Barclay’s Premier League – 1st March 08

Hello everyone …

It’s another weekend of English Premier League matches which could see in the leadership for the title. With the Champions’ League return leg matches to be played in midweek, you could see some changes to the team lineups.

Fulham vs Man Utd

Man Utd are well aware that this a golden opportunity for them to go top since Arsenal have a tough game against Aston Villa. The difference between Utd and Arsenal is that, Utd’s reserves are playing very well this season compared to Arsenal’s and Arsenal’s reserves are mostly youngsters with less title challenging experience.

Expect United to rest key players for this tie against a very weak Fulham side who are not have only one game in the last 6 matches (one win coming from a 92nd min Jimmy Bullard penalty against Villa). Man Utd are brimming with confidence after successful big wins against Arsenal and Newcastle.

Prediction : Away Win, -1.5

Arsenal vs Aston Villa

Villa are in a good run of form and are having a battle for the coveted 4th Champions’ League spot with Everton and Liverpool. Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and John Carew have formed a lethal combination upfront which will cause a lots of problems for Arsenal.

Arsenal have a date with AC Milan next Tuesday and we have to wait and see what kind of team Arsene Wenger will play. He will definitely give Villa the respect they are due and I hope he will field a strong team.

With lots at stake for both teams, I expect this game to end as a draw.

Other Games

• Derby County vs Sunderland – Sunderland Win, -1.5
• Middlesbrough vs Reading – Reading Win
• Birmingham vs Tottenham – Draw
• Newcastle vs Blackburn – Blackburn Win
• West Ham Utd vs Chelsea – Draw
• Manchester City vs Wigan – Wigan Win

Match to look out for ….

Bolton vs Liverpool

With Champions League trip to San Siro in mind, the whole world will be expecting to see some changes to Liverpool’s 1st team for the difficult trip to Bolton. Though they have a two goal advantage over Inter and also with Inter playing badly, you would expect Rafa Benitez to field a strong side against Bolton. But knowing Benitez and his preference to the Champions’ League, he will rest some players against Bolton.

Bolton under Gary Megson are no easy meat and they have been playing well at Reebok Stadium and have also progressed to the next round of UEFA Cup. Expect an upset at the Reebok …!!!

Barclay’s Premier League – 25th Feb 2008

Aston Villa had a good win over Reading yesterday night which sees them level on points with Liverpool and Everton on 47 points. Its the second time in as many away games that Villa have let in a last minute free-kick though Nicky Shorey’s goal did not cause as much harm as Jimmy Bullard’s goal.

Today’s game

Today’s match sees Manchester City locking horns with Everton for the coveted 4th Champions League spot. City’s home form has been very good with 9 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. However, they have not won the last four games (3 draws and 1 loss). Erikkson have almost full strength available to choose from except for Bojinov. Benjani became an instant hero by making a wonderful debut against arch rivals United and he should be the key man for City with the ever impressive Petrov and Richard Dunne.

Everton on the other hand are coming into this game after a successful 6-1 win over SK Brann in the UEFA Cup. Yakubu had a hattrick and is in good scoring form. However, he will have a hard time tonight against Everton old boy Dunne and Micah Richards. Everton are dangerous with their set-pieces with Cahill and Arteta scoring a couple of goals via direct free-kicks.

Everton will be hoping for a draw but I see this as a Manchester City win. They have not played for almost two weeks and should be refreshed for tonight’s game. A narrow 1-0 win for Man City.

Barclay’s Premier League – 24th Feb Matches.

What a great victory for Man Utd at Newcastle ! With Arsenal dropping points at St Andrews, Man Utd have made sure the title challenge goes to the wire. Concerns and good wishes goes to Eduardo for a speedy recovery after breaking his leg but I disagree with Arsene Wenger that the tackle by Martin Taylor was malicious. It was a mistimed tackle which was duly punished by a red card.

Today, Reading welcome Aston Villa to the Madjeski Stadium while Blackburn and Bolton spruce up things in the Lancashire derby.

Reading vs Aston Villa  

Reading have not won or drawn any game in 2008 and are up against Martin O’Neill’s ever improving Villa team. Villa are having a good run with Agbonlahor and Laursen returning to the team after injuries. Ashley Young will be the man to watch with Agbonlahor, Carew and Laursen (from corners) all in great goalscoring form.

