Football Dispatch

Premier League look-ahead

18 & 19 August, 2007

Sunday is clearly the day to look forward to this weekend in the Barclay’s English Premier League. But a handful of Saturday’s matches are of the mouthwatering variety as well. It’s still early, but a number of managers are feeling the heat already.

Alan Curbishley is foremost among them. In all honesty, and it pains me to say it because I rather like the chap, I can’t see him lasting the season. Curbs has been given a blank cheque by West Ham owner Eggart Magnusson to improve the squad. And what has he done? Overpaid for Luis Boa Morte, overpaid for Matthew Upson, overpaid for Lucas Neil, acquired British football’s most notorious bad-boy in Craig Bellamy, and bought injury-crock Julian Faubert – and overpaid for him as well. If Curbishley cannot coax some results of out this bunch, he could face the axe by Christmastime.

West Ham face an interesting test on Saturday when they travel to St. Andrews. Steve Bruce has been getting a lot out of a Birmingham City squad which, on paper, is certain relegation fodder. City nearly took a point from Chelsea before drawing Roy Keane’s Sunderland on Wednesday. They’re a good bet to get at least another point from West Ham. Here’s saying they’ll do just that.

Martin Jol is the Premier League’s other under-fire manager. Despite the high-profile additions of Darren Bent, Younes Kaboul, Kevin-Prince Boateng, and Gareth Bale, Tottenham Hotspur have lost twice and have scored once in two matches. To make matters worse, star striker Dimitar Berbatov will miss Saturday’s tea-time match with Derby due to a nagging groin injury. For all the firepower, Spurs are sorely lacking some creativity in the midfield. Jol is rumored to be tracking Hamburg’s Rafael Van der Vart for just that purpose. But squad depth is not the issue here. Spurs have the horses to make a push into the upper echelon of the Premier League. If they don’t, Jol will be the fall-guy. Still, the board at White Hart Lane are unlikely to be hasty in dismissing the Dutchman. Spurs have been around the manager carousel in the recent past and are enjoying a rare spell of stability at the moment. I think they’ll break through against the Rams.

Middlesbrough are going down, down, down. Despite this week’s signing of Egyptian striker Mido – which may push them further down, depending on your opinion of the moody 24-year-old – Boro simply have nothing which convinces me that they deserve to stay up. They can’t score, they have an unimaginative midfield and only one defender of any quality. The manager can’t manage and the supporters are as lifeless as they come. I think they’ll lose to Fulham on the weekend. Lawrie Sanchez has done a complete overhaul at Craven Cottage and it looks to be paying off. Fulham were unlucky to lose at Arsenal on Sunday and got a good result at home to Bolton Wanderers, midweek. David Healy looks the real deal and Diomansy Kamara, when given a chance, will probably knock in his share of goals as well. I think the defense is greatly improved by the additions of Paul Konchesky and Aaron Hughes; and Alexei Smertin was a good acquisition as well. Sanchez believes in himself and the players he picks. I think they’ll surprise a few people this season.

The biggest surprise of the campaign, however, has undoubtedly been Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Manchester City. The former England boss has brought a revolution to Eastlands. For the first time in decades, City are expecting to get a result out of a Manchester derby. They just may. Rolando Bianchi looks as though he will make a successful transition from Italian football and Martin Petrov is all energy, all the time. Sven’s best buy, however – and one of the better additions to the Premier League this summer – was Elano Blumer. The Brazilian had a superb Copa America and has carried that form into the season for City. He can completely dominate at times and seems to have formed a good understanding with Petrov and Bianchi already. City are fun to watch and should inject some optimism into the traditionally gloomy supporters. Still, a win over arch-rivals Manchester United is probably a bridge too far. United are frustrated after successive draws and are likely to come guns blazing into the City of Manchester Stadium. I’m tipping the defending champions for all three points.

Liverpool v Chelsea is obviously the centre-piece of the weekend fixture list. Chelsea have already won twice, albeit somewhat fortunately in each instance, and Liverpool looked good in a midweek victory over Toulouse in the Champions’ League. A draw is the safe bet here; and I’m predicting as much. Steven Gerrard is an injury doubt for Liverpool and Chelsea really don’t look a cohesive unit as of yet. I don’t think Jose Mourinho knows who his preferred group of forwards are; but by the same token, Rafael Benitez clearly doesn’t know who his go-to bunch of midfielders are. If I’m Mourinho, I’m assuming that both Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda are automatic selections. Shawn Wright-Phillips is an option on the right wing; but I’d almost rather play Joe Cole in the position. He’s not a natural left-footer anyway. All told, it should be a dandy. I’m predicting a 1-1 result here.