Gameweek 30 - Weekly Preview

Admittedly, I procrastinated a bit on this week's preview, but here we go:

Manchester City v. West Bromwich Albion

Manchester City will be desperate to make up for what was likely one of the most shocking results of the season, as they lost to lowly Burnley last week.   If they want to keep Chelsea in sight, City will have to really put the pedal to the metal for the rest of the season.  Tony Pulis has managed to create something decent for West Brom since he became manager, but I don't see them managing to fend off a hungry and desperate (and more talented) Man City game.

Aston Villa v. Swansea

Aston Villa is certainly looking improved under new manager Tim Sherwood, and their recent results should be worrying to a Swansea team that has been really all over the map this season.  Personally, I think this will end as a draw, but both of these teams will have opportunities, since Aston Villa is in form and Swansea is arguably the more talented team.

Newcastle v. Arsenal

Arsenal is another team that has been playing very well lately, and they looked greatly improved in their Champions League game against Monaco this week, even though they were eliminated from the competition.  At this point in the season, Newcastle doesn't really have a whole lot to play for, as long as they can keep themselves out of the relegation battle.  I think this could be a narrow win for Arsenal.

Southampton v. Burnley

Between Southampton holding Chelsea to a draw, and Burnley's shock victory over Manchester City last weekend, this will be a competition between two teams that should be feeling very good about themselves.  That being said, Southampton is very much the better team, and should win this easily.  However, Burnley is still fighting to stave off relegation, so they'll put maximum effort in too hopefully.

Stoke City v. Crystal Palace

This is one of those "Who Cares" types of games, in which two relatively safe teams will play an ultimately meaningless game in the grand scheme of the league standings.  All things considered, Stoke are probably the better team, so I would pick them to maybe win 1-0.

Tottenham v. Leicester

This game carries a lot of weight for both teams.  For Tottenham, a top four or top 5 finish isn't entirely out of the question yet, so they must continue to put pressure on higher teams by winning these sorts of games emphatically.  On the other hand, Leicester are still looking like dead meat at the bottom of the table, so they'll be desperate to pull a Burnley and dethrone one of the "big" clubs this weekend.  For me, this is probably a 2-1 match in favor of Spurs.

West Ham United v. Sunderland

Both of these teams have found consistency hard to come by, especially for a Sunderland team that just fired their coach Gus Poyet.  Often times, a new manager will offer some good results right away, so hopefully new manager Dick Advocaat will be able to help the club out.  For West Ham, they still have the talent and tactics to win these types of matches, but they are quickly losing any type of incentive to get out of their season.  For me, this is 1-0 for Sunderland.

Liverpool v. Manchester United (Sunday)

This is almost unarguably the biggest match in English soccer, and it promises to be a great match.  These two teams are absolutely on fire at the moment, and both have suddenly found themselves among their familiar place near the top of the table, having finally gotten over each team's slow start to the season.  In my experiences, big matches like this often end with nothing really wild happening, and I could this match ending as a 2-2 draw.

Hull v. Chelsea (Sunday)

Chelsea will really be hoping to return to the form they had at the beginning of the season, when they were unbeatable.  Now, they are struggling to find much form, so they'll be trying hard to get back on track.  Meanwhile, Hull is starting to look fairly safely above the relegation zone, so they will only be aiming to ensure their safety at Chelsea's expense.  For me, this is a good match for Chelsea to get their mojo back, so I'll take them as 3-1 winners.

QPR v. Everton (Sunday)

Everton is coming straight off being eviscerated by Dinamo Kiev from Ukraine, during their European Europa League this week.  Even worse news, QPR is playing at home, which is essentially the only place QPR has succeeded.  Frankly, this game is practically a relegation battle, so it will be a competition between a bad team and a good team playing poorly.  I'll take Everton just because they do have the raw talent to beat a lot of Premier League teams, and I have to think they'll get some decent form sometime soon.