Tomorrow sees the biggest weekend of action this season in the EPL. Here’s my full preview of Sunday’s games…
Liverpool vs. Manchester United (Anfield, 1:30pm KO)
The biggest club game in England rears its head for the first time this season. So here’s what to expect.
Liverpool
Against Marseilles everything went swimmingly for Liverpool. They dominated the game from start to finish, and there is no reason why they can’t carry this form onto the game against United. The thing that has finally started clicking for Liverpool — last week aside — is the fact that Gerrard has found his niche and his space for playing in, Javier Mascherano has found his place in supporting Gerrard, Torres is back to fitness and scoring spectacular goals, Ryan Babel has finally started showing some promise and the defence looks solid.
Liverpool’s main strength at the moment is their colossal midfield. There aren’t many teams — except maybe United, funnily enough — who can rival Liverpool’s midfield. The partnership of Gerrard and Mascherano has turned out to be one of the best in the league, and on the flanks Benayoun and Babel have started to put some decent form together. Add to this equation a couple of great cameos from Harry Kewell and this becomes a quite special midfield.
Injuries — Xabi Alonso returned to training this week and is expected to start on the bench, meaning Javier Mascherano should keep his place in the middle with Gerrard after recovering from his midweek knock. Daniel Agger is again sure to miss out however.
Key Player — Alvaro Arbeloa and Steve Finnan are going to be knackered after this game. They have got to mark Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo out of the game, and the way the two have been playing recently it’s easier said than done. If these two are kept quiet however, United will have to rely on their midfield to supply Rooney and Tevez’s ammunition, and although Michael Carrick is a great passer of the ball, this will probably result in the strikers playing deep, right into the hands of Mascherano.
Probable Team — Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Arbeloa; Benayoun, Mascherano, Gerrard, Babel; Torres, Kuyt.
Manchester United
The performance against Roma wasn’t a reflection on how United will do tomorrow in all fairness so let’s go to last week against Derby. 4-1 the score, and a fairly decent performance in difficult conditions. Rooney will be looking to get one over on his nemeses at Anfield. United are in decent form at the minute though — apart from the 1-0 at the Reebok — and Anderson especially has been impressive.
United’s strength? Defence. Nemanja Vidic has been a revelation since he arrived at Old Trafford; Rio has had some strong performances this season; Evra has been excellent BUT Wes Brown is a potential weak link. He will have to deal with either Babel or Benayoun I expect, who themselves are in scintillating form, so that will be an interesting story to watch throughout the game.
Injuries — Owen Hargreaves is set to return to the United squad after recovering from tendinitis. Scholes however will be out until January, and Neville will take a lot longer. There are always doubts flying around about Louis Saha’s fitness however, but he should be on the bench. Apart from that, clean bill of health for United.
Key Player — Michael Carrick. If as I suspect Sir Alex recognizes the threat to his wingers in Arbeloa and Finnan and he decides to play direct through the middle, Carrick is the guy who is going to be squirting the ball out everywhere. On top of this, he will be charged with the job of stopping any Gerrard pass through to Torres, so its going to be a big game for Michael Carrick.
Probable Team — Van der Sar; Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Ronaldo, Carrick, Anderson, Giggs; Rooney, Tevez.
To sum up this is going to be a great game. We should expect open football, attacking football, and a few goals. The Gerrard-Torres partnership will again be instrumental, and I think Liverpool’s strength in midfield, coupled with the outstanding Fernando Torres point towards a Liverpool victory.
Prediction: Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United
Arsenal vs. Chelsea (Emirates Stadium, 4:05pm KO)
The biggest London derby of the year gets played for the first time this season. Here we go…
Arsenal
Arsenal were pushed all the way by Steaua in midweek, on top of a difficult weekend against Middlesbrough last week. They deserved to lose against Middlesbrough, and this is a real sticky situation for Wenger’s boys to be in now. Just the right time then to welcome back your star men, Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas.
Arsenal’s main strength is their cool really. They usually just pass the ball around nice and calmly waiting for the opening to present itself. It’s worked all season until recently, and now its a test of character for Wenger and his kids. The defence however, is usually excellent, I’m a big fan of Toure and Gallas at centre-half, and Sagna has been top drawer since his arrival.
Injuries — Aliaksandr Hleb is set to miss out, but Cesc is now rated ass 70/30 and RVP is certain to return to EPL action. Cesc’s minder however, Mathieu Flamini, is a serious doubt, so Gilberto is set to deputise. Also returning to the squad is Abou Diaby.
Key Player — RVP, without a doubt. He will need to inspire the youth around him to give a big performance, and as star man they will look to him to do something special with the ball.
