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MICHAEL OWEN vs THE £10,000,000 COLOSSUS

It’s been a pretty mad Premier League season so far – and we are only 10 games in.
 
Three managers have already bitten the dust, with the prospect of more to come in the short term, and maybe even the biggest name of all; Man City have traded as low as 1-3 with some bookmakers to win the title, with holders Chelsea out to 50-1; West Ham have beaten those two sides along with the small matter of away wins at Arsenal and Liverpool; and Leicester have scored in all their Premier League games this season and are out to 66-1 to be relegated having been one of the favourites back in August.
 
So I won’t remind you who I tipped to win the league, and for the drop, at the start of the season!
 
In contrast to some teams, fourth-placed Man Utd have actually started the campaign pretty well, even if they have a recent 3-0 defeat at Arsenal on their dance card. They won 3-0 at Everton, and would have been happy enough to settle for a point at the Etihad last weekend, even if the match was a pretty drab affair.And they again failed to score when going out of the Cup on penalties to Middlesbrough at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.
 
So they have not consistently impressed by any means, and I would be in no rush to back them at odds of 11-10 to win at Crystal Palace. In fact, Palace to win 2-1 is my main fancy in this game, with 1-0 and 1-1 as back-up score lines.
MOCOL
 
Palace have been a bit hit-and-miss this season and have generally performed better away from home, most notably a win at Chelsea.
 
But they look a good side whenever I see them – and I wouldn’t read too much into their 5-1 Cup defeat at Man City on Wednesday night where like most sides, they rested plenty of first-team players –  and have been a bit unfortunate to lose by the odd goal to City, Tottenham and Arsenal, and they were definitely unlucky to lose 1-0 at Leicester last week, where they had three decent penalty decisions turned down in the final minutes.
 
As I mentioned earlier, West Ham have done remarkably well this season and haven’t lost in the league since a 4-3 home reverse at the hands of Bournemouth in August. And I expect that unbeaten run to continue when they visit Watford, so I take them to win 2-1 or 1-0, with 1-1 added in, too.
 
Watford would have been very happy with their start to the season too, but they do find scoring hard to come by – or rather they did before a 2-0 win at Stoke last weekend – so I favour West Ham to edge a tight game.
 
Preston v Bolton sees 19th play bottom in the Championship on Saturday evening. Preston haven’t won any of their six home games, while Bolton have lost five and drawn one of their six road games. So your guess is as good as mine!
 
I’ll play to the percentages, and take 2-1, 1-0 and 1-1 score lines in this.
 
Inter v Roma is next up. Roma sit on top of Serie A after losing only one of their opening ten games, though they have only got two points from their opening three matches in the Champions League.
 
But Inter, who won 1-0 at Bologna on Tuesday night,  haven’t started badly either without the distraction of Europe, a 4-1 home defeat to Fiorentina their only blip, although scoring goals has been a problem.
 
I don’t have a strong opinion on this to be honest, but Inter won this fixture 2-1 last season, so I will take 2-1 and 1-1 as my selections here.
 
Sunderland were probably flattered by the winning 3-0 score line against Newcastle last week but that won’t concern them and it could be that they will fancy their chances of inflicting a third straight league defeat on Everton, especially as they didn’t have the distraction of a midweek Cup game.
 
But with all due respect to Sunderland, those Everton losses came against an on-song Man Utd and by the odd goal at Arsenal, so I have to fancy Everton, either 2-0 or 2-1, as their overall form this season has impressed me. And they did get back on track in the Cup on Tuesday night, albeit only progressing on penalties against Norwich.
 
I take Lazio to beat Milan either 2-0 or 2-1 in the sixth leg of the £10 million Colossus, despite a loss at Atalanta on Wednesday night. The reason is pretty simple, in that Lazio have won all five of their home games this season, scoring 11 and conceding just one, while Milan have lost three of their five away matches.
 
The concluding match sees Tottenham at home to Aston Villa. At the time of writing, the away side haven’t appointed a permanent replacement to Tim Sherwood and also haven’t won since the opening day of the season, and went out of the Cup on Wednesday night at Southampton. You just find it hard to see beyond a Tottenham side unbeaten in five home games.
 
However, for all their 5-1 win at Bournemouth last week, I think this could be tighter match than the match odds would suggest. Villa’s defensive record isn’t that bad for a bottom side, so I take 1-0.

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