English Premier League: Saturday Matches Previews: December 4, 2010

Joe LazarDec 3, 2010

Arsenal vs Fulham

Arsenal may be suffering from some wayward form at the moment, but fortunately for them, so have their biggest rivals. The problems have of course been due to their extensive injury list, which has been made worse by keeper Almunia picking up a fresh elbow injury in training this week. On paper, this should be an obvious win for the home side; after all, a full strength Fulham is no match for an Arsenal side in full swing. The problem is that both sides are comprised of the walking wounded. However, Arsenal’s larger squad depth should be enough to give them the advantage.

Fulham are sitting one place above the relegation zone, not a place they’ll be happy with or have expected to be in at this point in the season. Andy Johnson may be able to play in this match, which comes as some good news for the fans. However, he is unlikely to bolster the squad to a point where Fulham can harbour serious hopes of victory. Even when Fulham are fully fit they rarely play well away from home, having not managed a win in their last 25 matches.

Birmingham vs Tottenham

Gardener may make a return to the starting line up, having come on a substitute against Villa in Birmingham’s midweek win. Hleb may also be fit, with the chances of him overcoming his calf strain being deemed as good. Unfortunately for Birmingham, there is little to be celebrated as they are just waiting to see how badly they are penalized after the pitch invasion in the Carling Cup quarter finals midweek. Fans scrapped with their local rivals Villa and the press has made a meal of the incident, leaving Birmingham looking more than a little bit foolish. They will be looking to put the incident behind them and pick up a win here and hopefully end one match on a high note.

Tottenham are getting down to the bare bones of their squad, which is so injury ridden it is hard to find any first team players on the pitch. Fortunately for "Spurs", these days most of their second string are experienced and high class players. Despite this, Tottenham are expected to really struggle away from home against a team coming off the back of an historic win. It will take something pretty impressive for Tottenham to pick up three points with the players they have available.

Blackburn vs Wolverhampton

Blackburn had a bit of a hammering in their last outing, a 7-1 defeat at the hands of Man Utd will not soon be forgotten. The players got the lashing that they deserved after such a shoddy performance. There was little to be taken from the match as Blackburn crumbled and another performance even half as bad as that one will almost certainly see them lose yet again. Of course, this is not a fully fit side and ineligibility did come into play with on loan Diouf, but that should not be an excuse for a Premiership club to take such a licking. They will be eager to put that misery behind them and pick up some points here against struggling Wolves.

Wolves do have a couple of new injury concerns in the form of Jones, Fletcher and Mouyokolo, which is not something that they can afford to deal with at the moment. This is probably one of the better chances that Wolves will have to actually pick up a few points, even if it is away from home, simply due to the fact that Blackburn’s last performance showed them to be lacking even more.

Chelsea vs Everton

Well, this is a tale of two ends of the table. Chelsea are still somehow sitting pretty at the top of the Premiership, despite the run of bad form in the last few weeks. The fact is that last year this match would have been a close call and this year it couldn’t be further from it. Despite Chelsea’s poor run they should have little difficulty polishing off the struggling Everton. If they can stifle Cahill (who should be their only real threat) at the back, then there is no way in which they could expect to lose. Of course, miracles do happen, but that isn’t something that we can really take into account.

Everton is off to its worst start in years. Toffee’s fans have been taken on a bit of a roller coaster this season and things only seem likely to get worse. The appalling start to the season seemed to be over when a string of good results saw Everton climbing back into the top ten, where they’re expected to be and that seems to be all but over now. They have drawn four of their last five away games, which is probably the most promising statistic for their chances of getting any points out of this match.

Man City vs Bolton

City should see the comeback of Toure after he missed the last match due to a migraine. Balotelli could also make an appearance in the side after scoring two goals in Man City’s midweek win over Salzburg in the Europa League. City went through November unbeaten and have looked comfortable in Europe and yet they have still not managed to win any praise from the press. The fact is that there are high expectations from a side with their budget; however, Rome was not built in a day. The problem seems to be coming from their lack of goals scored at home in the league, a two month drought in fact. Still, after showing themselves capable in Europe, this is a great opportunity to prove critics wrong against a side which has been leaking goals.

Bolton are unbeaten in their last five games and critics have been quick to heap praise onto the side for punching above their weight in some terms. They have looked pretty good going forward, but the problem is that Bolton don’t have the whole package. They have only managed one clean sheet all season and it seems that if they could just keep a few more goals out, then they would be in an even better position right now. Despite their run of good form, it seems likely that they will buckle against Man City.

Wigan vs Stoke

Wigan’s Carling Cup defeat cost them dearly in terms of players, with Moses (their last available striker) picking up an injury against Arsenal and the suspension of Rodallega leaving them very short of options upfront. Di Santo is also doubtful, which just makes matters worse for the home side. Wigan are the lowest scoring team in the Premiership and with the aforementioned selection concerns, this isn’t likely to be a particularly high scoring match for them. In fact, with their recent form, a draw wouldn’t be a terrible result even if it is against Stoke. Surely the Lactics would take anything right about now.

Stoke have a few concerns themselves in terms of player absences, although not quite to the same degree as the home side. As things stand, they are without Wilson, Pennant, Wilkinson and Sidibe, which could cause them more than a few problems, especially at the back. Still, this is a good opportunity to rack up some much needed away points and continue to push up the table. Stoke's form has been pretty good, so it is very reasonable to assume that they should be the driving force in this match.