Saturday, 30 August 2014

Pre-Match EPL 14/15: Week 3



The EPL is entering its third phase and The Writer offers his brief pre-match previews on all those 10 matches scheduled. May this week brings more shocks and pure entertainment to feed the fans’ hungry football stomach before the league gives way to International matches for a week…

Burnley vs Manchester United
Sean Dyche must be the unluckiest manager in EPL right now. Now he will get to face another big team of EPL, ManUtd, in his only third game for the new season. But somehow he should feel lucky to because he is going to face United at their lowest of form and confidence. A win for Burnley is not impossible, just ask Garry Monk of Swansea. Meanwhile, all eyes will be on new United signing, ‘Devil’ di Maria. He can provide the magic touch that United lack recently but United’s defence is still their biggest weakness.

Manchester City vs Stoke City
Steven Jovetic and Sergio Aguero can add to their goals’ collections in this match. Stoke City is not in a good form but Ryan Shawcross is showing class and hunger last week against Hull. He will have to contain the best attack minded team in EPL at his opponent’s home ground. A small margin loss for Shawcross looks more realistic than seeing him score against City.

Newcastle United vs Crystal Palace
No more managerless tag for Crystal Palace this week, and they should start their engine fast. That means winning games. The chosen one, Neil Warnock should deliver. Both teams are not in ideal condition this early stage with both yet to register a win. Jack Colback must want to cap this wonderful week of being called up into the England squad with a goal or at least a superb performance in midfield. He is Newcastle’s best hope to help achieving a win against Palace.

QPR vs Sunderland
QPR is in dilemma. They love their new formation so much, but unfortunately their opponents do love that too. It exploits their weakness actually, and opponents have better chances to attack them and score past their hapless defence. Harry Redknapp must settle quickly on just one most effective formation. If not, their owner, Tony Fernandes, will not wait any longer to pull the trigger and find someone new. Tony is really desperate to see QPR succeed on the biggest stage. Sunderland on other hand, is in confident mood after having a spirited fight against United last weekend. This maybe a cracker game with lot of goals.

Swansea City vs West Brom
The Writer really likes the new model of play that Swansea brings this season. They look a fresh team and eager to perform. Especially Gylfi Sigurdsson. This game may see Swansea brush aside the West Brom team with their slick passing and telepathic understanding between their players. Wilfried Bony must open his goal account this week, at least by one goal. And one of West Brom’s better performers last weekend, Andre Wisdom, must be prepared to face and stop Bony and his friends.   

West Ham vs Southampton
Mauro Zarate is the most-talked after star at West Ham right now. Fans really adore him even before he started playing for them, and after his goalscoring performance last weekend, Zarate can be their messiah to save West Ham from the relegation battle. Meanwhile, James Ward-Prowse of Southampton should get a goal this week. He has been unlucky for the past two games. His accuracy of set pieces is becoming better but he may have wished that the opposition goalkeeper lose concentration at one point. He can be the new golden boy of Southampton, before too long.

Everton vs Chelsea
Both teams are in crisis. Everton is in a confident crisis after their lack of concentration made them lose a 2-goals advantage over Arsenal. Chelsea is in a striker crisis after their main man, Diego Costa is announced to be doubtful after having a hamstring injury. Drogba is not fully fit either and Torres is becoming useless these days. Mourinho must pay Fabregas a big incentive to create any sort of goalscoring opportunities, so that Chelsea can win this match. If Fabregas has an off-game, Chelsea will go broken.

Aston Villa vs Hull City
Aston Villa can win this game as Hull City must not yet recover from their heart breaking elimination from the Europa League. Steve Bruce must feel shock as he is one of the busiest managers around in buying players to prepare his team for the competition. And the end of their European journey means some fringe players must leave Hull. Fabian Delph, the latest England national team star can add to Hull’s wound with a victory for Villa.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool
Spurs is in an excellent run of form. Liverpool should be worried, even after the addition of Mario Balotelli. Liverpool defenders are really sucks and Brendan Rodgers never learns from his mistakes. If it stays like at the Etihad, Erik Lamela and mates can exploit Liverpool happily and it will be no surprise if Spurs reverse back the score of 0-4 to Liverpool last season.

Leicester City vs Arsenal
Erm, The Writer likes what he saw from Leicester last week against Chelsea. It is just a matter of time before Leicester will defeat one of the big boys of EPL. They are a wonderful spirited team and like The Writer’s earlier assessment for them, Leicester will be a tough nut to crack going for the rest of the season. Arsenal maybe the first customer of Leicester’s project of giants’ killing. And the loss of key players like Giroud and Arteta may bring them closer to that possibility.

No comments:

Post a Comment