Not many games to predict this week at the top of the English game. Three FA Cup quarter-final ties, one FA Cup 5th round tie and one Premier League game.
Lat week I managed to correctly predict only three results out of nine. With only five to work with this week there must be a very real chance of getting absolutely none right!
Saturday 7th March 2009
Premier League
Sunderland have been giving the impression of being a team that have climbed to safety under Ricky Sbragia. I have watched them play and they look like a decent mid-table side. However, their 2-0 defeat at Liverpool (and let’s be honest, not many lose at Liverpool these days!) took their current run to only two wins in their last nine league games.
If Sunderland were to lose this one against a team on the same number of points as them, it would leave them just four points clear of the drop zone having played a game more. There is no doubt that Sunderland are very much a part of this multi-team relegation struggle that we are seeing this season.
By the same token, Tottenham are also in the struggle and would be in the same position I have described above if they were to lose this one. The difference for them is that they have only lost three of their last nine games and they are on the up whilst Sunderland are in danger of slipping down the other way.
Tottenham go into the game off the back of a very creditable performance in the Carling Cup final and a 4-0 demolition of fellow strugglers Middlesbrough. They must be feeling more confident than they have felt all season.
I see Tottenham getting the win that will take them further away from the unthinkable, whilst the loss of another three points will start to raise the ugly spectre of relegation once again for the perennial ‘yo-yo’ team.
SoccerNews prediction: 1-2
FA Cup 6th round
Championship side Coventry City are on a great run at the moment that has seen them rise to a mid-table position after a worrying start. Under former Fulham manager Chris Coleman the ‘Sky Blues’ are beginning to look like a side that might make a sustained challenge over the next couple of seasons to regain the Premier League place they lost under Gordon Strachan a few seasons ago.
Coventry’s 2-1 defeat against promotion chasing Sheffield United in mid-week was their first defeat in seven games. In those games Coventry have scored ten goals and they have been shared between seven different players. They are always likely to get a goal boasting the likes of Freddy Eastwood, Clinton Morrison and Leon Best up front and Daniel Fox and skipper Scott Dann at the back who both know where the goal is.
Chelsea look to be a different proposition under Guus Hiddink and he seems to have re-instilled that winning mentality into his players. A great win at Aston Villa was followed with a scrappy but effective win in awful conditions at Portsmouth.
Hiddink has said he would love to stop United winning everything. This competition might be their best chance of doing so.
SoccerNews prediction: 0-2
Who can stop Manchester United on their charge towards five trophies. The good news for Fulham is that some team will. The bad news for Fulham is that it won’t be them!
Fulham have made themselves into a team that are difficult to beat. Their shock defeat at home to Hull the other night was only their second in eight games.
United played pretty poorly at Newcastle on the same night and gifted their opponents an early goal. Despite that, they still won the game and continued in their rich vein of form that has seen them unbeaten in fourteen games.
Fulham will make it difficult for United but the favourites will progress.
SoccerNews prediction: 0-1
Sunday 8th March 2009
FA Cup 5th round
A welcome win for Arsenal in mid-week at West Brom, but the fact is that Championship side Burnley will probably provide sterner opposition than the Baggies did.
Burnley have already knocked Arsenal reserves out of the Carling Cup together with Fulham and Chelsea, and they got to this stage of the Cup by beating the afore-mentioned West Brom. They have been beaten only once in eight games and sit seventh in the league.
Arsenal know that this tournament is their best chance of ending their trophy less run of the last few seasons and I expect Arsene Wenger to go into the game with all of his big guns.
Van Persie and the rest should just about have too much for Owen Coyle’s men.
SoccerNews prediction: 2-0
FA Cup 6th round
I tried to watch Everton’s bore draw with Blackburn the other night but it was too painful even for a footie nut like me. Without Mikel Arteta they really have very little creativity but are almost impossible to score against.
Middlesbrough lost 4-0 at Tottenham and the very brief hope following the win over Liverpool was quickly destroyed.
This will not be a classic but I expect an Everton set-piece to be enough.
SoccerNews prediction: 1-0
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