English Premier League: Predicting the Results in Week 4
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has today verbally defended his record signing of Andy Carroll (pictured above) after his England manager Fabio Capello bemoaned the £35 million player's fitness levels.
"His fitness would stand up against anybody's. I don't think his lifestyle is anything like you want it to be to write a story," said Dalglish in an interview for the press ahead of his club's match at Stoke on Saturday.
It will be a big moment for Carroll, who has risen to prominence in a short space of time on the back of some muscular and intelligent performances for Newcastle United in the Championship and Premier League, and he must start to score and create goals for his team for the press to drop their increasing interest in his reportedly wild lifestyle.
It is also an important weekend for North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, who have started the season catastrophically. While the Spurs have kept hold of all of their best players, Arsenal fans have suffered the exits of key midfield duo Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. The arrivals at the club towards the end of August will partially appease the fans.
However, the main concern of both sets of supporters is that the teams register their first victories of the 2011-12 campaign. During defeats to both Manchester clubs, the Spurs have shipped eight goals. Arsenal were outfought and outplayed by rivals Liverpool and were then trounced 8-2 by the champions Manchester United.
Spurs are currently bottom, Arsenal are 17th.
Last matchday, I beat Thomas Atzenhoffer 9-6 in the predictions game, meaning that I have won two and drawn one of my encounters to date.
This week it is the turn of Neri Stein, a writer who covers the NBA and tennis also and has racked up nearly one million reads in a short space of time, to try to beat me.
Let's hope for some more crazy 8-2 matches. It's just not as much fun without them!
Arsenal V Swansea
1 of 10Date: Saturday 10 September, 15:00 BST
Last season: N/A
Key Players: Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Michel Vorm (Swansea)
Form: Arsenal were on the wrong end of an 8-2 embarrassment last weekend at Old Trafford, Swansea could not quite muster a win against Sunderland at home.
Odds: Arsenal 7/19 Draw 4/1 Swansea 10/1
Prediction: Arsenal 4-1 Swansea
Neri Stein says: Arsenal 2-1 Swansea
Everton V Aston Villa
2 of 10Date: Sunday 10 September, 15:00 BST
Last season: Everton 2-2 Aston Villa
Key Players: Tim Cahill (Everton, pictured), Darren Bent (Aston Villa)
Form: Villa drew at home with neighbours Wolves and sit in seventh place while new Arsenal signing Mikel Arteta scored an important farewell penalty in injury time last week at Blackburn to hand Everton their first win of the season.
Odds: Everton 11/10 Draw 12/5 Aston Villa 3/1
Prediction: Everton 1-2 Aston Villa
Neri Stein says: Everton 0-0 Aston Villa
Manchester City V Wigan Athletic
3 of 10Date: Saturday 10 September, 15:00 BST
Last season: Man City 1-0 Wigan
Key Players: David Silva (Man City, above), Ali Al-Habsi (Wigan)
Form: Both teams won last time around, with City masterfully brushing aside Champions League hopefuls Spurs 5-1 on their own turf and Swansea winning 2-0 at home.
Odds: Man City 1/5 Draw 13/2 Wigan 21/1
Prediction: Man City 3-1 Wigan
Neri Stein says: Man City 4-0 Wigan
Stoke City V Livepool
4 of 10Date: Saturday 10 September, 15:00 BST
Last season: Stoke 2-0 Liverpool
Key Players: Peter Crouch (Stoke, above), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool)
Form: Liverpool impressed in a 3-1 win over Bolton, Stoke left it late to beat West Brom 1-0 away from home with an 89th-minute winner.
Odds: Stoke 12/5 Draw 23/10 Liverpool 5/4
Prediction: Stoke 1-1 Liverpool
Neri Stein says: Stoke 1-2 Liverpool
Sunderland V Chelsea
5 of 10Date: Saturday 10 September, 15:00 BST
Last season: Sunderland 2-4 Chelsea
Key Players: Sebastian Larsson (Sunderland, above), Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Form: Chelsea eased past newly-promoted Norwich 3-1 at home, Sunderland won a valuable point at Swansea.
Odds: Sunderland 9/2 Draw 14/5 Chelsea 8/11
Prediction: Sunderland 1-3 Chelsea
Neri Stein says: Sunderland 1-2 Chelsea
Wolverhampton Wanderers V Tottenham Hotspur
6 of 10Date: Saturday 10 September, 15:00 BST
Last season: Wolves 3-3 Spurs
Key Players: Jamie O'Hara (Wolves), Luka Modric (Spurs, above)
Form: Wolves secured a solid goalless draw at rivals Aston Villa, but Spurs were humiliated at White Hart Lane for the first time in several years by Manchester City.
Odds: Wolves 2/1 Draw 12/5 Spurs 6/4
Prediction: Wolves 2-2 Spurs
Neri Stein says: Wolves 1-0 Spurs
Bolton Wanderers V Manchester United
7 of 10Date: Saturday 10 September, 17:30 BST
Last season: Bolton 0-4 Man Utd
Key Players: Gary Cahill (Bolton), Ashley Young (Man Utd, above)
Form: Bolton failed to find their feet in a 3-1 loss at Liverpool, but Man United found an extra couple of gears with a superb 8-2 demolition of former champions Arsenal.
Odds: Bolton 8/1 Draw 18/5 Ma Utd 4/9
Prediction: Bolton 1-2 Man Utd
Neri Stein says: Bolton 1-3 Man Utd
Norwich City V West Bromwich Albion
8 of 10Date: Sunday 11 September, 13:30 BST
Last season: N/A
Key Players: Grant Holt (Norwich, above), Zoltan Gera (West Brom)
Form: Both clubs conceded very late goals and lost last week, albeit the third goal the Canaries conceded to Chelsea had no effect on the outcome of the match.
Odds: Nowrich 8/5 Draw 12/5 West Brom 17/9
Prediction: Norwich 2-1 West Brom
Neri Stein says: Norwich 1-1 West Brom
Fulham V Blackburn Rovers
9 of 10Date: Sunday 11 September, 16:00 BST
Last season: Fulham 3-2 Blackburn
Key Players: Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Scott Dann (Blackburn)
Form: Both clubs lost last match, although Fulham were playing away from home. Both are in need of a win to move them away from the bottom places.
Odds: Fulham 8/11 Draw 11/4 Blackburn 5/1
Prediction: Fulham 1-0 Blackburn
Neri Stein says: Fulham 1-0 Blackburn
Monday 12 September, 20:00 BST
10 of 10Date: Monday 12 September, 20:00 BST
Last season: N/A
Key Players: Joey Barton (QPR), Gabriel Obertan (Newcastle)
Form: Newcaslte beat Fulham 2-1 at home to add to their four points from the opening two matches, but QPR came unstuck at Wigan.
Odds: QPR 22/15 Draw 23/10 Newcastle 17/8
Prediction: QPR 2-1 Newcastle
Neri Stein says: QPR 2-0 Newcastle
