By Nick Powell
10 weeks have gone, The Premier League is really starting to shape up with the best teams rising to the top and the weaker sides sinking away, or in the case of Sunderland, free-falling.
The North-East team have the worst record of any team in the first ten games of the season, and will need to sharpen up fast if they're to have any hope of survival.
They feature in just 4 3pm kick offs along with high-flying City and a West Ham team in a mini-crisis.
Sunday is the big day, with the North London derby and struggling Swansea hosting United, who themselves have made a dreadful start to the season.
Bournemouth vs Sunderland
Bournemouth were very average
against Middlesbrough last week. The attacking quality they showed against Hull
was a distant memory and they conceded 2 against a team that hadn’t scored for
a fair while. It was certainly not their finest hour since they arrived in the
Premier League in 2015. It was a real slap in the face for a team that has
always seemed to punch above its weight in the last few seasons with the
impressive Eddie Howe at the helm. Nevertheless it’s been a pretty decent start
to the season for them overall and they will be confident of keeping their
impressive home form going here.
They are up against a team that is
quickly starting to resemble Aston Villa 2015/16. A team packed full of
dreadful players, some youngsters that are too inexperienced to carry the team
and an angry fan base. Had they kept Allardyce, Sunderland would have been ok I
reckon, but with Moyes at the helm, they genuinely look clueless. I’ve always
rated Moyes and thought he was harshly treated at United (as has been proven by
his lame successors’ efforts), but he is doing a bad job. The Arsenal game was
the clearest exposure of his poor management yet. His team didn’t put any
pressure on the ball, letting Arsenal move it round them with ease, didn’t
defend set pieces well, didn’t react well to the counter attack and offensively
just didn’t seem to have any attacking plan. Moyes then went on Match of the
Day and said that when his team got their incredibly fortunate equaliser they
“deserved it”. Arsenal had missed about 3 glorious opportunities to score and
at least 5 others that you could say were good chances too. It shows he’s
really deluded and if I were Sunderland, I’d get Allardyce back in sooner
rather than later. He may have screwed up his England job, but he’s the only
hope they’ve got.
If they fail to pressure the ball,
let Bournemouth dictate the game and fail to give Defoe the chances he needs to
be dangerous they will go down again. Bournemouth are ruthless against weak
defences and I think Sunderland will really struggle. Moyes has to accept
whatever he’s doing, it’s not working, and he needs to change their tactics, or
they will keep on losing.
Prediction: Bournemouth 4-1 Sunderland
Adam:
Bournemouth 2-0 Sunderland
Bournemouth 4-1 Sunderland
Burnley vs Crystal Palace
Burnley’s bid for survival has
started really brightly, and if it keeps going on in this way they are not
going to finish 19th as they did in their last spell in the Premier
League. Their defence is strong, and it is backed up by Tom Heaton, who really
has earned them the points in their last two matches. This is a game they’ll
target, one that Sean Dyche will see as 3 points that they can get and might just
need to pick up if they’re too survive.
For Palace, a good start to the
season has been hit with 3 consecutive defeats. In fairness to them, Liverpool
were just sensational going forward last week, and you have to question if
there is any Premier League team that could have stopped them but they did
attack well and scored a couple of decent goals. They will see this as a
winnable away game. Having said that, they are just one place above Burnley, so
can’t be over confident on their travels here.
At Turf Moor, Burnley are a
difficult team to play against and I think Palace will find it tricky, they’ll
probably find it tougher to find a goal than they did against Liverpool and I
back Burnley to score themselves, with what will probably be another strong
home crowd behind them. I actually think they’ll get the win, and send Palace
to a fourth straight defeat.
Prediction: Burnley 1-0
Crystal Palace
Adam: Burnley 2-1 Crystal Palace
Burnley 3-2 Crystal Palace
Burnley 3-2 Crystal Palace
Man City vs Middlesbrough
City have looked seriously good in
their last two matches. Firstly, tearing apart what is usually an extremely
defensively strong West Brom team, before absolutely outplaying Barcelona in
the Second Half to really start to show that this will be a seriously strong
team, especially going forward, under Pep Guardiola. City have played so well,
they’ve made Yaya Touré apologise because he’s so desperate to play for such an
in-form team.
