EPL Week 26: Previews for Feb. 5, 2010

Newcastle v Arsenal

Ameobi is going to be absent following picking up what appears to be a fractured cheek bone in his Wednesday matchup against Fulham. This is, of course, not good for the Magpies going forward, considering the fact that they have just sold off Andy Carroll to Liverpool, meaning that their strike force seems to be ever dwindling.

The Magpies have got themselves into a pretty reasonable situation for a promoted team, situated in the top-10 and having looked pretty convincing right from the start of the season.

The home side have only won two of their last 16 matches against Arsenal and that does not bode particularly well considering the fact that in some of their past altercations, Newcastle were in a much better position to actually obtain a victory.

Arsenal are having a little bit of an injury crisis themselves, however, they are not by any means in as much of a pickle as the Magpies, added to which they had something of a solid win in their last Premiership outing whereas their opposition lost to a struggling Fulham.

There is only really one way which this match is going to end and, by all rights, that should be a convincing Arsenal victory.

Man City v West Brom

Man City should, in theory, give West Brom a bit of a thrashing and it shouldn’t be anything which should cause them any strain, "should" being the operative word. On paper, City are an infinitely better side, although they are also a better side than Birmingham, at least in this sense, and their last match ended in a rather unconvincing draw in which they could’ve easily lost had their opponents been just a little bit luckier.

City are looking a little bit out of sorts at the moment and are desperate for a little boost in confidence. The home side have not managed to pick up a win in the last three matches so this should be the perfect opportunity for them to change that, after all West Brom are by no means the Premiership's toughest offering.

West Brom will not be looking forward to a visit to Manchester, it has been seven years since the Baggies managed to win against City away from home. Although, equally, they have not lost both of their matches against City in 11 years. 

Man City are a much better team than they were, West Brom are really going to struggle here and to win they need to manage something pretty spectacular.

Wolverhampton v Man Utd

Wolves have no new injury concerns ahead of their match against Manchester United, although the fact of the matter is that even a fully fit Wolves squad is going to have more than a few difficulties hosting the league leaders.

Wolves have lost their last six matches against Manchester United and that doesn’t look likely to change in this match. The home side have managed to lose more matches this season than any other team in the Premiership, not the most favourable of statistics to have under your belt.

In fact, if they lose this matchup, they will be on a run of four successive defeats.

McCarthy turns 52 on Monday and no doubt that a decent result here would be better than any gift his players could possibly give him.

Man United will be expecting to walk this match, take the three points and return to Manchester without having broken a sweat. Odds are that will actually be the case.

In terms of things for them to worry about defensively, there isn’t a great deal that the home side can do and, as for going forward, they should have no problems against one of the leagues leakiest defences.

Xavier - mysportshub.co.uk