Chelsea v Arsenal

Posted in Premier League on 10/28/11 at 2:52 pm3,033 Comments

12.45, Saturday 29th October, Stamford Bridge, London.

Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge for the sternest test yet of the reformation in squad and form over the last few months, for Chelsea this is the ideal opportunity to put to bed the painful memory of last weekend’s defeat to neighbours QPR. The media had an absolute field day at the Blues expense on Monday morning and Andre Vilas-Boas will want people talking about Chelsea after this one. Arsenal are undergoing their worst run of league away form in the Premier League but that would soon be forgotten if they could pull of a victory at Stamford Bridge, something they haven’t done since 2008. Arsene Wenger will be well aware of the pressure to end their baron away run, but will have been heartened by a gutsy 1-0 win in Marseille last week followed by an important home win against a determined Stoke side. Chelsea is a different kettle of fish though and The Gunners boss will be plotting to exploit any weakness The Blues may have.

One of those weaknesses may be the absence of Didier Drogba, tormentor of Arsenal on so many occasions, who is missing through suspension. John Terry is likely to return after sitting out Wednesday’s Carling Cup tie with Everton despite the race row that has gathered pace as the week’s gone on. Juan Mata and Frank Lampard will also start as Vilas-Boas rings the changes from Wednesday’s tough but ultimately fruitful tie at Goodison Park. For Arsenal Robin van Persie will return to the starting line up and crucially, Thomas Vermaelen has been passed fit, although may deputise at right back due to the dearth of options and the form of Laurent Koscielny, who has been excellent in recent weeks.

Thomas Vermaelen is set to start his first league game since August.

In the Abramovich era Arsenal have struggled to break Chelsea down at Stamford Bridge and with Chelsea 4/7 favourites it could be lucrative to bet on a Chelsea win to nil. 1-0 is 13/2 and 2-0, the final score of the previous two meetings here, is 7/1. Both are odds that offer good value, but the handicap markets are also worth looking at with Chelsea -1 at 6/4 if you feel they can win by two goals. It’s likely to be a tight affair and the draw is also excellent value at 3/1, although it’s difficult to offer Arsenal much support given their 2011 away form. One man who is in sensational form is van Persie and he scored both goals in Arsenal’s last win at The Bridge in 2008, he and Daniel Sturridge are a well priced 8/1 which could be worth a few quid.

Overall, this promises to be yet another explosive game between two big London rivals and once again The Premier League has thrown a fixture that cannot fail to have neutrals watering at the mouth.

Possible line ups: Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Cole, Terry, Luiz; Mikel, Lampard, Meireles; Mata, Torres, Sturridge. Arsenal: Szczesny; Vermaelen, Santos, Koscielny, Mertesacker; Song, Arteta, Ramsey; Walcott, Gervinho, van Persie.

SYS Tip for the game: Chelsea to win 2-0 at 7/1.

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Weekend Round Up

Posted in Premier League on 10/24/11 at 3:15 pm2,957 Comments

There really is only one place to start this week’s round up after one of the most extraordinary matches in Premier League history took place at Old Trafford on Sunday. Manchester City turned up at the back yard of their illustrious city rivals and smashed six goals in a mesmerising display of defensive solidity and neat but blistering attacking football. Mario Balotelli, who two days prior to this had set his house ablaze with fireworks, opened the scoring with a lovely side footed finish from the edge of the box. United had dominated up until that point but City went in at half time 1-0 to the good. The key incident of the match took place as fans were still taking their seats for the second half as Johnny Evans let Balotelli run in behind him and proceeded to pull back the big Italian on the edge of the box, Evans was shown a red card and Manchester United never really recovered. Balotelli grabbed his second after great build up play form James Milner and David Silva and the game was effectively over as a contest. Sergio Aguero tapped home a third to make it 3-0 but Darren Fletcher got one back for United with a fine curling finish from 25 yards. What happened in the final minutes will have made Sir Alex Ferguson’s blood boil as the wonderful Silva put the ball through David de Gea’s legs in between two Edin Dzeko goals. The City faithful were in living their own dream in ‘The Theatre of Dreams’ as the majority of the home support sidled out long before the final whistle; this was City’s arrival.

Sunday's game will live long in the memory of Manchester City supporters.

