This is going to be a great week for football, with three great matches to watch in the English Premier League. A couple of the matches are sure to be corkers, while at least one looks to be as close to a sure thing for betting as one might ever find. However, what we know about football is that the results can go either way, on any given day.
Chelsea V Wolverhampton seems like a sure thing for Chelsea fans this Sunday, as the first-place club take on the Wolves, who are currently sitting second from the bottom of the heap, with only Portsmouth doing worse this season. Wolverhampton will look to do better than the 4-1 loss they received last week from Arsenal, while Chelsea looks to improve on their near-perfect record with only two losses this season.
The only setbacks one might see for Chelsea may come from the loss of striker Didier Drogba and defender Ashley Cole, due to injuries. However, given the momentum they have built this year, it does seem unlikely that Chelsea will be suffering a loss this weekend at Stanford Bridge.
A more evenly matched event takes place on Wednesday, November 25th, with 11th place Fulham up against 14th place Blackburn. The last time the two teams met, Fulham outscored Blackburn 2-1 in a high-energy match that saw Fulham scoring first, only 90 seconds into the match. Fulham plays host at Craven Cottage and seek to improve their crowd (the lowest of the season) and the score (a 1-1 draw against Wigan) from their last match.
Blackburn triumphed 3-1 over Portsmouth their last time out and are looking relatively stable this season, despite the antics of striker Benni McCarthy who claims to “have matured.” Although he’s currently looking for an exit, it seems likely that he’ll be looking to improve his standings by performing as well as he can while still a member of the Blackburn squad. Look for a good effort from the Rovers, but this is anyone’s match, at this point.
Despite the gap in the standings between Tottenham and Wigan, this will be another exciting match. The Wigan Athletic sit at lucky 13th place in the standings and are hungry for wins. Despite the controversy surrounding Marlon King, the club is looking to rally. Their last two efforts garnered them a draw and a loss, so they’ll be coming out looking to improve.
In their last three matches, Tottenham has two wins and a loss, their only defeat coming at the hands of 2nd place Arsenal. In the past 16 months, they have shown a profit of almost £150 million, and they’ve spend that money wisely, rebuilding the club. If they really want to break the cartel held by Chelsea, Man U, Arsenal and Liverpool, they’re going to have to play consistently well. Wigan will be there for the match, but Tottenham are expected to outpace the Athletics, despite their desire.
