Portsmouth V Sunderland

The English Premier League

Midweek Fixtures

Tuesday, 9^th February 2009

19:45 GMT – Manchester City (1.44 Bet365) V Bolton Wanderers (9.00 SkyBet)

19:45 GMT – Portsmouth (2.50 PaddyPower) V Sunderland (3.20 VCbet)

19:45 GMT – Wigan Athletic (2.25 Boylesports) V Stoke City (3.60 VCbet)

20:00 GMT – Fulham (1.73 Bet365) V Burnley (5.50 PaddyPower)

Wednesday, 10^th February

19:45 GMT – Arsenal (2.10 Bet365) V Liverpool (3.90 Expekt) ARSENAL V LIVERPOOL DETAILED PREVIEW!

19:45 GMT – Aston Villa (4.30 VCbet) V Manchester United (1.91 Boylesports) VILLA V MAN UNITED DETAILED PREVIEW

19:45 GMT – West Ham United (2.30 PaddyPower) V Birmingham City (3.50 Coral)

19:45 GMT – Wolverhampton Wanderers (4.50 SkyBet) V Tottenham Hotspur (1.91 Bet365)

20:00 GMT – Blackburn Rovers (1.91 VCbet) V Hull City (4.50 Boylesports)

20:00 GMT – Everton (5.50 BlueSquare) V Chelsea (1.73 Bet365)

Live Games:

Manchester City V Bolton Wanderers – Sky Sports 2

Arsenal V Liverpool - Sky Sports 2

The live action kicks off with Man City entertaining Owen Coyle’s Bolton at The City of Manchester stadium as the home side aim to bounce straight back from their shock defeat to Hill City at the weekend. The blue half of Manchester are still dreaming of Champions League football for next season, but could find themselves settling for The Europa League if City‘s performances don’t improve, starting with the arrival of Bolton Wanderers, a side who themselves cannot afford to drop too many points, with Bolton hovering just above the relegation zone. A victory for Man City would lift them above Liverpool and into fourth position, their target destination, whereas defeat for Bolton could see them go into the weekends fixtures in the relegation zone if results elsewhere don’t go in their favour. Another shock, however, an away win for Bolton, could lift Bolton as high as 14^th in the table.

No doubt the fixture which has the most appeal, especially with neutral viewers, is the Arsenal V Liverpool clash which will be shown LIVE on Sky Sports on Wednesday night. Arsenal, after yet another defeat to a title rival, pin their revival challenge on a victory over Liverpool on Wednesday night as The Gunners fall nine points off the pace after their 2-0 loss at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Liverpool, though, have their own reasons, equally as important, as to why they desperately need all three points as they aim to cement their top four stance with their first win at The Emirates since 2000. Liverpool are having to fend off the challenge from Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa & Man City for a Champions League berth next season and will boost their chances of finishing in fourth spot immensely with victory over The Gunners. A victory for the away side, a Liverpool WIN, would also bring Arsenal right back into the equation and loosen up two Champions League spots instead of the solitary one the teams have been chasing for the past two or so months. A big game in which a win for either side could have a huge impact on how the positions at the top of the table could be finalised.

The rest of the action goes as follows; Portsmouth, a team who appeared destined for the drop after news of yet more financial unrest, take on Sunderland at Fratton Park in a home fixture they just have to win. However, you wouldn’t fancy either sides chances, with Pompey losing five of their previous six league encounters and Sunderland not winning a Premiership fixture since the middle of November, going eleven games without a win. With this in mind, perhaps a small punt on the draw (3.30 Boylesports) could be worthwhile?

It’s a relegation six-pointer at The DW stadium as Bolton take on Wigan Athletic in a must win clash for either side. For now, though, both are on dry land but a loss for either side could see them spend the rest of this week in the bottom three. Home advantage does make Wigan the favourites, although they haven’t won in three at home, while Bolton won’t attract too many punters after not managing an away win since September, going seven games without any success on the road. Also, both teams are still searching for their first win of 2010. Not another draw (3.40 Boylesports), surely?

Fulham are going through an indifferent spell of late but have now opened up another potential unbeaten run after going two games unbeaten following their 0-0 draw away at Bolton. A win for the Cottagers would keep them in the upper half of the table until the weekend. Their opponents, however, are struggling to fend off the relegation zone but did give their chances a big boost with victory over West Ham United on Saturday, winning 2-1 at Turf Moor. However, Burnley are big ‘underdogs’ in this contest as they haven’t won an away fixture all season, losing 11 of 12 away Premiership fixtures.

