EPL Preview: Tottenham Visits Injury-Hit Manchester United
Norwich's fine home form last season was one of the main factors in the club getting promoted back to the Premier League, and Paul Lambert will be hoping that it forms the basis for yet another win, with this one being in the Premier League.
It would be great for the newly promoted club to get their first win on the board as soon as possible. They came ever so close to achieving it against Wigan last week, but could not find a way past Roberto Martinez' side.
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They have one of the finest opponents - Stoke City - against whom Norwich have every possibility getting three points. Stoke City do not travel well at all, a fact that is clearly visible from the lack of a single away victory in the Premier League in 2011.
The draws with Tottenham and Blackpool are the only away games in which Stoke have at least a point. Nonetheless, Tony Pulis will be confident of getting an away victory, which they have done on two occasions in the Europa League so far. Hence, it should not prove to be too difficult to translate the same thing to the Premier League.
Good home form was one of the basis for Wolverhampton Wanderers staying up in the Premier League last season. Despite having spent two consecutive years in the Premier League, Mick McCarthy has once again stated that survival is one of their top priorities.
In such a case, home form will be the saviour for Mick McCarthy and his men, although they can also count extra points from away victories like the impressive win over Blackburn last weekend. Fulham have already played more than 10 games this season and come on the back of a 3-0 win over Dnipro in the Europa League qualifiers.
Any tiredness because of playing so many games at an early stage of the season will be evident only after Christmas, by which time Martin Jol will be hoping to gather as many points as possible. Fulham have always been poor away from home, but that seems to be changing slightly after the arrival of Martin Jol.
If Fulham manage an away win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, it would be their third consecutive away win in the Premier League. It would be quite a sea change from the yesteryears. Mick McCarthy will be having defender Richard Steadman available for selection.
The Reebok Stadium will play host to the game between two sides that have started their respective Premier League in great style. Both Bolton and Man City enjoyed 4-0 win over their opponents, but this Lancashire match will see either of them lose their perfect record.
Man City's away form tailed off during the end of last season, and Mancini will be quite aware that any repeat of such performances will hurt their chances of winning their first ever Premier League title.
For Bolton and Owen Coyle, the 2-0 defeat on the final day of last season will be fresh in their
memories. Until the end of last season, Bolton were very close to finishing in the top half of the table after quite some time.
Most of it was due to their incredible home form, which is something Owen Coyle will be keen to bring back to the Reebok Stadium. He will also be extra cautious about reading much from the QPR match given that Man City will pose a very tough challenge.
Bolton's new signing Tuncay Sanli could be available for the match, while Sergio Aguero could start the match after impressing massively against Swansea.
After the narrow win over Man Utd will be hoping for a comfortable second match of the season, the odds of which are looking favourable because of Tottenham's poor away record against the Red Devils. However, they will be looking to start the season in a good way, as they would be keen to stay in contention with the other Champions League aspirants.
This should have been the second game of the season for Tottenham, but the riots have meant that Harry Redknapp will have to deal with facing Man Utd as their opening fixture. Despite the intimidating presence, Old Trafford has been extremely favourable for Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson in recent years against Tottenham, with the Red Devils claiming a win in all matches since 2005.
There is also the slight possibility of Tottenham being distracted by the transfer talk surrounding Luka Modric in the same way that be allowed the Dimitar Berbatov's transfer embargo to affect them a few seasons ago. However, they showed no such signs in the Europa League qualifier against Heart of Midlothian. Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand have a major injury worries for Manchester United, although Ferdinand could be fit for the match.
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