Prediction : Aston Villa to provide the biggest threat to Liverpool in getting the 4th place by beating Reading convincingly.  Away win, -1.5

Blackburn vs Bolton

Blackburn and Bolton continue the Lancashire rivalry in this game with both teams looking forward to wins. Blackburn are struggling at home with their only win this year at Ewood Park being the 1-0 win over Sunderland early January. The drew their last two matches and will be trying to put one over Bolton tonight.

Bolton have progressed to the next round of UEFA Cup with a goalless draw at Athletico Madrid. Gary Megson have confounded doubts and have ensured that there is life after the departure of Nicolas Anelka. Their away form is not great and with the midweek to travel to and fro to Spain would have taken some toll on the players.

However, I am predicting this to be a draw.

Barclay’s Premier League – Weekend of 23rd Feb Matches

A welcome return to Premier League after a fortnight of FA Cup and European matches. A couple of intriguing matches this weekend but none more intriguing than the Newcastle-Man Utd match at St James Park.

Sir Alex Ferguson knows this is a must win game and in the current form they are in, Man Utd should win this game comfortably. Man Utd should welcome back Ryan Giggs after his minor injury against Lyon in midweek. Apart from Gary Neville and Silvestre, Sir Alex has a full team to choose from. Interesting to see if he will continue to use Wes Brown, after the player had rejected the club’s final offer.

Newcastle are in shambles and have yet to win under Kevin Keegan in his second spell at the club as manager. Stephen Carr, Obafemi Martins and Emre are out with injuries and keeper Given will undergo a late fitness test.

Man Utd’s quest to retain the title will see them overcome Newcastle and expect the front trio of Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez to be heavily involved.

Prediction : Away Win, -1.5 

Other games :

Birmingham vs Arsenal – Away Win, +1.5

Liverpool vs Middlesbrough – Draw

Portsmouth vs Sunderland – Home Win

Fulham vs West Ham – Draw

Wigan vs Derby – Home Win

S-League Preview – Geylang Utd vs Balestier Khalsa and Home Utd vs Dalian

Last two matches of S-League were not kind to me and it’s about time we do something about it.

Geylang Utd vs Balestier Khalsa

Geylang are tipped to do better this year as they have brought the right mix of players into the team. Amos Boon will start in goal ably protected by Aide Iskandar, Baihakki, Noh Rahman in defence. Returning Noor Ali and new signing Ratislav Belicak will anchor the midfield and provide support to Miroslav Latiak, Luiz Machado Junior and Fazrul Nawaz.

Balestier, on the other hand, have dropped all their experienced players. They have retained their cameroonian exports, Kaze and Mba, recruited Paul Ekollo (from Sengkang Punggol) and Seto Haruki from J.League.

Market talk for this game is high scoring game with AOS very possible.

Home United vs Dalian Shide

Nothing is known about Dalian Shide and is best that you keep your money for some other matches. Though reports have been good about the young Chinese side, it is still a new environment for the players and they have been given a tough task of playing S-League’s Top Two side.

Home Utd have a new coach in PN Sivaji and he will be looking forward to competitive football again. Return of Peres de Oliveira means he will be involved in all free-kicks and penalties, they will miss Indra Shahdan as he is on trial in the US. Farhan Farook will most probably link up with Peres upfront.

Because of the unknown factor of the visiting side tonite, I am hesitant to give any concrete tips. If you have a dime to spare, take +1.5 on Dalian or draw !!

S-League – Gombak vs Tampines – Review

Well, Singapore Pools were right after all … Tampines deserved to be the favourites against Gombak yesterday night !!!

After watching the game yesterday night at the Jurong West stadium, I was not impressed with Gombak’s performance. If they are unable to beat a very weakened Tampines side, I do not think they will be able to break into the top three this year also.

New keeper Fadhil Salim was the cause for Tampines’ first goal as he came out of his line too early which enabled the league’s shortest striker, Aliff Shafein, to lob the ball over him. Early red card for Kinglsley Njoku did not help either and they would have lost by a bigger margin if only Tampines had taken their chances. Cheif culprit for Tampines was new signing “blonde-haired” Qiu Li, who missed a couple of good chances.