Probable Team — Almunia; Sagna, Gallas, Toure, Clichy; Eboue, Diarra, Gilberto, Rosicky; van Persie, Adebayor.
Chelsea
Again the midweek draw against Valencia wasn’t to be taken into account, so we shall look to last week’s game for evaluating Chelsea. 2-0 the score, Sunderland the opponents. The Mourinho in Avram Grant has been brought out well and truly, just doing what needs to be done and nothing else flamboyant. But still, they’re winning games so fair play to them.
Chelsea’s main strength is the attacking talent that they possess. Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Salamon Kalou are all big players for Chelsea at the moment, and they are all in decent form. Big test for Andrei Shevchenko, he will most probably leading the line against Arsenal and will have to show some AC Milan form, without a doubt.
Injuries — The big absence obviously is Didier Drogba, the colossal front man. Also Riccy Carvalho will not feature, but apart from that no new worries for Avram Grant.
Key Player — John Obi Mikel. He will need to silence RVP, who will play in that free role. Also he will need to push the forward players on in front of him to press for that goal.
Probable Team — Cech; Belletti, Terry, Alex, Ashley Cole; Wright-Phillips, Lampard, Obi Mikel, Joe Cole; Kalou, Shevchenko.
To sum up this should be a tight game with few openings I feel. I think that Chelsea will definitely feel that they can take something off Arsenal though due to both sides current form, so I’m going to plum for a narrow Chelsea win here.
Prediction: Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea
It’s tomorrow then, air your feelings about the games below!
Chelsea are also missing Micheal Essien whos another key player for them. I also cant see Gilberto playing for Arsenal because lately hes been awful. Diaby will start next to Diarra if Fabergas doesnt start but if he does i reckon Diaby could partner the young Spaniard. If in Wengers shoes though i would play:
Almunia
Sagna Toure Gallas Clichy
Eboue Fabergas(Diaby) Diarra Rosicky
Van Persie Adebayor.
I’d start Diarra because hes more defensive then Diaby and he will need to keep Lampard quiet or help the defence out with the 3 up front
There is no great science of tactics behind it the difference between Liverpool since last time they meet is.
Good For Liverpool _____ Gerrard back to form ::: Fernando Torres ::: A Decent left winger Babel/Kewell ::: Hoppfully Peter Crouch ::: Mascherano instead of alonso
Bad for Liverpool _____ Probably Riise not being on good form this season ::: Hypia instead of Agger.
United have a lot of good players that werent there last time too. I honestly cant imagine a draw it just doesnt look on the cards
Liverpool 2 United 0? ha ha ha Ha ha ha
Carrick won’t even start. So how he can be considered key is questionable…
why do you believe none of Hleb, Flamini and Fabregas will play? They all trained and have about an equal chance of playing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgq2GHXr75U theres a nice build up to the big match for anyone whos geared up
I still dont see how Liverpool and ManU have the best midfield in the league. Arsenals Midfield is the best and can demolish any team at any time. Take Ronaldo from ManU they have no midfield to supply for Tevez or Rooney. You take Gerrard from Liverpool then there goes Liverpools Skipper and talisman, and Torres cant do it by himself. Regarding Arsenal you take Fabregas out you still have Flamini or Hleb and coming in from the bench id Diaby or Diarra its a great rotation for Arsenal. Only reason we lost to Borough cause three of our midfiled players were out. You do that to ManU or Liverpool they would surely loose also. Just take a look at the ManU/Bolton game no Ronaldo and a loss for ManU. Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea
Liverpool 2-0 Manu
Geez, GunnerStrikie, let us have a good look at those midifelds.
Man Utd – Central:
Owen Hargreaves – proven closing midfielder and has been really good so far this season
Anderson – up and coming star, but he is not only potential. Unlike Denilson he can actually do something with a ball (no innuendo) at only 19 years old.
Carrick – great passer of the ball and he does a so-so job in closing down opposition teams
Scholes – the best (yes, better than Fabregas) player in this position in the league. Nobody can verticalize plays like him.
Fletcher – great player to have as a backup; he would walk into the starting line up of any team outside the top 4.
Man Utd – Flanks:
Ronaldo – enough said
Giggs – ditto
Nani – getting there, much more promising and effective than expected and a valuable player
Liverpool – Central:
Gerrard – best player in the league in my opinion
Macherano – Hargreaves’ equal in terms of closing down skills
Sissko – a bit unlucky with injuries, but I think he is better than Flamini in the same position
Xabi Alonso – good closing down and some other skills (passing, shooting, etc.)
