JOE looks ahead to week two in the Premier League and considers what matches to watch and avoid, who might surprise and who probably won’t.
By Conor Hogan
Week one of the Premier League season was a very eventful one. We had hammerings, goalkeeping errors and some more than surprising results. We had some cracking games and a few stinkers too.
JOE has kindly taken a look at this weekend’s fixtures, and picked out what we think you should look out for.
Surprise package: Blackpool
Nobody expected Blackpool to win 4-0 on their first game back in the top flight since 1971. Then again, maybe we should have. After all, Blackpool were playing Wigan, a team the Tangerines had beaten 4-1 last year in the League Cup, who conceded 88 goals in all competitions in 2009/2001 and who are probably the most inconsistent entity since the Bible.
Blackpool obviously won’t have it as easy this weekend. In fact, it is very likely they’ll get trashed. Blackpool play in an absurdly attacking 4-3-3 formation, and if anyone can exploit that, it’s surely the Gunners at home.
Then again, who’s to say Blackpool won’t surprise a few people once more? The Seasiders have a poor team, but so had Hull when they defeated Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates two years ago. Like Hull that year, Holloway’s men should be riding high on adrenaline.
Arsenal are hardly playing well; they should have been beaten by ten man Liverpool last week, while Blackpool will hope that Charlie Adam emulates Geovanni’s performance in Hull’s win two seasons back. Don’t count on an Arsenal procession to victory.
Whipping boys: Wigan Athletic
Who else but the aforementioned Wigan Athletic! Roberto Martinez’s men are starting this season as they finished last, and the team they’ll be playing this weekend is the one that put eight past them on the final day of last season – Chelsea.
A team who put six past West Brom on the first day of this. A team with hat-trick hero Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka up front. A team with goalscoring midfielders like Florent Malouda and Frank Lampard on fire. The score could be double figures.
Then again, the great thing about Wigan is that they are so impossible to predict. In the corresponding fixture between these two sides last season at the DW stadium, Wigan came out the victors with a 3-1 scoreline. The way these teams are playing, however, surely it must be a Chelsea banker.
Game not to miss: Manchester City v Liverpool
Monday night’s clash between money-bags Manchester City and Roy Hodgson’s Liverpool is undoubtedly the fixture of matchweek two. The Reds surprised a lot of people with their outstanding second half performance against Arsenal last weekend and Fernando Torres is close to match fitness.
James Milner and Mario Balotelli, meanwhile, should make their Premier League debut for the Citizens. Both these teams are likely to be in the mix for the Champions League positions come the end of the year, and the game can hardly be any worse than the corresponding fixture last season that finished 0-0.
Game to miss: Blackburn v Birmingham City
Blackburn had seven 0-0 draws in 2009/2010, Birmingham had five. Birmingham scored more than two goals in only one match (against Wigan), while Blackburn strikers Nikola Kalinic and Jason Roberts scored a combined total of seven goals last season. It’s unlikely to be a goalfest between two teams who will to be treading water in mid-table come the season’s end.
What about the rest?
Are the Cottagers becoming Alex Ferguson’s bogey team? Fulham have won their last two home matches against Man United 2-0 and 3-0 respectively. The match has the added bite of Mark Hughes facing Sir Fergie once again. Sparky clearly loathes the red-nosed Scot, if last year’s ill-feeling is anything to go by.
Spurs looked very poor against Young Boys during the week. It’ll be interesting to see how they cope with the grown men of Stoke City in a tricky tie in the fortress that is the Britannia. Also looking to recover from a bad performance are West Brom, who will hope to put their six goal drubbing at the hands of Chelsea behind them when they take on an inconsistent Sunderland at the Hawthorns.
Fixtures:
Saturday
15.00 Stoke City v Tottenham Hotspur
15.00 Arsenal v Blackpool
15.00 Birmingham City v Blackburn Rovers
15.00 West Brom v Sunderland
15.00 West Ham United v Bolton Wanderers
15.00 Everton v Wolverhampton Wanderers
17.15 Wigan Athletic v Chelsea
Sunday
13.30 Newcastle United v Aston Villa
16.00 Fulham v Manchester United
Monday
20.00 Manchester City v Liverpool