Overall, Gombak were pathetic. They missed Precious Emujeraye at the back and word is that Agu Casmir did not sign up and will have to wait till the next signing period. I felt it was a mistake for Gombak to release Adi Salleh, who is a better goalkeeper than Fadhil Salim.

Apologies again for the “over-confident” bet on Gombak .. !

S-League 2008 – Gombak Utd vs Tampines Rovers

It was a surprise to see Singapore Pools having Tampines as the favourites for this game !

Tampines 2008 edition is not the same as any of the previous seasons and they will definitely struggle to finish in the top three this season. The loss of key players such as, Alam Shah, Mirko Grobovac, Peres de Oliveira and Nazri Nasir have weakened the side from the East. Gombak are essentially the same squad as the last season with Gabrieal Obadin Aikhena moving to Young Lions.

For today’s game, Tampines are further weakened with the non-availability of Rafi Ali, Ibrahim Noh, Razif Mahmud (all yet to pass the Beep Test), Sead Muratovic and Shariff Samad (both injured). Tampines’ top three top-scorers have left the club and this season’s goal scoring responsibility will be handed to the S-league’s shortest striker Aliff Shafein and the chinese misfit, Qiu Li.

Gombak’s Precious Emujeraye will miss this game through suspension carried over from last season. He will be most probably replaced by recent sigining Bah Mahmoudou. Fadhil Salim takes over the goalkeeping role from Adi Salleh and should be a safe pair of hands.

Gombak are S-League possible answer to BPL’s Portsmouth as they have the most number of africans in their team. Precious and Emmanuel Emujeraye, Gabriel Obatula, Richard Kingsley, Agu Casmir and Bah Mahmoudou make up the strong african contingent though Precious, Casmir and Mahmoudou are now “naturalised Singaporeans”.

With so many injuries and unavailabilty of players, Tampines would be very happy to come back from Jurong West with a point. However, Gombak are already eyeing the Tampines’ third position in the league and have a good chance of beating Tampines at home.

Go for the Bulls to maul down the Stags !!

Review of Tuesday’s (19th Feb 08) matches.

Total Whitewash !!!

None of yesterday’s prediction came true and heavy loss incurred !

The Young Lions vs Sengkang match was almost a money earner as the Young Lions were unlucky to have hit the crossbar on three occasions and Sengkang’s new custodian, Adi Salleh saving a few goal bound efforts. The Cubs clearly missed Harris Harun in midfield and will definitely struggle this season. Sengkang, on the other hand, started well but were out of steam in the second half. New foreign signings fail to impress but local signings, Ali Imran Lomri, Adi Salleh and Razali Johari were impressive.

Champions League games were also unpredictable yesterday night. Liverpool – Inter Milan game was as predicted heading for a draw till the 85th minute and Liverpool scoring two goals in the last 5 mins was not on the script. Materrazzi’s early red card did not help either and Patrick Viera, who came on as a second half substitute, was simply awful.

Anyway, as they say, you can’t win them all !! … Better luck next time !!

UEFA Champions’ League – Knockout Stages

Champions’ League is back with some key matches to be played. Four matches are played today with Chelsea and Liverpool in action against Olympiakos and Inter respectively.

Today’s matches

• Liverpool vs Inter Milan – Draw
• Olympiakos vs Chelsea – Chelsea
• Schalke vs Porto – Porto
• Roma vs Real Madrid – Draw

S-League 2008 – Match 2 – Young Lions vs Sengkang Punggol

The 2nd match of the season much changed sides of Young Lions and Sengkang Punggol. Young Lions have let go a few players including Baihakki, Fazrul Nawaz, Moudourou Moisse, Tengku Mushadad. However, they have brought in Obadin Aikhena (frm Gombak) and Swee Swee (Home) while retaining Hariss Harun, Khairul Amri, Jasper Chan, Isa Halim as the core team.

Sengkang have done a major overhaul of their players and have brought in some unknown foreigners to boost their team strength. Mirko Grobovac has moved to Sengkang this season as player-assistant coach but will not playing tonight as he has not passed the mandatory Beep test. Adi Salleh replaces Amos Boon, who has moved to Geylang, in goal.

Young Lions have an upper hand in this match as they are playing at home on the artificial turf and also they look younger and fresher. Go for Young Lions to beat Sengkang Punggol !!