Liverpool – Wings:
Babel – good speed and technique, better than Walcott if you want a player-for-player comparison
Bennayoun – really surprising player
Kewell – I like him a lot and I am a Man Utd fan. Good passing and can realy control that wing
Riise – ever seen a shot like his?
I am missing someone here but I can’t figure out exacly who.
Now you take a look at the Arsenal midfield and try to compare it (quality and quantity wise to these two)
how can you say uniteds strength is in defence then predict
a two nil loss? Bennayoun isnt up to scratch and babel isnt great either. Mascherano has no amazing ability on the ball, merely a watercarrier for gerrard. If Gerrard is marked well, then there is little creative power in midfield. Kewell is a threat especially against Brown who can be dodgy. Crouch and Torres are by far the best strike partnership they have but Crouch may not even start. The defence is dependable but hyypia might be left wanting for pace against rooney,tevez or ronaldo. Carragher is not having the best of time either. United are depending on the inexperienced anderson and the ageing giggs in the midfield department. Hargreaves will mark Gerrard and nothing else. Ronaldo may go missing. Remember all the hype before United and Arsenal? Expect the same tomorrow. Please bear in mind im being extremely pessimistic. COME ON UNITED!!!!ROO-NEY!ROO-NEY! 3-0 to the red devils. im just gonna throw that out there. how ye like them apples?
So what is you call, Liverpool_Fan? Man Utd win? Liverpool win?
By the way Shaun, thanks for keeping the posts relatively bias-less. I could tell you are a Liverpool fan but doing a great job to keep things as neutral as possible. Just wanted to ask: you mentioned weaknesses for all the teams except Liverpool; what do you see as their Achilles heel? Maybe their central defence partnership? Thats it in my opinion.
I think that if Man Utd are to get beaten somewhere on the pitch, it will be in central midfield. Gerrard is just too good when he is on his game.
Also, who do you reckon will be missed most in the London derby? Drogba and Essies or Fabregas and Hleb (assuming neither will play)? I see Chelsea as disadvataged.
Orgie my point was that Liverpool’s strength is greater than United’s strength. I mean I just don’t see how they will cope with Torres, Babel and Benayoun in their current form. My opinion that is anyway.
Andrei thanks, and for Liverpool I would probably say the central defence partnership too, but I’m sure you would agree that it’s not a huge problem, as the abundance of pace that United will be down the flanks, which is were the defence is particularly strong with Liverpool. Okay Rooney and Tevez are quick too, but they tend to play in front of the back 4 and only seem to try and run behind on the break, but yes, good point Andrei.
Re: GunnerStrike
Wtf is Flamini? and Diarra? and Diaby? Helb is okai but the rest? wtf u call tht a midfield? they are so NOT WORLD CLASS! They cant even hold dwn a regular internationl spot in thier team and we do not see them winning indivudual awards now do we? They do not even have potential cuz they are like preety much done with their development like Diarra? I cannot belive u compared Arsenal’s Mid to Liverpool’s and Man United’s! You honestly are one of those blind Arsenal fans i must admit!
Like Andrei said Centrally United and Liverpool bascially kick Arsenal’s ass. Gerrard vs Fabregas? I rather have Gerrard. You cannot replace his never die attitude BUT both are pretty bad at diving lol. You wana compare players like hargreaves, carrick, mascherano, alsonso to diarra (LMAO HIS AWFUL) and flamini (why doesnt hestart for france? lmao obviously crap) Helb comapare him to scholes and ul see scholes shits out helb and diaby cant even break into ur 1st team and his getting pissd and his so mch wrse den any midfeilder and anderson will kick his ass anyday and so would lucas or sissoko (even though sissoko is out of form atm) and yeah united’s wingers are best in da league and giggs ronaldo nani park ji sung will tear anyone apart! Kewell is also better than any winger arsenal has lmao. Kewell = Pure class. Your comparisions to Liverpool and Man United’s mid is a joke and your defence is even more wrse then the both teams and attack too. Torres Tevez Rooney beats all of your strikes but van persie is also quailty like the ones i mentiond but after him no1 is as effective. Defence you have carra agger vidic rio finnan and compare that too sendaros a wlkin error prone joke and then evra showd wa he can do to helb (il post the link below lol) and gary nev and finnan just beat any of your rb’s with experience. Only world class defender arsenal has is gallas & your goalkeepers are spastic jokes. wen was the last time almuina had a clean sheet? comaped to van der sar and reina almanure is nothing and lehman (him being on the bench says enough)
Now response to the article:
Carrick cannot be a key player as he wont even start. Key player in this game is Hargreaves because he will have the job of stopping Gerrard. Finnan is injured for them so he will not start. I think it will be like this:
Riena
Arbeloa–Carra–Hyppia–Aurelio (or Riise)
Benayoun–Alonso–Gerrard–Babel (or Kewell/Riise)
Torres–Kuyt (or Crouch)
I think Masch might go on the bench because of rotation. Rafa does not like to use players twice in a week and they did travel. I honestly have no clue on what liverpool will put out..maybe sissoko cuz he was rested? or maybe crouchy will start or vronin? i got no clue tbh lol all i knoe no finnan & agger.
