Fotboll / Andy Gray / 29 januari 2010 /

I helgen har vi en härlig Premier League-omgång. Hur känns Arsenal-Man U till exempel? Tar du rygg på Andy Gray och säger att Man United inte får med sig tre poäng från Emirates Stadium? Mr Football ger dig en unik inside till helgens engelska fotboll.

Last weekend put a bit of shine back on the FA Cup with a pair of upsets to cheer the hearts of all romantics. Stoke's 3-1 win over second-favourites Arsenal saw them safely through to the next round and Leeds earned a money-spinning replay at Elland Road against Tottenham. The League One side will definitely fancy their chances of progressing to the last 16 now.

Unfortunately those two results cost us, as did the win for the blue side of Milan in the city derby but it wasn't all bad with Chelsea scoring in both halves as we predicted and Manchester City conceding at Scunthorpe. All in all though, it was a losing week for the column across those matches but the good news is that we're back to a full set of Premier League fixtures this week where I had some great results last time out. And this set of fixtures includes the small matter of Arsenal v Manchester Utd.

Burnley v Chelsea

The super early season home form that saw Burnley secure wins over the likes of Manchester United and Everton now seems a distant memory and unless they can recover it, the reality is that the Claret and Blues won't be in this league next season. The last team you want to see in town when you're struggling is Chelsea, a side who have spark, confidence and form at present. I'll be interested to see whether the likes of Salomon Kalou or Didier Drogba start this match after the Ivory Coast's shock exit in the African Cup Of Nations but my instinct is that Carlo Ancelotti will stick with the same 4-3-3 formation that has served him so well in recent weeks rather than change it just to accommodate Drogba. Only the most optimistic Burnley fan could hope for something from this match but I'm not one of them. Chelsea should cruise this one.

Recommended Bet: Back Chelsea -1.5 (Chelsea to win by two goals) at 1.8

Leicester v Newcastle

There was plenty of pessimism about Newcastle's chances of going straight back to the Premier League at the first time of asking with rumours of a mass exodus of playing staff. Yes, some big name players such as Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins and Damien Duff moved on but the core of the squad stayed on including Kevin Nolan and Peter Lovenkrands. Having captained Bolton for years under Sam Allardyce, Nolan is a big presence in the dressing room and just the sort of player you need to get out of this league particularly when he's scoring crucial goals from midfield as he did earlier on in the season. Lovenkrands looked distinctly average when I watched him up at Rangers and in the Premier League last season but he's been a key player for the Magpies in recent weeks. Their promotion chances look good at present but Leicester is a tough place to go and in the grand scheme of things Chris Hughton will see a point here as a decent day's work.

Recommended bet: Back 2-2 at 16.5

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Manchester City v Portsmouth

City will be absolutely devastated at the manner in which they exited the Carling Cup, conceding in injury time after working so hard to get themselves back in the game. This will be a good opportunity for Roberto Mancini to see which of his players can bounce back from the disappointment and get on with the job of winning league games. But any such problems City might be going through are dwarfed by those Portsmouth currently have. Unpaid wages, a fire sale for their best players and now even their club website has closed down! The best place for those players still at the club to be right now is out in the middle playing football - at least when they're out there they don't need to worry about all the other problems at the club. I expect Portsmouth to go down fighting until the end of the season, but I don't expect them to take anything out of a match away to a star-studded and well-managed outfit.

Recommended Bet: Manchester City to be leading at half-time and full-time at 2.0.

Arsenal v Manchester United

Arsenal will have left Villa Park the more frustrated of the two sides after Wednesday night's goalless draw. They had the best chances throughout, but more worryingly, they lost the superb Thomas Vermaelen as well as Eduardo to injury. On the plus side both Alexandr Song and Niklas Bendtner are likely to be back. Ask thirty people out on the street who they think will win this one and their predictions would probably be split equally three ways - there's that little to choose between them. But United will have exerted a lot of energy, both mental and physical in that Carling Cup win and my experience of watching the Big Four play each other over the past few years is that the home side rarely loses unless their squad is absolutely plagued with injuries. That isn't the case at the Emirates so I'm going to take the slightly safe option here and predict that United won't leave North London with all three points.

Recommended Bet: Lay Manchester United at 2.92

Sunderland v Stoke

Sunderland started the season ok but you need to go back to late November for their last league win and having been at Goodison Park on Wednesday night, I can tell you they were very poor against my former team. They're currently 13th in the table but scratch beneath the surface and you'll see that equates to being just three points off the relegation zone. I say this every week but Stoke City don't give anyone an easy game at any ground in the country and whereas they may lack a natural goalscorer like Darren Bent they're never found wanting in terms of commitment, aggression and heart. A share of the spoils wouldn't be a bad result for either team and that could well be how this one ends up.

Recommended Bet: Back the draw at 3.45

Birmingham v Tottenham - Birmingham's unbeaten run ended at Stamford Bridge but they're still a solid side who will fancy their chances of stopping Spurs in their tracks on their own patch. Final score: 1-1
Burnley v Chelsea - League favourites far too good for a side that no longer holds the surprise element. Final score: 0-3
Fulham v Aston Villa - Craven Cottage is a seriously hard ground to play at these days and a slightly jaded Villa side may leave empty-handed. Final score: 1-0
Hull v Wolverhampton - It's a proper six-pointer but Hull did a good job of winning these sort of matches when they beat the drop last season and they might do just that in this one. Final score: 1-0
Liverpool v Bolton - No fixture seems to be a formality for Liverpool these days but the availability of Steven Gerrard could make all the difference. Final score: 3-1
West Ham v Blackburn - Blackburn secured back-to-back wins in the league that will go a long way to keeping them up but they're not great on the road and West Ham are looking increasingly solid. Final score: 2-0
Wigan v Everton - Everton are getting better and better and with Mikel Arteta back fit and Landon Donovan quickly settling in they could get a win here. Final score: 0-1
Arsenal - Points shared to keep the title race wide open. Final score: 1-1
Man City v Portsmouth - Class act to hammer basement boys. Final score: 3-0
Sunderland v Stoke -Not a match for football purists but a good, honest tussle with the points shared. 1 -1

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No Gray Areas

It's been another incredible week in Wayne's world. As if scoring all four in United's win over Hull last weekend wasn't enough, Rooney came along and scored the last-gasp winner in their victory over City in the Cup. The temptation is there to talk about him as one of the three or four leading players in the world at the moment, but pundits and fans shouldn't judge a player when he's going through a rich vein of form but rather in terms of his exploits over the course of the season. As far as I'm concerned it's no coincidence that he's having his best season in terms of goals and performances now that Cristiano Ronaldo has left as I think he now feels he's the main man and has to assume more responsibility.

His next step has to be putting in man-of-the-match displays and scoring winning goals in big European matches, cup finals and come the summer, the World Cup. We all know he has it in him to do it but now is the time to deliver when it really matters.

I see that he's on 19 Premier League goals for the season, five clear of Bent, Drogba and Defoe. If we assume he gets another six or seven from his remaining 15 matches that would put him on about 25 and you're then asking the aforementioned trio to score at almost a goal a game till the end of the season. I can't see that happening and like the look of 1.64 on him finishing as the league's top scorer.

Rooney and Fabregas have been the outstanding players in the league this year. What they have in common is that although their sides are far from being one-man teams, these two guys are their talismans, their key players, their sources of inspiration. It will be a close contest for the PFA Player Of The Year award but I can see Rooney just edging out the little man so I'm backing him at 1.83 to add that to his top scorer trophy this season.

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