EPL: Wednesday Match Previews for December 29th

Chelsea vs Bolton

Chelsea are likely to be without Anelka, whose injury caused him to miss out in their defeat against Arsenal. Things seem to be getting progressively worse for Chelsea in the last few weeks, and losing to their local rivals will certainly not be something that their fans will find favourable.

The flying start that they had to the season seems to be all but completely halted and they may just find themselves struggling in a fixture which six months ago would have been deemed a walk in the park. Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 13 matches against Bolton. However, it has been a very long time since the team tipped to be this year's champions was on a run of form quite this bad.

Generally speaking, Bolton do pretty badly against teams in the big four, although Chelsea are not playing like a side worthy of that title. Having not won any of their last 24 matches against the prestigious group, this will be a great opportunity to turn that statistic around. This could well be a good chance for Bolton to pick up three away points, and with the way their opposition have been playing they may even have an easy time of it.

Wigan vs Arsenal

Wigan will not be looking forward to this matchup. Wigan fans will be hard pressed to think of many times when this fixture has gone their way, and that is because it has only ever happened once in the history of the club and it was the last time these two sides met, oddly enough. Will lightning strike twice?

Well, probably not, when you take into account the fact that the home side are not really setting the Premiership on fire with their amazing football. They may have just come off the back of a home victory, but beating Wolves is not something to write home about. In fact at the moment, for most clubs it is somewhat of a given.

Arsenal have just beat Chelsea, and convincingly, they looked like a side which can actually contend for the title not just eternally finish as the runners-up. However, they were finishing off a wounded lion, not one at full strength so the victory is somewhat hollow. Still, all things considered Arsenal are a better side than their opposition and there is only really one way that this match is ever going to go and that should result in a win for the Gunners.

Liverpool vs Wolverhampton

Liverpool will be seeing the return of Steven Gerrard, who was supposed to return to the side in their postponed match against Blackpool, but the match not being played was hardly a surprise. However, it may just have gone in Liverpool’s favour, giving some players time to rest up ahead of what is usually the busiest period in football’s yearly calendar.

The return of the home side's influential captain can only be seen as great news, seeing as Liverpool are often quoted as being a two-man team, so the return of one of these two men can’t be a bad thing. At home this should be a Liverpool victory, after all they haven’t even conceded in their last three Premiership home games.

Wolves are not good away from home these days, they haven’t won away from home since March and they aren’t exactly playing against a side which will give them much of an opportunity to this time around. With their leaky defence, they may just be on the receiving end of a thrashing if they are unlucky. Having conceded 32 goals, they are only slightly better off than West Ham at the back, which doesn’t say much for the side.

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