QPR and Chelsea then served up another dramatic contest that saw two red cards and a number of controversial refereeing decisions. Rangers took the lead when David Luiz clumsily felled Heidar Helguson in the box, with the Icelander just about slotting the penalty high into the net. Jose Bosingwa was then sent off as he brought down the excellent Shaun Wright-Phillips who was coming in from the left channel and Didier Drogba’s two footed lunge on Adel Taarabt saw him sent for an early bath. In the second half Chelsea rallied admirably but QPR held on for a famous win.

Elsewhere on Sunday Robin van Persie emerged from the bench to be Arsenal’s saviour once again in a 3-1 win over Stoke City at the Emirates Stadium. Gervinho gave Arsenal the lead but Peter Crouch quickly equalised for Stoke before van Persie’s intervention in the second half. Tottenham beat troubled Blackburn 2-1 at Ewood Park to mount further pressure on Steve Kean, Rafael van der Vaart grabbing an excellent brace, while Fulham went down 3-1 to Everton following an extraordinary final few minutes at Craven Cottage. Royston Drenthe had given The Toffees the lead with a stunning curling effort after three minutes but Bryan Ruiz got Fulham on level terms with a deft chip over a floundering Tim Howard. With injury time approaching Bobby Zamora missed an open goal and from the resulting goal kick Louis Saha grabbed the crucial second goal for Everton, Jack Rodwell added gloss to a 3-1 win with a powerful finish in the third minute of time added on.

In Saturday’s lunch time game Wolves came back to earn a point against Swansea at Molineux. Danny Graham and Joe Allen gave The Swans a deserved 2-0 but a tactical shuffle from Mick McCarthy saw Kevin Doyle tap home from close range and then Jamie O’Hara smash home from fifteen yards to earn Wolves a point. Newcastle overcame struggling Wigan at St. James’ Park 1-0 after a lovely late finish from the ever improving Yohann Cabaye and Sunderland beat Bolton 2-0 at The Reebok with goals from Stephane Sessegnon and Nicklas Bendtner.

Phil Dowd made the headlines for all the wrong reasons once again after a woeful refereeing display at Villa Park. Darren Bent gave Aston Villa the lead against West Brom with a penalty before Chris Herd inexplicably saw red after a mythical stamp on Jonas Olsson. Chris Brunt blazed the resulting penalty wide but the damage was done for the home side. Olsson rubbed salt into the wounds when he headed home a corner and Paul Scharner got the winner with another goal from a set piece that went in off the bar.

SYS Team of the Week: Krul (Newcastle); Richards (Manchester City), Assou-Ekotto (Tottenham), Koscielny (Arsenal), Kompany (Manchester City); Silva, Milner (Both Manchester City) Cabaye (Newcastle), van der Vaart (Tottenham); van Persie (Arsenal), Balotelli (Manchester City)

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Times are changing on Tyneside

Posted in Premier League on 10/18/11 at 8:30 pm3,095 Comments

The close season was filled with an all too familiar feeling of dread and despair for Newcastle United supporters, but their fine start to the season has changed the mood completely as Alan Pardew’s men look to bring European football back to St James’ Park. After the departures of Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Jose Enrique, all for inexplicably low prices, it seemed Newcastle were looking at a mid table finish at best, Pardew knew better though and he conducted his business quietly early doors in the summer transfer window bringing in hard working, honest players. Demba Ba came in from West Ham and has excelled at leading the line with the much maligned but often explosive Leon Best. Yohann Cabaye has formed a very good understanding with Cheik Tiote and the pair of them sit in front of what has been the best defence in The Premier League so far this season. Steven Taylor has marshalled the back four well and Tim Krul is arguably the most improved goalkeeper in the league.

Tim Krul: Most improved goalkeeper in The Premier League?

Newcastle fans feared the start of another decline when they lost Andy Carroll to Liverpool in January, and those fears proved founded when Kevin Nolan was strangely sold for a paltry £1.5m to Championship side West Ham, and Joey Barton let go on a free. However, Pardew’s business so far looks to have been conducted very well and he is getting the best out of inconsistent players such as Taylor, Danny Simpson and Jonas Gutierrez, who has been rampant down the right hand side all season. Gabriel Obertan is also showing signs of the form that completely eluded him in his dire couple of seasons with Manchester United and all in all things may finally be looking up in the North East.

Sceptics argue that The Magpies have yet to face a real challenge in the league, having not faced Chelsea, Liverpool or either Manchester club, yet draws against Arsenal and Tottenham cannot be sniffed at and while their side remain unbeaten, Geordies will remain upbeat and hope that this form will stick not just for this season, but for many years to come.

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