English Premier League Week 9 Previews, Verdicts and Predictions

                                             

There were no big surprises in the English Premier League Week 8 games. Just as I predicted, Liverpool could only settle for a share of the spoils at the St James’ Park, Arsenal and Chelsea cruised while Manchester City had to grind it out against West Ham at the Boleyn Ground. For Manchester United, the struggle continues even at Old trafford as they were pegged in the last minutes of that game against surprise package Southampton.

So, its straight to action as we enter Matchweek 9 of the English Premier League, powering strong as ever and yet uncertainty over the clear pictures of who will be crowned champions at the end of the season.

Week 9 matches have installed some great games to watch out for and the biggest of them all has to be at the Stamford Bridge where Chelsea will welcome last season’s runner up Manchester City. Manuel Pellegrini up against the “Happy One”. Who will take this one? Well, we wait to find out on Sunday.

Crystal Palace will be at the Selhurst park to welcome red-hot Arsenal, Aston Villa also will be at the Villa Park against Roberto Martinez’ Everton, Liverpool versus West Brom: that’s another game to watch out for. Struggling Defending Champions, Manchester United remains at Old Trafford to welcome a stubborn Stoke City side, Norwich will do battle against Cardiff at Carrow Road and finally on Saturday, Southampton welcome Fulham to the St. Mary’s Stadium.

On Sunday, Sunderland will be at the stadium of light to take on Newcastle United in tea-time kick off and the biggest game of the weekend will follow next where the stamford bridge will come alive as Chelsea play host to Manchester City. Swansea City also will square up against West Ham United and finally Tottenham Hotspur will lock horns with new comers Hull City.

FULL FIXTURES

Saturday, October 26, 2013

11:45 GMT          Crystal Palace       v       Arsenal  (Selhurst Park)

14:00 GMT          Aston Villa  v       Everton      (Villa Park)

14:00 GMT          Liverpool     v       West Brom (Anfield )

14:00 GMT          Man United           v       Stoke City    (Old Trafford)

14:00 GMT          Norwich City        v       Cardiff City (Carrow Road)

16:30 GMT          Southampton         v       Fulham (St. Mary’s Stadium)

Sunday, October 27, 2013

13:30 GMT          Sunderland  v       Newcastle   (Stadium of Light)

16:00 GMT          Chelsea        v       Manchester City (Stamford Bridge)

16:00 GMT          Swansea City         v       West Ham (Liberty Stadium)

16:00 GMT          Tottenham  v       Hull City  (White Hart Lane)

                                       Crystal Palace      v       Arsenal 

                                                     

Crystal palace was humbled at home on Monday when they hosted Fulham losing 4-1 despite after going ahead first. Palace is really struggling and wouldn’t have expected their start to life in the EPL worse than this. The Selhurst park side has managed just 1 win in 8 games and loss the remaining 7 which is quite woeful, leaving them just 2nd to the last on the standing.

Palace only victory came a long way ago in the third week of the season against Sunderland which they won 3-1 but since then is been from one defeat to the other.

Arsenal on their part suffered their first defeat in 13 games on Tuesday night in the UEFA Champions league when they hosted Borussia Dortmund at the Emirates Stadium, losing 2-1 and that defeat is Arsenal second in all competitions this season after their 1st day loss to Villa in the opening day of the English Premier League.

But the Gunners are still flying high in their domestic chores winning 4-1 against Norwich City at the Emirates and currently sit on top of the log with 19 points, 2 points clear of closest challenger in Chelsea and Liverpoool.

VERDICT

Arsenal will be looking to bounce back from their Mid-week slip up and there is no better opponent to do it against than Palace at the moment. Mesut Ozil seems to bring something special ever since he joined Arsenal although those magic evaporated against Dortmund, however you will consider Palace a weaker opponent compared to the side from Germany.

Key thing for Arsenal is that Santiago Carzola is back into the squad which leaves Wenger with lots of options in the middle of the pack and his return should release Ozil off some workloads.

Crystal Palace biggest weakness is their inability to keep it tight at the back, conceding 17 goals and managed to score just 6 leaving them with a goal difference of -11.

Arsenal should do enough to win this game, they are playing at the Emirates and Crystal Palace has struggled all season.

PREDICTION: Arsenal Win

                                                       Aston Villa           v       Everton

                                                             

Aston Villa enter week nine having lost games against Tottenham Hotpur which puts them in 13th place in the league on ten points and they have been inconsistent in terms of rolling out the result. They sometimes look like not that team that defeated Arsenal in the season opener at the Emirates Stadium and also got a hard fought 3-2 win over Manchester City, but when you consider losing away to Newcastle and drawing at home to Hull City, you will say the results are just fair enough. Key worry for Villa is that they have failed to score in their past two games although they scored 3 against city before then.

Everton on their part, interestingly have loss just one game all season and that came in the hands of Manchester City. Overall they have won 4 drew 3 and loss just 1 of their last 8 games but the worry for Everton will be their inability to thrive away from home. Their last away win came in the week four of the EPL defeating West Ham 3-2 and that’s their only success in their last 12 away matches.

Everton also have failed to keep a clean sheet since their week three 1-0 home win over Chelsea.

VERDICT

It will be a tight contest between the two and I feel this might end in a stalemate with Everton vulnerable at the back and Villa’s inability to bury their chances. They’ve managed to score just 5 goals in their last 5 games, so that is not a form you take to play a side like Everton but they should be good enough to earn a draw.

PREDICTION: Draw

                                              Liverpool    v       West Brom 

                                                                                                  

The Anfield stadium comes alive once again this weekend as Liverpool welcomes West Brom.

