English Premier League Saturday Match Previews: October 23, 2010

Joe LazarOct 23, 2010

Birmingham vs Blackpool

We’re likely to see Zigic deputise for still struggling Jerome, who isn’t going to have recovered from his knee injury in time to host Blackpool. Jiranek will also be absent due to his hip complaint.

When it comes to form, Birmingham have been pretty poor recently considering the fact that they are without a win in six matches: three draws and three losses don’t constitute very much hope. The home side are just teetering on the edge of the relegation zone and three points here could see them head back more to the sort of position that they are accustomed to, but beating Blackpool will not be an easy feat for them.

Blackpool have no new injury concerns, although they still do have a few things to worry about. However they are still playing well, they played amicably against City even though they lost, it wasn’t by the stretch that most people expected that it would be.

They are a team full of surprises and one which could easily take away all three points from this match. There is actually some precedent for Blackpool winning this match as well, after all they won the last time these two sides met at St Andrews in 2008.

Chelsea vs Wolverhampton

Drogba looks set to return and the Chelsea hit man will undoubtedly receive a warm welcome from the home supporters. Lampard is still sidelined and Ramires is also doubtful. Chelsea’s slip up against City has given the title pretenders something to hope for as they are only two points ahead of the competition snapping at their heels.

A win here will keep them safe and this is the sort of match that they should be and probably will win by a clear margin. Chelsea have won all of their matches here against Wolves and short of the away side pulling off some sort of miracle that record looks likely to extend to a 5th match and comfortably at that.

Wolves have not won any of their last seven away matches and they’ve only won four in they last 42, this is not a statistic which suggests they even have the faintest hope of taking the three points from Chelsea. They could possibly manage a draw if they play good enough football, but even that would be a good result for Wolves. Wolves have not won since the opening day of the season; that says it all for their chances, doesn’t it?

Sunderland vs Aston Villa

Darren Bent is fit, that is possibly the best news Sunderland could’ve had seeing as there was speculation over whether or not he would be able to play due to a groin strain. Having their leading goal scorer fit to play means that Sunderland actually have a reasonable chance of winning this match—without Bent the home side probably would’ve struggled here.

They are also unbeaten at home this season and they don’t look like a terrible team, the only problem is that they have only won once in their last nine meetings with Villa. A draw could be perfectly possible, but if anybody is going to win then Sunderland could just snatch the three points.

The Villains are seeing the return of Heskey, Dunne and Abrighton which is good news for a side who is struggling with injury concerns. Villa have lost more matches from a winning position this season than any other team, except for Wolves, eight in total which is pretty appalling.

The only victories that Villa have had have been against teams that are doing badly, well at least in the bottom half of the table and Sunderland do fall into that category.

Tottenham vs Everton

Van de Vaart missed the match against Inter Milan although it looks like he should be fit enough to play against Everton.Tottenham were whipped in San Siro midweek and were schooled in football by the European giants Inter Milan.

Then, to make matters worse, they could have some trouble from an Everton side which seem to be returning to form, although generally speaking Tottenham have done better in this encounter in recent years with Tottenham winning 18 of the encounters since the Premiership began to Everton’s five.

Everton couldn’t have had a better result, beating their arch rivals Liverpool when only one point separated them and was possibly the biggest moral boost that the team and the fans could have imagined. Everton have always been slow starters when it comes to the Premiership, although this season has taken that trend to a new low.

Although, Everton are one point better off than they were at this point when they finished fifth in 2009. A win here would really put Everton’s season back on track and things could get very interesting very quickly if they can string a few wins together.

West Brom vs Fulham

Odemwingie is struggling to recover and West Brom may also struggle if they are to play without their top goal scorer, so unsurprisingly he will be facing a last minute fitness test. Jerome Thomas may be set for a recall to the squad seeing as he has made a full recovery.

West Brom are having the best start to the season that they have ever had after eight matches and they will be wanting to build on that. If they continue playing the way that they have been there is absolutely no reason why they couldn’t beat Fulham, at least at their own ground and continue their push for a European finish this season.

Fulham are not having the best start to the season, granted they haven’t been losing much, in fact they suffered their first loss last week, but they do have major injury concerns and the fact that they haven’t been winning either—drawing matches is fine, but if it leaves you wallowing in mid table obscurity when you’re aiming for a spot in Europe.

Away from home Fulham have drawn all of their matches and considering the fact that these two teams are pretty equally matched in terms of skill this could easily become their fifth on the trot.

Wigan vs Bolton

Al-Habsi is ineligible to play against his parent club, which is a little unfortunate considering the fact that their keeper is a pretty instrumental part in their team and his replacement Kirkland has not really been the best of keepers in recent years. Di Santo may also miss out after having 10 stitches in his lip due to a collision in training.

Wigan have been great in the last 15 minutes of each match scoring exactly half of their goals in that period. If they could play like this for an entire match then they should have no problems winning, but this is quite unlikely.

Bolton are having a good start to the season with them sitting pretty at seventh place in the table. They won their last match against Stoke quite convincingly and if they repeat that performance then they should win this match.

They are on paper a much better side than the "Hammers" and this is the sort of match that they should be winning if they hope to meet their European ambitions. Klasnic will miss the match due to a suspension but this is unlikely to make too much of a difference against a Wigan side who simply aren’t playing well enough.

West Ham vs Newcastle

Upson is returning to the West Ham fold after missing last weeks match due to a minor injury. The defender will be welcomed back more so than he would be under normal circumstances due to the fact that their defence is in desperate need of some help.

Collinson and Hines could also make a come back although it is unlikely, they will both be given late fitness tests to see if they are able to play. West Ham are starting to recover from their four opening defeats relatively well, picking up two wins from their last four games.

Newcastle have only won once away from home this season, although that isn’t a terrible statistic seeing as their home form hasn’t exactly been terrible and after all they were newly promoted.

Their skipper Nolan is fit again and will make his way back into the squad for a match where they could real hope to pick up a win. Newcastle have had a decent start considering it’s their first season back and they will be hoping to continue here.