Friday, January 18, 2013

Week-end football

For this week-end's fixtures, I do not anticipate as many drawn matches as last week although there is no doubt that there are some favoured teams that will be made to work to get the full points. Here are some selections.

Liverpool v/s Norwich. The Reds got themselves a good striker in Sturridge from Chelsea. He can be lethal when full of confidence and he will have gotten some of that after scoring on his debut at Old Trafford. Norwich are a well-organized team that plays good counter-attacking football. If the score is still level late on, they might see themselves snatching a winning goal to steal the points. They have lost 4 of their last 5 league games, so it seems stretching to see the Canaries winning this all out. I would go for Liverpool as a draw-no-bet.

Man City v/s Fulham. Straight win for the hosts here. They should win this with their B team. They have lost the Toure brothers to the African Nations Cup but this should not matter against Fulham. Man City is a win selection.

Newcastle v/s Reading. I will give the Magpies home advantage here. They are on a poor run but have shown signs of regaining some form and confidence lately. There is no doubt that they are weaker force without Demba Ba, but his departure will give the likes of Cisse and Amoebi to shine. Reading are very vulnerable on the road and it's thus hard to warm to their chances. Newcastle is a draw-no-bet.

Swansea v/s Stoke. It is hard to find someone with a more nightmarish games than Stoke's Walters last week. Two own goals and one penalty miss against Chelsea that led to a 0-4 drubbing at home. It must be said that Tony Pulis' team is showing a very patchy form in the past few games. Swansea will rely on the exploits of Michu to do the damage again. The Spaniard is the find of the season and will be keen to add to this impressive goal tally against the stumbling visitors. This could go either way and I believe it will be decided by a goal, so I'll sit on the fence on this one.

West Brom v/s Villa. Got to go with the home team here even though I have been wrong on my last 2 selections regarding them. I side with them here because they are facing a Villa team in crisis. The Villains have the most terrible record of the past 6 weeks, leaking goals in abundance. West Brom are not in the best of shapes either having lost their last 3 league games. This is a great chance for them to start a winning sequence and they are a draw-no-bet selection.

In Spain, I like Malaga and Atletico Madrid as Wins at home to Celta Vigo and Levante respectively.

In Germany, Bayern Munich should easily win its home game against Greuther.

In Italy, AC Milan looks a safe draw-no-bet against Bologna.


Win: Man City, Malaga, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich
Draw-no-bet: Liverpool, Newcastle, West Brom, AC Milan

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