Last week, the Reds could only manage a 2-2 draw against the magpies (Newcastle) despite playing over 45 minutes with a man advantage. Its always not going to be easy for Liverpool against Newcastle especially when playing at the St. James’ park but they will look to themselves and say “we got a decent result” and next stop is a West Brom side who are doing not badly and the highlight of their campaign has to be that win against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Liverpool, occupied the 3rd position on the log with 17 points same as 2nd placed side Chelsea but the blues edge them with a better goal difference. The Reds gradually are surrendering their early season swagger which saw them dominate the league standing earlier in the season.

West brom secured an impressive away draw at the Britannia stadium against Stoke city, one of the most difficult venue to get a result and key thing to note here is that the Baggies are unbeaten in their last 5 games in the EPL (Draw 3 win 2).

VERDICT

Liverpool are willing to get their season back on a fine track but I think this game is coming too soon for that objective. West brom are a pretty decent side who has not tasted in their last 5 outings and we’ll surely fancy their chances against their host.

Daniel Sturridge still remains the marksman for the Reds helping his side with 7 goals so far this season and the most important thing is that, he has been consistent with it. The return of Suarez has also added bite to the attack but Liverpool sometimes looks vulnerable at the back and that is where they have to watch it.

West Brom is capable of causing an upset and getting a result out of this tie and I will be backing them to come away from anfield with a point.

PREDICTION: Draw

                                                                Man United          v       Stoke City

                                                                

Manchester United fans are increasingly running out of patience with David Moyes, questioning his managerial ability and tactical prowess but the Scottish also have not covered himself in glory making tactical blunders most especially when it comes to substitution. Ryan Giggs seemed to be running out of ideas and lacking the energy to continue with the pace of the Epl and yet he still gets to play ahead of the likes of Kagawa and fresh-blood Zaha who Fergie worked his socks off to lure to Old Trafford. Against Southampton last week, it was the same story although you might want to cut him some slack and give credits to Southampton who has been near excellent so far this season.

Now, the onus as ever is on David Moyes to woo the fans to him and the only way to achieve that is to WIN GAMES irrespective of the manner the win comes. Manchester United have an uphill task against a stoke city side who always proved difficult to break down and have also gotten one of the best hands in the land in Asmir Begovic.

Stoke City have conceded just 7 goals all season while United has conceded more (10).

VERDICT

Manchester United once again are playing at home this week but they no longer seem to have the cutting edge at Old Trafford that they enjoyed under Sir Alex Ferguson. Teams no longer go to Old Trafford fearing a rout in fact many have gone there and gotten points this season.

Stoke city also have been a poor side so far, the Potters are without a win in their last 5 games, overall they have won just 2 games, draw 2 and loss 4 so far in their campaign this season.

The Red Devils will be hoping to have Robin Van Persie fit enough after sitting out their 1-0 win over Real Socieded in the Ucl, but if not still available, Chicharito who mostly hasn’t failed to deliver when called up for action should be ready to lead the line once again.

A difficult game it will be for both sides, Man United far from convincing. Stoke City are lackluster but you will feel if form comes to play, United should just do enough to get maximum points after what they display in the UCL.

PREDICTION: Manchester United WIN

                                                                       Chelsea       v       Manchester City                               

                                                                         

Here comes the biggest game of match week 9 as Chelsea welcomes Manchester City to the Stamford Bridge. The Blues seemed to have wake up from their slumber and have been on a winning streak in the EPL since that defeat to Everton with the only blip along the line at White Hart Lane where they settled for a 1-1 draw.

Chelsea has won 6 games, draw 1 and loss 1 in their last 8 matches and will be riding on maximum confidence after going all the way to the Veltins Arena in Germany to secure a 3-0 win against Shalke 04 in the UEFA Champions League and interestingly Fernando Torres was picked ahead of Samuel Eto who scored over the weekend but the 50m pounds man repay the faith Jose showed in him by scoring twice for the Blue side.

Manchester City is the highest scoring side in the League, averaging 2 goals per game so far, in total they have scored a whooping 20 goals in just 8 games and they have scored 11 in their last 4 games conceding just 5 times in those games.

VERDICT

Its defense against Attack. Chelsea boast of the joint-second best defensive record in the league alongside Tottenham conceding just 5 goals in 8 games while City on their part has the best attacking ability with 20 goals to their credit.

If Chelsea are to get anything from this game, they have to make sure they shut down Manchester City’s strikers who have been prolific, especially Sergio Aguero who has scored six goals this term and also they must make sure they win the midfield battle against Yaya Toure and Fernadinho who are power-playing midfielders not forgetting the sleeky David Silva.

Ramires must bring his A-Game to the table, Andre Schurlle’s performance also will be key to how this game pan out and hopefully Torres can continue from where he stopped in the UCL for us to have an entertaining game.

There will be goals in this affair maybe not plenty of them but I feel the two sides will concede and it will boil down to who can outscore the other which I think Man City are in a better position to do that but with Chelsea’s home record under Jose Mourinho, they should take something out of this tie.

Am tempted to tow the side of Manchester City in this game but something just tell me, Chelsea might not just be ready to loss another game at home in as many games under Mourinho in all competition this season and that will leave us to a share of the spoils.

PREDICTION: Draw

For Me, is got to be one of those weekend we will witness draws rather than outright victories and defeats, teams should be able to stand up to each other, cancel themselves out and stand for their teams.

Chelsea up against Everton remains the top pick of the game and am seeing no winner in that game.

So, there you have it folks, what do you make of these matches, will chelsea prove a point against City or will it be the Manuel Pellegrini’s side that will cause headache at the Bridge? Will united struggle continue?

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