English Premier League Sunday Match Previews: Oct 3, 2010

Joe LazarOct 3, 2010

Manchester City vs Newcastle

City have a great opportunity to capitalise on their local rivals disappointing draw with Sunderland and the fact that Chelsea and Arsenal are playing each other thus only one of the teams can take three points. A win here could potentially see Man City reach second place.

Boateng may be rested and Zabaleta will not feature after picking up hamstring injury midweek. Historically, City don’t do too well in this fixture however the fortunes of both these clubs have changed drastically in recent years. On paper, City do have a superior side and this should be a reasonably easy game for them to pick up all three points on.

Newcastle will have to work hard to break down the Manchester City defence who have the joint best record in the league. Away from home the Magpies have been pretty solid and have not lost since their opening day defeat at Old Trafford.

Simpson and Guthrie will not be played despite having returned to training. Newcastle will have to work hard to pick up points from this fixture although it is not entirely out of the question; a draw is certainly possible if the Magpies can stay tight at the back.

Liverpool vs Blackpool

Liverpool are looking pretty short of players who can play left back, with three potential left backs out injured it is going to be a bit of a lottery as to who takes the spot. Gerrard is set to return to the side after being rested midweek.

This is quite an important game for Liverpool in some respects and last season this would have been a game which resulted in a clear cut win for the home side, but as it stands there isn’t a lot between the two, in fact only one point separates them, not something which any Liverpool fan will be happy with.

Matt Phillips is hoping to feature after he scored in his Premiership debut last weekend and fit again Edwards is hoping to be recalled to the side. Who knows what Blackpool will do next, they beat big sides, lose to small ones and there certainly have been a whopping 23 goals in the six games that they’ve played so far this season.

We should see yet another interesting match from the Tangerines. Blackpool have conceded more away goals than any other top flight side, if they don’t play safe at the back they will probably not take any points from this match.

Chelsea vs Arsenal

Carlo Ancelotti will be leading his team regardless of the death of his father on Wednesday. Drogba is back in the side after coming back from the suspension which kept him sidelined against Marseille. The first time Chelsea failed to score this season was in their 1-0 loss against Man City last week, they have only lost one of their last 24 home matches and only drawn one to boot.

They have also scored a phenomenal amount of goals at home recently and with Arsenal leaking goals on the road they may just manage to keep up their record: they’ve averaged just over five goals per match in their last five Premiership matches at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal are still struggling with injury concerns with 10 players out several of which would be considered key, Fabregas, Van Persie and Walcott for example all being absent. Arsenal have only kept two clean sheets so far this season against Braga and Blackpool, odds are they wont be keeping one against Chelsea who are a much stronger side going forward.

This is not a proper Arsenal side, but this is still a London derby, it will be fiercely competed even if Chelsea do have a huge advantage over the away side.