A stuttering Aston Villa play host to a Manchester United side on fire at the moment. Villa have managed just one league victory in their last six, which is in stark contrast to their opponents who have won four on the trot, five in their last seven and are unbeaten in seven games. However, Villa are on the verge of completing an historic league double over United but are in need of a big performance to beat the Premiership champions on Wednesday night. Defeat for Villa would dampen their charge for a top four finish while victory for United would keep the pressure on Chelsea, perhaps even take them top if Chelsea don’t produce the goods elsewhere at Goodison.

West Ham meet Birmingham at Upton Park in a rare meeting for both sides. However, it’s Birmingham who arrive with the better form after returning to winning ways with a 2-1 win at home to Wolves. The Hammers, however, succumbed to their eleventh defeat of the campaign as they lost 2-1 at Burnley. West Ham are desperate for points though, but will need a mammoth display to overhaul Birmingham, whom have lost just once in fourteen league fixtures. However, West Ham are unbeaten in three at Upton Park and are boosted by their flurry of forward arrivals in January, so perhaps the home side can overpower a tough and resilient Birmingham side.

Wolves go seeking a first win in seven as they entertain a Tottenham side who have drawn far too many games recently. However, the same could be said for Wolves in terms of losing games, with Wolves losing four of their last five league games, whilst Tottenham have drawn four of their last seven. However, surely Tottenham will be fired up for this encounter and should be good for the win in the knowledge that they must avenge the home defeat they suffered at the hands of Wolves back in December. The problem for Spurs though, has been scoring goals, with Harry Redknapp‘s side scoring just one in their last three away outings. Wolves haven’t been much cop in front of goal either, with Mick McCarthy‘s men not scoring a single goal in any of their last three home fixtures. Perhaps a drab affair (Under 2.5 Goals – 1.85 SportingBet) could be on the cards at Molineux?

Another potential six-pointer as Blackburn welcome the arrival of Hull City in a game they will be supremely confident of getting all three points in. Rovers have played their best football, and gotten the vast majority of their points, in home games this season and should be too strong, on paper anyway, for their opponents, Hull, who haven’t won away from The KC stadium all season. Hull were annihilated in their last away fixture, losing 4-0 at Man City, and they could fall to a similar fate at Ewood Park as Blackburn Rovers have won their last two fixtures at home, beating both Fulham & Wigan Athletic. An away win is big, but tasty nevertheless, and it’s not asking an awful lot to expect a big performance from the Tigers after their weekend heroics over Man City, beating the mega-rich Manchester club 2-1 at The KC on Saturday.

Another eye-catching fixture is the last on the card – Everton V Chelsea. I’m sure most of you will remember the problems Everton caused Chelsea’s defence in the earlier meeting between the two at Stamford Bridge of which Everton scored three. Of course, Chelsea did put the same amount past Tim Howard but it was Everton who claimed the plaudits that day and are still to this day the only team to have taken anything away from Stamford Bridge. However, the two sides had contrasting results at the weekend, with Everton losing a bitter derby contest with Liverpool and Chelsea winning their London derby with Arsenal. Everton were, though, unbeaten in nine before their loss at Anfield, but has the momentum been lost and will Chelsea continue their surge as they set out to make it six wins in seven in the Premiership.

Portsmouth V Sunderland

Saturday, 23^rd January – 15:00 GMT

Portsmouth

FA Cup Progress: Beat Coventry City (H1-1, A1-2aet)

Portsmouth fans could desperately do with a decent run in the cup after the drab season they’ve had to put up with. With Portsmouth lying in 20^th position, rock-bottom of the league table, the fans, and even the players for that matter, could do with a fruitful FA Cup campaign just take their minds off their dire Premiership campaign thus far and the clubs current financial predicament.

Whereas the fans don’t know whether they’re coming or going in terms of seeing a good performance from the players, the Portsmouth players don’t have a clue when, or even if, they’re going to get paid, such is the financial turmoil at the club right now. We can only think of one club that’s been in a similar predicament to Portsmouth and that’s Leeds United, and we all know how that fairytale adventure ended up… in League One! Portsmouth are now a club more than capable of matching Leeds’ fall from grace if they aren’t careful but a successful run in the cup would not only lift the sprint of the fans and players but it would also bring in some extra funds… some much needed funds from what we hear.  

