English Premier League - Round 9

[admin]

The English Premier League enters Round 9 this weekend. The English sides enjoyed a good week in the UEFA Champions league, with Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea all picking up wins. It will be a quick turnaround for the Europa League participants (Fulham, Tottenham & Stoke City) who all play on Thursday evening. The league standings are starting to take on a familiar form, with Newcastle's 4th position one of the few stand outs. Arsenal currently sit 10th after a poor start to the season, but they're beginning to pick up some form, and will expect to push for a European football spot later in the season. The highlight of this round is unquestionably the Manchester derby between United and City. Manchester United will start as 2.05 favourites, with pundits expecting more than 2.5 goals in the game. In a West London derby, QPR have their work cut out for them when they host Chelsea.

Below are the latest odds (subject to change):

[qtip]

My bets for the round:

Aston Villa - draw no bet @ 1.40
Newcastle Utd - draw no bet @ 1.20
Liverpool @ 1.30
Man Utd - draw no bet @ 1.48
Tottenham - draw no bet @ 1.43
Chelsea @ 1.38

[Andy Marshall]

Newcastle @ 1.60 look good. I'm a massive Newcastle fan and fully expected them to be awful this season, but Pardew has done a remarkable job to keep a good vibe in the dressing room after losing leaders Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton (not to mention Jose Enrique and before that Andy Carroll in January).

Yohan Cabaye and Cheik Tiote are a perfect match in the central midfield slots. Tiote plays the defensive mid better than anyone in the league (big call, I know) and Cabaye has an excellent range of passing. Gutierrez is on fire down the left wing, Demba Ba and Leon Best are linking well up front and Hatem Ben Arfa cannot even break into the starting XI. At the back Tim Krul is commanding as the keeper. He really takes charge and is superb at racing off his line to clear the ball (it will come back to bite him eventually, but he has already stopped a few goals with his quick thinking). Coloccini is a rock in the heart of the defence and Steven Taylor makes the odd mistake, but is one of the best celebrators of a team goal! Even Ryan Taylor at left back is keeping out Italian U21 captain and new signing Davide Santon.

In short, the continuity at Newcastle should help them beat Wigan. I also like Tottenham to beat Blackburn @ nearly 2.00.

[pominoz]

Wolves are the coldest team in the league at the moment so I won't be touching them. I fancy the +0.5 on Swansea as a value bet.

West Brom could be another chance of an upset given Aston Villa's average form.

Thanks for the insight Andy. Newcastle have been looking very solid defensively of late. I've had Steven Taylor in my fantasy team for most of the season, and I added Ba to my team a few weeks ago, which has worked out well. Wigan are playing on the back of five losses I think, so Newcastle will definitely sniff another scalp.

Hopefully Man Utd v City will be as good as their community shield game at the start of the season. I fancy the over 2.5 there.

[jb7here]

Get on the teams that play the teams who played europa games this week
Arsenal @ 1.50
Everton - draw no bet @ 2.28

then Liverpool @ 1.25 and newcastle @ 1.55

[Andy Marshall]

Good discussion!

Even though Wolves are struggling, I would be wary of Swansea on the road, they have lost all 4 away games so far this season.

And taking your thoughts a step further jb7, Fulham played away in the Europa League, so Everton draw no bet really does look the way to go.

Anyone care to pick a winner for the Manchester derby? I'll say United.

[pominoz]

I fancy United too. Anything over 2.00 on them at home is worth a shout.

I was about to say that Everton have lost their last three games, but looking up the results, they were against Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City, so 2.28 looks reasonable. A draw could be on the cards for this one, so I'll be taking the draw at 3.20.