Premier League Preview – The Sunday Games

Wolverhampton v Wigan – 13.30 A game between two sides at the wrong end of the table.  Wolves manager Mick McCarthy will be looking for his side to bounce back from last weekends defeat against Manchester City.  In fact, after two consecutive games against City, Wolves will just be glad to play someone else for a change and this game represents a real chance to get some more points on the board. Wigan are still playing attractive football, still backing their manager and still looking like one of the favourites to go down this season.  Even if they do go down, I expect Martinez will keep his job as the Wigan chairman and board know how difficult it must be to work with a very tight budget and lose one of your best players every season. I’m happy enough to stick a few quid on Wolves to win this one at the 1.96 currently being offered by Pinnacle. Bolton v Stoke City -15.00 Bolton are really struggling right now and Wanderers fans are starting to grumble about the possible need to change manager,  personally i think that would be a mistake as a new manager would not be able to get Holden and Lee out of the treatment room and that is where much of their problems lie. Stoke have no such worries, they may have last their last two matches in the league but they won away in midweek and although their away form in the league is nothing to write home about, they should easily fulfill their first priority which is of course staying in the league. I’ve got an inkling that the long trip midweek, combined with their poor away form could let Bolton in for a much needed win here. I won’t be putting any money on it but I’ll be looking for a home win here. Fulham v Tottenham – 16.00 This will be Tottenhams second London derby in a row and this time it is away to Fulham, a place that Spurs consistently seem to struggle.  Both teams played in the Europa league midweek with contrasting fortunes, Fulham played very well to pick up a win and Spurs took a reserve side out to Russia and lost. I’m sure Martin Jol has had this one circled in his calendar for a while now, once the darling of the Spurs faithful, he will now be doing his best to defeat them, I’m sure he’ll take a bow if the Spurs fans chant his name though. Harry Redknapp will miss this one after undergoing heart surgery,  he’ll be confident that the quality of the team he selects will be enough to do the job without him needing to be there.  Certainly this game will be an interesting pointer as to how much Spurs have progressed, if they pick up a solid win, the talk of Spurs struggling against Spurs like this will lessen and belief within the squad will surely grow. I’ll be watching this match as a football fan but I will not be placing any money on it,  personally, I think this will end in a draw.]]>