Premier League: Five things to look out for

JOE looks ahead to this weekend in the Premier League and considers what matches to watch and avoid, who might surprise and who probably won't.

By Conor Hogan

Surprise Package: Fulham

Manchester City are the visitors to Craven Cottage this weekend, and Fulham manager Mark Hughes will be determined to get one over on his old club. In the opposite dugout will be Roberto Mancini, a man who's had an almost identical season as Hughes had last year when he got the boot.

The Italian is under severe pressure after his team failed to score in their last two fixtures and while Fulham are struggling in the league, their record at home is quite good. They’ve only lost one of their six fixtures at the Cottage, while City have lost two, drawn two and won only one of their last five league fixtures.

Whipping Boys: Wigan Athletic

Wigan are a team prone to surprises, though even as unconvincing as Manchester United have been of late, we can’t see Roberto Martinez’ team getting anything out of the match at Old Trafford.

Alex Ferguson’s men have won five out of six league matches in the Theatre of Dreams so far, scoring 15 goals along the way. Wigan, meanwhile, have never beaten Manchester United, have the worst goal difference in the league and lost 5-0 twice in this fixture in 2009/2010.

Game not to miss: Arsenal v Tottenham

Tottenham haven’t a particularly good record away to Arsenal. In fact, they haven’t had a league win against the Gunners at either Highbury or the Emirates since 1993, a time when the Proclaimers were in the charts with I’m Gonna Be (500 miles).

Since the Premier League began, however, Spurs have never had a better team,  though Tom Huddlestone’s injury may prove a blow. The game looks certain to be exciting – there has been a total of 25 goals in their last six encounters in league and cup.

Game to miss: Blackburn v Aston Villa

After failing to score in 270 minutes between the 16 October and 6 November, Aston Villa’s matches have suddenly become very entertaining, Villa scoring six and conceding five in their last three matches. Then again, their opponents might have had something to do with this.

Blackpool played with reckless abandon, Fulham’s matches all end in 1-1 draws, while against Manchester United they should never have blown a two-goal lead. We expect Sam Allardyce’s team to be a little more cautious – he’ll be determined to shore up his defence after they shipped four against Tottenham.

What about the rest:

Owen Coyle’s increasingly strong Bolton Wanderers side will entertain a Newcastle team who seem to prefer playing away from home. It will be a battle of the target men, with Johan Elmander, Kevin Davies, Shola Ameobi and Andy Carroll (if he recovers from injury) likely to feature.

A Steven Gerrard-less Liverpool will hope to get their season back on track against second from bottom West Ham, while Ian Holloway’s ultra-attacking Blackpool side will attempt to inflict more misery on Mick McCarthy’s unlucky Wolves side.

Birmingham, who have seen themselves fall back into the relegation zone in recent matches, will face top of the table Chelsea, who are currently suffering something of a defensive crisis. Last week’s conquerors of Chelsea, Sunderland, will face an Everton side whose loss to Arsenal last week was their first in eight.

And Stoke City, currently climbing the table after back-to-back wins, will travel to the Hawthorns to take on a West Brom side currently going in the opposite direction in the table.

Fixtures:

Saturday, 20 November 2010

Arsenal v Tottenham, 12:45

Birmingham v Chelsea, 15:00

Blackpool v Wolverhampton, 15:00

Bolton v Newcastle, 15:00

Man Utd v Wigan, 15:00

West Brom v Stoke, 15:00

Liverpool v West Ham, 17:30

Sunday, 21 November 2010

Blackburn v Aston Villa, 13:30

Fulham v Man City, 16:00

Monday, 22 November 2010

Sunderland v Everton, 20:00