But confidently i can guess man united’s team
Van Der Sar
Brown–Rio–Vida–Evra
Ronaldo–Hargreaves–Anderson–Giggs
Rooney–Tevez
Bench: Kuszack, O’Shea, Nani, Carrick, Saha
I cannot wait till the game 😀
Oh and Andrei also Chelsea are severely disadvantaged yes, as Sheva isn’t capable of leading that line on his own. Also Mikel is only half the player Essien is, but even so I just don’t see Arsenal getting anything out of this game. I really don’t/
This is the link iI was talking about above!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KesQbeoqD0
Oh yeah Evra you gun and lmao @ Helb
I’ve got a bet with a friend.
I get £2.00 if Shevchenko or Anderson score and he gets £2.00 if Giggs or Gilberto score.
If all four or none or one of each score then the bet is off. If both mine score and only one of his I win and vice-versa.
Shohan Khan: Are you stucked in the pea-brain or you are probably from another planet? You talk as if our midfielders are worst even compared to Tottenham. Now I wonder why the SO-CALLED great clubs in MANURE AND LIVERPOOL failed to beat Arsenal. I’m wondering with those weak points in our MIDFIELDERS > STRIKERS > DEFENDERS, we are still on top of you. Ho HO HO HO
i am wanto tomorow liverpool beat the man united i will wan to liverpool do thebest. iwant to liverpool win and i think liverpool gnu win the gaym. GOd for us
the guy that wrote this article is completely off with his predictions, honestly i just looked at the predictions and didnt bother readin the rest…. nuf said… GGMU!!!
” i just dont see how they will cope with torres babel and benayoun on their current form” my thoughts are i just dont see how liverpool will cope with tevez,ronaldo and anderson on their current form.i cant predict this game.my head tells me liverpool but i think united will be up for the game
If Chelsea is to win.. Manchester United have to win too.. UNITED UP UP UP!!.. I think if Beckham is in Liverpool , Crouch must play lol..
Looking at United having to replace the starting 10 except Rooney against ROMA(The 1-1 Draw)..I see future in United’s subtitutes..Should have lost but YAY.. Atleast a draw against Roma..
Andrei i really have a nervous feeling about this Liverpool dont care who the play the only team we are afraid of is man utd because they are our weakness. I dont wanna have a prediction i might regret it later so i’ll just hope we can finally break the barrier united hold over us.
hahahaha…
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!wat happened lads.torres?gerrard?what happened to the quality squad?
indeed…Man Utd FTW!
😀
Gunners……………….
Every other team looks better than us on paper. SUX to that. We beat Chelsea and still remain on top…………..
THANK YOU PETR CECH
WOW. Shaun Wright Philips. Wow. Man Utd > Liverpool. Arsenal hang on yet again. Gifted goal in stoppage time (first-half but does it matter its still stoppage time).
Sure Man Utd didn’t play all that pleasingly in the attacking sense but defensively it was a stellar performance with Liverpool’s best chances coming from keeping mis-judgments. Arsenal on the other hand were opened up quite frequently by Chelsea.
It’s only a matter of time before United are top again, and then good luck trying to catch up.
Spot on ali.only a matter of time.anderson took gerrard to school
Ignadirshah –
Amen to that fellow Gunner. Amen to that…
i love tevez.
Ali you talk a load of un-educated bollocks mate. I was at at Emirates and we should of won at least 2-0 as the Adebayor disallowed goal wasn’t a foul and should of stood. If Chelsea can’t take their chances well thats tough shit and so is the 6 point gap! I bet you’ve never been to a United game and I bet you don’t even live within 100 miles of Manchester! As for gifted goals, take another look at Tevez’s effort. Arsenal all the way!!
Yo Paul, chill man chill. We are on top. If you had asked these “We’ll be on top soon, and then good luck trying to catch up” type of characters at the start of the season who’ll be leading by mid december, guess what they would have said. But unfortunately for them, we are on top. Just let them suck on that in peace…………….
If there is anybody in the world who does not love Tevez, he better not be a Man Utd fan!!!!
Oh yea, one more thing, FUCK FABREGAS!!! That dirty little prick, why did he tackle Cole like that at the end? Because he is a dickhead, that’s why.
