EPL Sunday Match Previews: John Mensah, Sunderland Look to Roll against West Ham

West Brom vs. Newcastle

West Brom have doubts over the fitness of Brunt, Scharner, Odemwingie, Morrison and Shorey. This may sound like an extensive list, but it is quite probable that we will see one or two of these players feature in the match against Newcastle, simply due to the fact that Brom are lacking in other options.

Considering their cracking start to the season, the Baggies have dipped in form recently, if you exclude their hammering of Everton last weekend. Still, it will be interesting to see if they can make it two unexpected hammerings in a row and manage to give the Magpies the same treatment that left a few mouths wide open last weekend.

Newcastle are seen as one of this year's overachievers, granted a couple of years before their relegation this is the sort of performance that would’ve been expected of them.

The away side were tipped to be struggling to stay up; they wouldn’t be the first big name to have gone to pieces after relegation. One only has to look at Leeds a few years ago as an example. If form is to be believed then this could very well be their match, especially considering the fact that on away matches they aren’t doing too badly.

Sunderland vs. West Ham

Sunderland are doing pretty well for themselves this season and considering their next match is against strugglers West Ham, things look likely to get even better. In theory, Sunderland could end up sixth if things go their way this weekend. They will almost certainly win this matchup, which is a good start.

John Mensah should make a start despite picking up a knock last week while Bramble and Turner are still out and this does of course leave them a little strapped at the back. The Black Cats have not lost at home all season and there defence has been pretty much impeccable, with only Chelsea having a better record.

West Ham’s woes just continue to get increasingly worse and they have yet to register an away win this season; there is very little chance of them breaking that unfortunate record, with their injury crisis keeping most of their attacking players ruled out. Fortunately the Hammers should have Scott Parker available, however considering the fact that he still isn’t fully fit, he should be the only real threat that the Hammers have going forward. A win here would be great for them, although it is unlikely they will manage to do so.

Liverpool vs Aston Villa (Monday, Dec. 6, 2010)

Liverpool and Villa have both had rather inauspicious starts to the season so neither of the sides have achieved the positions that the fans or the teams themselves would have expected to be in. Liverpool did have a particularly rough opening few games, although things start to have pick up somewhat for the Merseyside based outfit. The problem, as always, is the fact that they rely far too heavily on Torres and Gerrard, if even one of these players is missing the Reds often crumble.

On a more positive note the home side will be looking to make this their fourth successive win at Anfield. If the Reds can actually score the opening goal, the statistics would suggest that the side should manage to take all three points. On the other hand, they have lost every match where they have conceded the opening goal.

The Villans will be lucky to take any points from this match, having won only one of their last nine league matches. They are simply not on the top of their game, granted they struggling with a huge list of unavailable players, through a variety of reasons excuses don’t make for points. Aston Villa are unlikely to turn this match into anything positive without a miracle.

Joe—livescoredaily.com—live scores