Just a few weeks ago, Birmingham City were in good form under Chris Houghton and with the games they had in hand, if winning all could have reached the heady heights of third place in the Npower Championship. With a gain of just eight points in the last eight games, that potential can no longer be realized. Having said that, with the two games they still have in hand over the teams above them, 6 points added to their current tally of 29 would see them in 6th place, making this…
It’s third versus fourth in the game of the day on Boxing day at the Riverside Stadium as Hull City are the visitors to Middlesbrough. Just 2 points separate the sides as they both look to gain maximum points to continue their challenge to fight for an automatic promotion spot to the Premier League.
Both sides are in great form at present with Boro gaining 17 points in the last 8 matches and Hull City 15. Hull have won their last four consecutive games, whilst Boro have …
Whilst Southampton sit top of the Npower Championship, they have the likes of Middlesbrough and West Ham United breathing down their necks. This is much to do with a run of form that has seen the table toppers win only once in their last five matches. A 2-1 home win against Hull City is the only three points they have managed since the 19th November. To be fair, the draw at St Mary’s against Blackpool was the first game in which they have dropped points at home this…
The Isle of Dogs that is! A trip to Millwall is Portsmouth’s Boxing day game and after holding local rivals and table toppers Southampton to a draw last Sunday; they should arrive with a degree of confidence despite losing impressive midfielder Thorne back to his parent club West Brom as they recall their loanee.
Portsmouth have relied on their home form this season to keep their heads above the relegation water though, so perhaps at the New Den, a draw would be the…
Derby County have conceded a goal in each of their last 14 matches. With just two wins along that road, at home to Portsmouth and Bristol City, they are not likely to be favourites to win, when Simon Grayson brings his Leeds United side to pride Park on Boxing Day.
Indeed, although Leeds are the visitors, they shade favouritism with every firm and can be backed at 2.60 for the away win with most firms. Derby are around 2.80 to win, and the draw can be backed at around 12/5…
The immediate thought when looking at this fixture is that Cardiff have every chance of picking up yet another three points in their chase for top spot in the Npower Championship. With Watford languishing in 18th spot some 12 point behind Cardiff who sit 3rd, one would be blamed for thinking so but Watford are on a current run of 6 matches unbeaten home and away, and five unbeaten at home. Cardiff were upset by Boro last weekend when going down 2-3 at home and that result may …
Tottenham have the rare opportunity to move five points clear of Chelsea with a game in hand on Thursday at White Hart Lane in what looks a must not lose match for the visitors. Chelsea's improved form came to an end at the weekend when they were held at Wigan and Andre Villas-Boas will know he can't afford to let Spurs get too far ahead of his team. Tottenham have made a great start to this campaign but they have largely had their best players to choose from and now…
One of the most popular games on ValueChecker this week has been QPR v Sunderland with the away side set to cost the bookies a small fortune if Martin O’Neill can register his second win for the club.
Five out of eight ValueChecker Steamers at the time of writing relate to the QPR v Sunderland match and all show that punters are backing a positive result for Sunderland. There has been an 8.5% fall in the average Sunderland odds to win the match and Sunderland have had a …
Three successive victories in the Scudetto has elevated Inter Milan to a far more respectable position in the table compared to a few weeks back, but Claudio Ranieri’s men are still 10 points adrift of current chart-toppers Juventus at the time of writing, so the pressure will be on when the Nerazzurri entertain strugglers Lecce at the San Siro on Wednesday night.
The Beneamata hierarchy are not synonymous with patience, and having failed in their bid to retain their…
Wigan need to keep on doing what they are doing if they are to have any chance of surviving, having looked dead and buried just a few weeks ago they have gone won two and drawn two of their last five matches and only been beaten by Arsenal so they can be forgiven for thinking they have a chance of getting something from this match. Liverpool have been pretty strong this season but have suffered blips in some of their most unexpected games and this is exactly the sort of game…
Stoke go into the trip to Eastlands in brilliant form having won four Premiership matches in a row, they've had their fair share of decisions go their way recently though and many will be predicting that they get brought back down to earth with a bump on Wednesday night against the league leaders. Man City reacted well to their first defeat of the season by going on to beat Arsenal at the weekend and Roberto Mancini will be hoping to head into Christmas with a healthy lead…
Newcastle are beginning to find the going tough after a very strong start to the season, it was always a little inevitable that their form would dip but it has been exaggerated recently by some injuries to key players and Newcastle have now dropped down to seventh, three points ahead of Stoke. West Brom have also been going through a minor blip of their own but they returned to winning ways at the weekend and a win every three or four games has kept the Baggies afloat this…
Both of these sides have struggled for goals this season having netted sixteen goals in total this campaign and one less goal for either side would make them the lowest scorers in the entire division. This may not be a a game too many neutrals will want to watch because of that but fans of the respective teams will see this as a crucial match with both teams hovering a couple of losses above the relegation zone. Swansea will certainly be happy with league position but they do…
The press coverage of Darren Bent's ill advised shopping trip in Cambridge during their game against Liverpool seems to have taken the attention away from how poor Aston Villa were in that match and Aston Villa go into matches against Arsenal, Stoke and Chelsea in very poor form which could leave them worryingly close to the relegation zone when 2012 starts. Arsenal also come into this fixture off the back of a loss but a 1-0 defeat at Eastlands is better than most teams…
QPR have found Premiership life tough in recent weeks and are finding themselves dragged ever closer towards to the relegation zone. Luckily for Neil Warnock the beginning of the transfer window is under two weeks away and Warnock looks sure to strengthen in January with up to four signings being mentioned by the QPR boss. Another manager who is likely to be lively in January is new Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill, who will be looking to add to his striking options at the…
It seems talk of the demise of Manchester United recently has been very much premature, they are the form side in the division (no team has more points from their last six games) and they even topped the table for a few hours on Sunday afternoon. Given that they usually improve in the second half of the season it doesn't seem that Sir Alex Ferguson should be too concerned. Fulham proved they are still a force to be reckoned with at home at the weekend with yet another good…
Both these teams gave up leads in their respective matches on Saturday and letting leads slip is something that can turn a team from a mid table side into relegation candidates so the fact that Wolves (already strong relegation candidates) have done it is extremely worrying for fans. Wolves have games against Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea coming up so a result against Norwich looks a must in this fixture bearing in mind Wolves go into this match just one point above the relegation…
Though Juventus, Udinese and Lazio are currently serving it up to reigning Scudetto champions AC Milan in the title race – and Inter are starting to make headway up the table – the Rossoneri aren’t doing much wrong at present, and can make it 11 games unbeaten in the Italian top-flight if they take something from Tuesday evening’s match with Cagliari in Sardinia.
And you would have to fancy the visitors, with the Rossoblu managing to win just one of…
Palace were boosted today when 19 year old Wilfried Zaha put pen to paper on a new five and a half year deal to stay at Crystal Palace. Having come through the academy ranks at Palace, the Ivorian striker who has netted 5 times in 16 appearances this term has been tracked by a number of Premier League clubs who might be looking for some future talent in the January transfer window.
Birmingham will want to keep a close eye on him if he lines up for Crystal Palace on Monday…
The two favourites in the sack race go head to head on Tuesday evening in a must win game and the loser will not only find themself bottom of the Premiership at Christmas, usually a relegation certainty, but they could also find themselves out of a job with the team losing one of their most winnable games of the season. Blackburn have gained just ten points from their first sixteen games of the season whilst Bolton are surprise relegation contenders with just nine points and a…