It doesn’t much matter who is on top mid December, nobody cares. I get the feeling that you said that because you happen to be on top…until you start dropping points. The END of Decmber is a good time to analyze the start of the season and determine who are title contenders.
I think it is pretty safe to say that Liverpool seem to be out of the running, at least for now anyways. If Jose were still at Chel$ki, and they didn’t have to rely on $heva to lead the line, they might be in it as well. But it looks like a classic Arsenal/Man Utd battle. At least until African Cup of Nations. Then points will drop like so many tears as you watch the Red Devils retain thier title.
Paul- We weren’t ‘gifted’ a goal. It was great set play that caught Liverpool out. Not marking Rooney? Great idea. Hanging out next to the post instead of trapping Tevez offside was even smarter. Tevez was just where he needed to be in case Rooney’s shot was a little wide. It’s called positioning.
Why is someones point not valid if they do not live within 100 miles of the club they support? Certainly, it would be kilometers, as the last time I checked only Americans measured in miles.
Tevez was great Andrei. But for me, Anderson was MOTM. A teenager from South Amercia muted Gerrard. The only threat he posed were from the free kicks the Red Devils gave up. Well done No. 8.
So it is true…Torres can’t hang with the big boys. Given space against lesser opposition he can score goals. But today Rio owned him. But I digress, it must have been hard as the lone striker against the leagues best back line. Wanker could have had a Title in his first year in the EPL, but I suppose he thought that he could turn Liverpools luck around.
With Gerrard MIA (is he still looking for his jewelry?), Liverpool were left with bombing in crosses. Manchester United weren’t even really marking the wingers much in the second half, letting them have 3-4 seconds on the outskirts of the box before even attempting to close them down. With that said, I thought it was noteworthy that Crouch didn’t get a single header on ball. Class act that Vidic is. What he didn’t get, Evra was happy to clean up.
Another 3 points at the Kop. Glory, Glory!!!
The 22 game mark is a good point to asess the situation, 3 games after the half-way point. By end of January its usually clear who is in and who is out of the race.
Anything up to 6 or seven points behind the leaders gives you a chance but more than this and I think the game is up, eespecially this year where the chase is against more than 1 team. It’s one thing hoping for a stumble from a rival but hoping for 2 (or 3) to slip up is a long shot.
At this poiint its United and Arsenal set to battle it out. Chelsea in the mix but can’t afford to slip up in the next 5 games.
Liverpool hanging on by their finger tips. Expect them to be (realistically) out of it by end of Jan.
Okay 9Titles to say Torres can’t hang with the big boys is a nonsensical statement. He scored a wonder goal against Chelsea, and also scored some pressure CL goals too. He was injured for the Arsenal game, and yesterday, okay, he was given a tough time by the United defenders. But to say he can’t handle big pressure games is a silly thing to say.
Looking back at some of these comments is great. How can any seriously knowledgable person say that Arsenals midfield is the worst out of the big four. Lets compare
WINGS
Rosicky Hleb vs Ronaldo Giggs vs Kewell Benayoun-lol vs COle and SWP
Admiteddly Man U top this, Ronaldo is the best player in the League and Giggs is pure class, but Arsenals wingers are two of the most creative and best technical players in the League, who showed up yesterday and in hlebs case against Manu and Liverpool aswell, which cannot be said for Liverpools appaling wingers who dissapear against big teams. would any full back worth his salt have any problems dealing with these two? In Chelseas case Cole and SWP are slightly better but as proven yesterday and for England are not very top notch.
Manu then Arsenal then Chelsea then Liverpool
CENTRE
Hargreaves and Anderson/Scholes( nearly finished) vs Gerrard Masch vs Essine Lampard vs Flamini Fab
For my money out of the DMs essien is undoubtedly the best by a mile, Id put maschareno second just and have hargreaves and Flamini on a level pegging.
Chelsea then Liverpool then Arsenal and Man U
In terms of the attacking CM I find it hard to see how anyone can argue with Fabregas being the Leagues best, hes done it against man u and liverpool and was decent yesterday. As far as gerrard is concerned people should ignore his penchant for scoring screamers and running around alot and concentrate on his ability to influence games when up against good opposition, its non-existant as proven time and again, vs ManU Arsenal Milan etc. Lampard does some things well but lacks any creativity, is technically inferior to the others and cant drag the rest of his team up with him as shown yesterday. Scholes was the best last year but is coming to the end of his career, and anderson is good, but he still is in his first season so cant be expected to be the best yet.
Arsenal – Man U – Liverpool – Chelsea
Agree?