Tuesdays Soccer by Chris.
The Premiership
Fulham - Burnley 1.81 - 5.50
Toothless, injury plagued Fulham up against the notorious poor travellers, Burnley (0-1-11 so far). My initial thought was that this looked like a 0-0 game but B Zamora and S Davies will return for Fulham and they will be stronger in their offensive department than up at Bolton at the weekend. Okaka or Nevland, or possibly D Elm will join Zamora upfront. Midfielder Dikgacoi is new on their injury list. Defensively Fulham can be relied upon. This we could see at the weekend, when they managed to play out a 0-0 draw with Bolton.
New signing D Fox had a great game for Burnley, scoring one of their goals in their 2-1 win against W Ham. S Jordan could be back tomorrow, but G Alexander and S Caldwell are not yet fit. I had no problems backing Fulham at home to Portsmouth a week ago. They were no good, but they won the match 1-0. The price on the home win has gone up during the day and with Zamora playing again my choice will be the home win.
Manchester City - Bolton 1.46 - 9.35
Hopefully for City the word will not get around that you will have a good chance of defeating "the fantasy club" by just working very hard. Hull certainly demonstrated this by deservedly winning 2-1 against M City the other day. No C Bellamy tomorrow, but could be that latest signings, A Johnson and P Vieria, will play from the start in this match. J Lescott on the bench. The only player I really miss is their injured defender M Richards.
J Elmander and/or K Davies should have scored a goal or two for Bolton against Fulham. Well, Elmander is unable to score in a brothel and K Davies did find the net in the final minute, but to everybody's amazement the goal was ruled out. Bolton are still without G Cahill, McCann and I Klasnic. City are 8-3-0 at home and they should win this match. The odds? You know what I like and it is not odds like 1.46.
Portsmouth - Sunderland 2.50 - 3.22
Just recently Pompey defeated Sunderland in the cup at Fratton Park. They were down 0-1, but won the match 2-1. A funny man suggested that Portsmouth scored a couple of own goals against M United as a protest. The players have yet to receive their January salaries. One of the strongest Pompey players, Boateng is a major injury doubt for this match. Also Vanden Borre is struggling, but he can be replaced, unlike Boateng. Yebda will probably start, maybe Finnan and Dindane as well. Could be that Pompey will start with two strikers, Piquionne and Dindane.
Sunderland lost their midfielder Henderson to an injury at the weekend and he will be replaced by Zenden or Malbranque for this match. Pompey have at least managed two wins in their last ten games, while Sunderland are winless in their last eleven. Coach Bruce had hoped for two wins in their home fixtures last week, but his side could only achieve draws against Stoke and Wigan.
In other words Portsmouth are the obvious favourites in this match.
Wigan - Stoke 2.20 - 3.77
Both the Wigan recent signings, the offensive players V Moses and Moreno played a few minutes for the club against Sunderland. I should think that both, or at least one of them will be in the starting line up for this match. My guess is that coach Martinez has signed two very useful players. Stoke in away games? They are 1-5-5 on the road and they have only managed to score four away goals. Time for T Sanli to start again and maybe also G Whelan will get his chance. Captain Faye is expected back from his injury. Wigan for me.
The Championship
Sheffield Wednesday - Blackpool 2.50 - 3.05
Backing the home win and an over game. If I got it right it seems like S W were terribly unlucky losing to the top side Nottingham Forrest at the weekend. The away side, S W, looked more likely to win the match. The recent good S W from persists, in other words. Their coach Irvine will be able to pick from an unchanged squad.
Blackpool lost both their home games last week and their form is in a downward trend. Midfielders B Bannan and C Adam will miss this match as well as their striker B Ormerod. All played on the 19th January, when Sheffield W faced Blackpool and returned home with a 2-1 win. Striker DJ Campbell and new signing, midfielder S Husbands will probably start for S W tomorrow. Why an over game? Blackpool always find the net and no doubt that their offence is much stronger than their defence. To defeat Blackpool you have to score two goals and there you have your 3-5 goals. Home win then.
Chris.