of form when it comes to getting goals.
There are a number of regular goal scorers whose names haven't seen a score sheet for some considerable amount of time, and they need to get back amongst the goals soon to stop a rut turning in to a crisis of confidence. Here are the men missing in action and the number of games their clubs have played in the league since they last appeared on the score sheet:
Rooney - 8
Nani - 8
Young - 11
T. Cahill - 23
Saha - 5
Odimwingie - 6
Drogba - 8
Torres - 8
Suarez - 7
Downing - 15
Gervinho - 5
Walcott - 4
Zamora - 7
A. Johnson - 7
The shock of the bunch is Tim Cahill, who with 7 - 9 goals in each of the last 4 seasons was regular scored, especially considering he has spent lengthy periods on the treatment table in most of those seasons, but he's now appeared in all but one of Everton's league games this season and hasn't registered a goal in 11 and a half months.
With so many struggling for goals it's a wonder so many of their teams are still managing to maintain respectable league positions. To break the 10 goal mark, the requirement for any attacker of respectable calibre a player has to average a goal every 3 or 4 games and all of the above barring Walcott are way behind that ratio and surely due a goal any time now.
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| (Published: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:38:08 -0800) |
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| ( Source: http://www.premierleaguepredictions.com/blog/atom.xml ) |
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