Middlesbrough have defended well in
the last two games and are back into a decent position in the table after a
mini slump. They came with a fine game plan against Arsenal and then played
really well against Bournemouth last week and absolutely deserved their
victory. This will be a tough test for them, but I think they will feel like
they can do it given the fact they went to the Emirates a few weeks ago and
managed to get a point.
However, City are looking very
impressive at the moment and I don’t see them struggling to score against this
Middlesbrough side, the pressure is off Boro, and I don’t think that will help
things. City are more difficult to plan against than Arsenal and you have to
feel that it will be just be a game to far for Middlesbrough.
Prediction: City 3-0
Middlesbrough
Adam: City 3-0 Middlesbrough
City 1-1 Middlesbrough
City 1-1 Middlesbrough
West Ham vs Stoke
West Ham’s improved run was stopped
by Everton last week, and things don’t look bright with United, Liverpool and
Arsenal round the corner in the next few days. It’s beginning to look like they
have a difficult task to survive. They really need to find three points here,
but with Payet out of form and the defence still looking a bit shaky, that is
far from a guarantee.
Stoke look revived, firmly locked in
mid-table after 3 wins on the spin. This won’t be easy for them, but they look
dangerous and look as if they will be able to test the Hammers defence. Defensively
they look decent too and if Simone Zsa Zsa plays again for West Ham I don’t see
them scoring with ease. Infact I don’t think they will score.
West Ham are in a bad place, off and
on the pitch, with Stoke having their tails up, I think they’ll get the win
here and will give West Ham a lot more worry ahead of a difficult run of games
Prediction: West Ham 1-2 Stoke
Adam:
West Ham 1-1 Stoke
West Ham 1-1 Stoke
West Ham 1-1 Stoke
Chelsea vs Everton
Prediction: Chelsea 1-0 Everton
Adam: Chelsea 2-2 Everton
Chelsea 5-0 Everton
Prediction: Chelsea 1-0 Everton
Adam: Chelsea 2-2 Everton
Chelsea 5-0 Everton
Arsenal vs Tottenham
This November really has the
potential to be another disastrous one for the Gunners. Whilst they are in a
really good spell of recent form, they have to host Tottenham and PSG this
month as well as making a difficult trip to United next Saturday. Their
recovery against Ludogorets was superb, but for them to be 2-0 down in 15
minutes was embarrassing and against better opposition like United, they will
just shut the game down if they get that kind of league. While Arsenal are
looking so dangerous they need to make sure they stay solid at the back. Having
said that they are looking tremendous going forward as I say. Giroud has come
back in form, and Sanchez continues to work so hard to get himself into good
positions. Even Ozil is showing he can find the net, as one sports fan pointed
out, his winner against Ludogorets looked like something out of a Nike advert.
For Tottenham, their strong start to
the season has somewhat fizzled out, and despite being unbeaten in the League
they aren’t looking as good as Liverpool, City, Arsenal or Chelsea, especially
in attack. They were pretty lifeless going forward against Bayer Leverkusen on
Wednesday, showing they were comfortable in possession but not backing
themselves with a shot or overpassing in attack. A problem that can sometimes
be attributed to their opponents this weekend. However, unlike Arsenal they are
looking good at the back, and only concede against really fast and really
intelligent attacking play, trouble for them is that is the way to describe the
Gunners attack at the moment.
A north London derby is always a
good match, there are always goals and I don’t expect that will be different
here given the nature of Arsenal’s attack and defence. As an Arsenal fan my
heart would say they are going to win but memories of past derbies makes me a lot more cautious about Arsenal’s chances. I think they’ll struggle to
break Spurs down. As for Spurs, I can see them nicking a goal against Arsenal
in spite of their recent attacking difficulties, and I think these two will have
to share a point
Prediction:
Arsenal 1-1 Spurs
Adam: Arsenal 2-1 Spurs
Arsenal 1-1 Spurs
Hull vs Southampton
Since Hull offered Mike Phelan the job, he has lost 6 successive games. The loss to Watford last week was agonising. Watford didn't officially register a shot on target last week but Michael Dawson deflected into his own net to leave them in a really difficult position. Southampton are a good side, but I do think it is essential that they stop the rot soon and a win here gives them vital momentum for the crunch match against Sunderland next week.
