After a week that all but ended England’s participation in Europe, leading to questions of whether or not the BPL is truly the best league in the world, comes match day 28. The derby between Manchester United and Manchester City has been rescheduled to Tuesday March 25th and Sunderland against West Brom also being rescheduled to accommodate the Capital One Cup final on Sunday to be played by City and Sunderland.
After a week that all but ended England’s participation in Europe, leading to questions of whether or not the BPL is truly the best league in the world, comes match day 28. The derby between Manchester United and Manchester City has been rescheduled to Tuesday March 25th and Sunderland against West Brom also being rescheduled to accommodate the Capital One Cup final on Sunday to be played by City and Sunderland.
Four matches will kick off at 10:00 a.m. with Arsenal playing away to Stoke being of most significance. Arsene Wenger’s men have won none of their last three visits to the Britannia Stadium and with the likes of Manchester City, Everton, Southampton and Swansea being held to a 0-0 or 1-1 draw away to Stoke it wouldn’t be a surprise if this is how the game ended too. Both teams will be missing players through injury as Stoke will be without Assaidi (Knee) and will be welcoming back Robert Huth who looks set to return. Arsenal will be without Abou Diaby and Theo Walcott who are both on the long term injury list and Aaron Ramsey and Kim Kalstrom who are due back around the middle of March. Arsenal players who may return to the side against Stoke are Mesut Ozil, Jack Wilshere, Thomas Vermaelen, and Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal and Kieran Gibbs.
Fulham will be looking to boost their hopes of survival and put a dent in Chelsea’s title ambitions when they clash on Saturday. Felix Magath will take charge of his first home fixture and faces a daunting task in putting a stop to their alarming run of form. Fulham have won just one of their 25 Premier League matches against their London rivals and Chelsea have taken 14 of those affairs. As Fulham’s struggles continue in defense, with their backline having conceded 59 goals in the league this term, Chelsea will be going in for the kill as they look to increase their lead in the standings. Fulham have no fresh injury worries ahead of the match and Chelsea are likely to be without David Luiz who is out with a muscle injury.
Having failed to win any of their last five away league games and losing the last three without scoring a single goal, it’s fair to say that Everton will be pleased to be back at Goodison Park this weekend. The Toffees sit in 7th place heading into the weekend, but have a game in hand on the three sides directly above them. And with just five points separating them from 5th placed Tottenham, qualification for next season’s Europa League remains a realistic target. West Ham are experiencing no troubles at present, with more points collected from their last four outings than any other team in the division. Sam Allardyce’s side have achieved ‘perfection’, with a sudden string of wins helping to lift them away from the relegation zone. They are now in the top half of the table and will be looking towards at least matching last season’s 10th place finish. Everton have lost just once on home soil but defensively they have not been watertight in recent months.
Newcastle have failed to score in seven of their last nine Premier League Games while for Hull it is five of their last eight. With stats like these the forecast for this game is a low scoring affair as Hull welcomes Newcastle to the KC Stadium. The Tigers are six points clear of the drop zone following their 4-0 win over Cardiff last weekend and are riding high after reaching the quarter finals of the FA Cup with victory over Brighton last weekend. Newcastle ended their slump in form last weekend with a 1-0 win over Aston Villa after all of 4 games without a win. The Tigers will be looking to do the double over Newcastle after their 3-2 win at St. James’ Park earlier in the season whilst Newcastle are aiming to taste their first league win over Hull since March 1990 and their away form have been good this season with 6 wins from 13 games.
The late kickoff match on Saturday will see Southampton come up against a Liverpool side harboring title ambitions. Liverpool will travel to St. Mary’s looking to make it four wins from their last four games and protect their unbeaten run since the start of 2014. Southampton come into the game sitting comfortably in the top half of the table and will want to put on a good display at home having played away in their last three fixtures. Liverpool’s last two games have been high scoring affairs with a 5-1 thrashing of Arsenal and a 4-3 thriller against Swansea, which have seen them open up a six point gap on fifth placed Tottenham. Southampton have been sitting comfortably just below the top seven for much of the season but have recently dropped two places and come into the match in 9th place in the league. With Liverpool’s only home defeat this season coming at the hand of the saints. The reds will be hoping to prevent Southampton from completing the double against them.
Writer: Lynford Harris
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