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MICHAEL OWEN vs THE £10,000,000 COLOSSUS

MICHAEL OWEN vs THE £10,000,000 COLOSSUS

 

To say this season has had its fair share of drama already is a bit of an understatement – more of that later – but I think it has been calm enough sailing for Crystal Palace and Aston Villa so far, with three points from their opening two games.

Albeit, I’m sure that they would have liked more after their opening-day away successes were followed by a home game.

But I don’t think Palace can be too downbeat with a 3-1 win at Norwich followed by a slightly unfortunate 2-1 loss to Arsenal.

And likewise Villa, though they didn’t create too much in front of goal in a 1-0 win at Bournemouth and a same-scoreline loss to Man Utd, perhaps unsurprisingly so considering they lost Benteke and Delph in the summer.

There was only one goal in the games between these sides last season, Villa winning this fixture 1-0, and I don’t see much between the teams this time around either.

Palace were as poor at home last season as Villa were away, but I have to favour Alan Pardew’s team to nick this either 2-1 or 1-0, though I want the back-up of 1-1.

I am going for the exact same perm of results in the Leicester v Tottenham game – 2-1, 1-0 and 1-1 – as you have to give the Foxes the respect they deserve for opening defeats of Sunderland (4-2) and West Ham (2-1).

Granted, Tottenham will provide a stiffer test and their fans would be wise not to get too carried away, but you have to be impressed with them so far, and that is not necessarily the case with their opponents.

You can argue that Spurs were slightly unfortunate to lose 1-0 at Old Trafford but they only had themselves to blame for throwing away a 2-0 lead at home to Stoke last weekend. They could be in for more disappointment here.

Along with most people it seems, I find trying to predict results in the Championship next to impossible, and that is certainly the case with Cardiff v Wolves!

Cardiff have drawn all their games this season, while Wolves started well too in their opening matches, but suffered a reverse when losing 3-2 at home to QPR on Wednesday night after being 2-0 up. Wolves did the double over Cardiff last season, winning each game 1-0, but I am not ruling any outcome here. I’ll sit firmly on the fence take 2-1, 1-1 and 1-2.

And then we come to Chelsea, who will be desperate to steady the ship after a pretty rocky start to the season, which saw them have their keeper sent off in a 2-2 draw against Swansea and being dominated by Man City last Sunday.

Do I think Jose Mourinho, normally so assured, has lost the plot after “Doctorgate” and substituting John Terry at half-time last weekend? No I don’t.

Clearly, morale in the camp doesn’t look great but I for one am not getting carried away just yet.

They are too good, too structured a side for this dip to continue, and I certainly haven’t lost faith in them. In fact, I see that they have drifted to 4-1 for the title and that looks an over-reaction, and a good price, to me.

The facts are that Chelsea really should be winning this, even if they were humbled 3-0 in this fixture last season, although I don’t think it will be particularly pretty.

Chelsea to nick an ugly win, either 1-0 or 2-1.

West Brom were also swept aside 3-0 by Man City recently and were lucky to escape with a point in a 0-0 draw at Watford last weekend. They may not be so fortunate here, against a Chelsea outfit with their backs to the wall.

Everton produced one of the results of the season so far when winning 3-0 at Southampton last Saturday – few people saw that coming after the opening weekend – but they may even need to improve on that performance if they are to get something from their home game against a rampant Man City.

City look to have rediscovered their hunger and swagger over the summer, allied to better tactics and formation from the manager, which some would say are long overdue, so I have to fancy them to keep up their winning run.

I think the key to their form has mainly been tactical. He is playing one up top, and filling the midfield, which you need to do when Toure, not defensively-minded shall we say, is in the side. The results have spoken for themselves.

I take City to win 2-1 as my main fancy but if they play like they did in their opening games, then they have the potential to rip any side apart in their current mood. I’ll add in Any Other Away (AOA).

I can’t say that I have followed the transfer action, and pre-season games, in Serie A too closely over the summer, so I will play it safe when it comes to Fiorentina v AC Milan.

Fiorentina only lost four home games in finishing fourth in the league last season, while Milan only won the same amount of matches on the road, though they did beat Perugia 2-0 in the Coppa Italia earlier this week.

So, in horse racing terms, at least they have had a run this season.

Fiorentina have to be rated as favourites on their own patch though and I take them to win either 2-1 – the result in this fixture last season – or 1-0.

Liverpool have won ugly in their two matches to date, and would have been relieved to get a 1-0 win at home to Bournemouth on Monday night. And they certainly face their biggest challenge of the season so far when they visit Arsenal.

The Gunners have hardly been convincing in their two league games to date either, notwithstanding their 2-1 win at Palace, and I can see this ending up 1-1.