Southampton have started the season reasonably well, and victory here could see them rise to 7th. They have once again shown that even when they lose key players like Pelle, and have another top class manager poached from them, they can produce really strong performances. They will be confident, especially given their fine performance in midweek as they made history, conquering the giant that is Inter.
I feel like Hull are improving, and will be expecting themselves to get a result here. Southampton are in fine form, and looked strong in midweek, but I think that will cause something of a European hangover, and this may just be a game too far for them. They will have to settle for a point against Hull.
Prediction: Hull 1-1 Southampton
Adam: Hull 1-3 Southampton
Liverpool vs Watford
Prediction: Liverpool 4-2 Watford
Adam: Liverpool 3-1 Watford
Swansea vs Man United
Prediction: Swansea 1-1 Man United
Hull vs Southampton
Since Hull offered Mike Phelan the job, he has lost 6 successive games. The loss to Watford last week was agonising. Watford didn't officially register a shot on target last week but Michael Dawson deflected into his own net to leave them in a really difficult position. Southampton are a good side, but I do think it is essential that they stop the rot soon and a win here gives them vital momentum for the crunch match against Sunderland next week.
Southampton have started the season reasonably well, and victory here could see them rise to 7th. They have once again shown that even when they lose key players like Pelle, and have another top class manager poached from them, they can produce really strong performances. They will be confident, especially given their fine performance in midweek as they made history, conquering the giant that is Inter.
I feel like Hull are improving, and will be expecting themselves to get a result here. Southampton are in fine form, and looked strong in midweek, but I think that will cause something of a European hangover, and this may just be a game too far for them. They will have to settle for a point against Hull.
Prediction: Hull 1-1 Southampton
Adam: Hull 1-3 Southampton
Liverpool vs Watford
Prediction: Liverpool 4-2 Watford
Adam: Liverpool 3-1 Watford
Swansea vs Man United
Bob Bradley admitted on Monday night
that his team were in big trouble. Not something that will leave Swansea fans
feeling that they have a confident manager, but I sense he is motivated and
believes he can turn round Swansea’s fortunes. They definitely have a decent
team, offensively and defensively but they need to start picking up results,
because the low confidence that must be around that dressing room right now is
only going to dip further if they start falling away from safety. I think they
might just have an opportunity here, I mean, how confident are United feeling
right now?
The answer to that is absolutely
zero confidence. United were superb as they flew to 9 points in 3 games. It
seemed they would be fighting for the title alongside City. Zlatan was on fire,
the defence was solid, the feel-good factor was back at Old Trafford. Now
however, they face the prospect of being bundled out of Europa League at the
first hurdle and don’t really look like they can put up a fight for a Champions
League spot. They haven’t won in # games, look as if they will concede whenever
the opposition has the ball (let alone attacks) and Zlatan can’t score to save
his life. This is a squad that has had well over half a billion spent on it in
the last 3 years and it really does look clueless. The fans will hardly be
filled with confidence at Mourhino’s comments either, effectively saying in his
post-match interview after the Fernebache defeat that if his side goes 1-0 down
away from home against any team, they deserve to lose and cannot come back.
He’s yet to buy a house in Manchester and if I were him, I wouldn’t start
looking now.
So two teams with confidence shot to
bits, both are struggling to score, and this is with very leaky defences. I
think it will be a really interesting match but not an entertaining one and I’m
afraid for Mourinho the winless streak will continue. United are not looking
like a team that can go to the Liberty Stadium (not an easy place to play) and
win. Bob Bradley will exploit that and they will do enough in my opinion to get
a point.
Adam: Swansea 0-2 Man United
Leicester vs West Brom
Prediction: Leicester 3-0 West Brom
Adam: Leicester 1-0 West Brom
Leicester vs West Brom
Prediction: Leicester 3-0 West Brom
Adam: Leicester 1-0 West Brom
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