Our biggest concern with Portsmouth is that they haven’t played a team with Premiership quality for nearly a month now after their games with Fulham & Birmingham were both called off due to adverse weather conditions earlier in the month. Portsmouth’s only outings since December were the two games with Coventry in the last round. Moreover, Portsmouth made hard work of what should have been an easy assignment with the Championship side, Coventry City. In fact, Portsmouth were mere minutes away from being knocked out of the competition altogether before Wright put into his own net to save the skin of the Pompey players, so their form is frightening when you sit down and think about it as all they have to their name is a pair of draw with Coventry City.

Another concern, and concerns with Portsmouth are cropping up all the time nowadays, is that the players look a beaten bunch. They’ve had to put all the off-pitch issues to one side for majority of the season but this latest episode of late wage payments appears to have really gotten to the players, and it shown badly in their last proper outing at home to Arsenal. That game featured one of the worst performances from any Premiership side that we’ve ever seen. They just weren’t motivated, didn’t even look interested and they were pretty lethargic in both games with Coventry, also.

Portsmouth have shown next to nothing in their latest displays and we would advise steering well clear of them for the time being. The players have reportedly been paid since, but the damage has already been done as Pompey are now without a win in four games in all competitions. They conceded four goals in their last meeting with Premiership opposition and with this mind we couldn’t go anywhere near the South Coast side until we see a great deal of improvement from Avram Grant’s men.

Sunderland

FA Cup Progress: BEAT Barrow (H3-0)

Sunderland could also be a dangerous side to follow after their weekend antics at Stamford Bridge. The Black Cats were never fancied to do much away at Chelsea but to lose 7-2 must have had a huge adverse effect on the morale of the Sunderland players. The big defeat wasn’t all that surprising though, as Sunderland have been playing well below par for some time now and that defeat stretched their win less run to eight games in the league. Sunderland now haven’t beaten Premiership opposition since the 21^st November, when they beat Arsenal 1-0 at The Stadium of Light.

Sunderland are currently in a rut, a rut which is seriously threatening their once bright season. It seems to be an age since Sunderland last won a league game and as this run continues the players have gone more into their shells as the weeks have gone on. The positives, though, is that Sunderland have still been scoring plenty of goals, it’s just they can’t defend to save their life’s at present. For instance; in their last four games in the league, Sunderland have scored eight goals, averaging 2 goals a game. However, they’ve conceded 14 in return and haven’t kept a clean sheet since their 1-0 success at home to Arsenal, nine games ago.

The problem for Steve Bruce has been injuries to key defensive players. Nyron Nosworthy, John Mensah, Anton Ferdinand & Craig Gordon(GK) have all been absent and unavailable for selection for Steve Bruce and Sunderland’s replacements simply haven’t been up to scratch. On Saturday, Steed Malbranque deputised at left back and was carved to pieces by Joe Cole, while Andy Fulop in the Sunderland goal didn’t get anywhere near half of Chelsea’s goals. The scary thing is that none of the names listed above are available for the trip to Portsmouth so Steve Bruce may have no alternative but to name the same defensive facility that faced Chelsea in a 7-2 drubbing.

The defending was dreadful, there is no getting away from that, but what Sunderland dearly missed was that anchorman in midfield as they were getting overrun and dominated in the centre of the park. Andy Reid & Lee Cattermole were instrumental in Sunderland’s early season success, both midfielders, which seen the club record victories over Liverpool & Arsenal, but the pair have been missing for large periods ever since. Neither are available for this clash which leaves Steve Bruce scraping the barrel for suitable replacements in just about every area of the pitch, even up front now that Kenwyn Jones has expressed his desire to leave the club. It’s all going wrong for Sunderland at present but could a win change their fortunes, although God only knows how they’re going to get one.

Match Verdict: Sunderland to WIN – 2.80 Bet365

This is a game we wouldn’t even consider looking at as neither look capable of winning a game of football due to their respective predicaments. However, the fact that Sunderland are still scoring goals at will has attracted us to them as it’s just about the only positive either side can boast at present. Portsmouth look a beaten side, one resigned to relegation, while Sunderland could soon be joining them if they aren’t careful. But there is room for improvements with this Sunderland side, they just need to get some sort of defence in order. Darren bent to score as Sunderland march on.

Match Odds:

Portsmouth – 2.55 Expekt.com

Draw – 3.40 SkyBet

Sunderland – 2.80 Bet365

SoccerBetting Value Tip: Darren Bent FGS – 6.50 PaddyPower