Bolton - Manchester United

Owen Coyle has been doing a very good job since he took over a charge in Bolton. They’ve accomplished (in my opinion) the primary mission and secure the status in Premier. They’re 8 points far from relegation zone and just wonder should happen to see them in Championship next season. He actually is doing the same thing as in Burnley, making from home pitch a fortress with lack of attention on away games. They have 4 games at home without a defeat with 4 clean sheets! It came against mainly bottom sides, however (Burnley, Wolves , Wigan and Fulham). Only clash against one of the top sides finished with easy defeat (0-2, Arsenal). Defender Gretar Steinsson is suspended, while Gary Cahill has recovered and could appear. Bolton are the only team in the Premier League who have not taken a single point off a team from the 'Big Four' this season.

 

United are approaching the final part of the season with a point more than Chelsea and I think they’ll hardly lose the points till the end. Ferguson even talked about goal difference (have same as Chelsea) as a potential decisive factor. However, the biggest benefits for Utd (beside Rooney’s sensational shape) are Rio and Vidic who play on the highest standards again. It’s also important for today’s game, as Bolton’s main weapon is set pieces (scored 21 goal, highest number in PL). They have Bayern on the corner, but I don’t expect any kind of easier approach at Reebok. The stake is too big. Man Utd have won 9 of the last 10 meetings against Bolton, and lost only one of their 10 Premier League games at Wanderers. Rooney (should be fit) has scored 6 goals in his last 4 league matches against Bolton.

 

Utd have been doing hard all season to reach the top and I can’t imagine they lose the points against Bolton. However, they’ll try to keep some energy for Champions League game and won’t suggest any big handicap. Bet is Utd -1 ah. 

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Tottenham Hotspur - Portsmouth

Spurs are 4th and thankfully to City’s failure against Everton, have two points advantage and they’re closest to CL spot. Second half in mid-week game vs. Fulham showed they can cope with the missings of some key players. They look very strong at home with 10 wins out of 15 games (2 draws and 3 defeats). I’m not concerned by the fact 2 of 3 defeats came from Stoke and Wolves (both were very, very lucky to win 1-0). Wolves thankfully to life display by goalie Myhill kept the clean sheet (0-0). Spurs attack in waves and look very safe and consistent. They have four competitive wins in a row at home and 3 of them were with 2 or more goals margin. Spurs’ target is Champions League, they’ll be focused and fully motivated. Very good news is Tom Huddlestone is returning to the squad. Some rumors say Defoe could play, but I don’t expect him in game except in case of negative result. Excellent Pavlyuchenko (9 goals in his last 8 appearances) is in doubt, but close to appear. Bassong, Palacios and Walker will have a late fitness test. Corluka is out along with Jenas, King and Lennon.

 

Nothing much to say about Pompey. They have no worries as they’re sure travelers to Championship. Big boost came from FA as they got a permission to sell the players before the regular transfer market. Players’ motivation will surely be higher, but on the other hand we can expect plenty of individual efforts in attempt to impress the scouts. They’re poor travelers, lost 11 out 14 games and scored just 8 goals (conceded 29). Their game against top sides all look the same, early conceded goal, heads down and few more goals till the end. They conceded 4 goals at Anfield and Emirates and 5 at Old Trafford ( 5 at home at mid week vs. Chelsea). Also, no one knows which players will appear as the injury/unavailable list looks endless. Belhadj, Ben Haim, Utaka, Boateng, Diop,Yebda, Dindane, O'Hara, Rocha, Smith. 10 players! The biggest miss is best player at the moment, Jamie O’Hara (have lost 6 out of 7 without him), who can not play against his parent club. Grant was disabled in intention to save the club from relegation, he’ll have a chance to do something in Cup on Wembley (also vs. Spurs) and maybe he’ll try to keep his cards as a secret. That should mean nothing else than easy defeat today.

 

To make a good result at White Hart Lane, team should have very strong defensive abilities. Pompey currently don’t look even competitive. Defensive line with James on goal (made a sensational error vs. Chelsea) doesn’t promise anything more than another defeat with big margin. My bet is -2 ah. Pinnacle offer 2.11.  

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Birmingham – Arsenal

Well, Brum HAD a great season. They’re 9th, probably will stay there and surely won’t repeat this success in foreseen future. They’re also tired after mid-week defeat (and all season as well), defense line is in late football ages and will have to chase Arsenal’s fast runners. The fact in their favor is St Andrew's is not a happy place for top sides. They took a point vs. Spurs, Everton, Chelsea and Man Utd. McLeish will also be dieing to do a favor to his mentor Sir Alex. And to be honest, they won’t have anything against to ruin Arsenal’s dream just for pleasure.

 

On the other hand, Wenger said this game is more important than that next week vs. Barcelona and he surely thinks like that! Management, fans, players and even he are satiated with his repeating stories about grand European success. Choice is win the title or go! And if he doesn’t do it this year, will hardly have such chance in the forthcoming. But, French is scratching the head as Vermaelen got the red card vs. West Ham and he has no other choice but to put Silvestre and Campbell as center backs. Both are everything but safe defenders in my opinion and with confused looking Almunia and Cameron Jerome in a sensational shape I smell a trouble and give up from any thought about backing them with some high handicap.

 

Brum have nothing to play for, but will try to give some importance to themselves in a title race. They won’t look tired. On the other hand, this is the highest importance for the Gunners. They definitely have potential to score few. Over 2.5 for me. bet365 offer 1.88, Pinnacle 1.83.

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More will follow... 

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EPL initial thoughts

At the first glance,I can’t see any losing points for top three.All have more than decent records against Villa,Birmingham and Bolton.Arsenal and Chelsea should go in over,as well.

A question for million dollars is does Zola remind you on Shearer (or Southgate)?Still can not imagine West Ham in Championship,but wouldn’t dare even to think about backing them again.Especially at that price.

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Friday's gossip column

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Manchester City will revive an £11m move for Hamburg's German defender Jerome Boateng in the summer and are also keen on highly-rated Osasuna right-back Cesar Azpilicueta, 20.(Daily Mail) 
Everton are being linked with a move for Dinamo Zagreb's Croatian centre-forward Mario Mandzukic, 23.(Daily Mail) 
Lokomotiv Moscow have not given up on signing Roman Pavlyuchenko from Tottenham.(Daily Mail) 
Spurs could be lining up a summer move for Lazio's former Aston Villa midfielder Thomas 'The Hammer' Hitzlsperger, 27, after the German struggled to settle in Italy.(The Sun) 
Nice striker Loic Remy is keen to join Arsenal in the summer.(TribalFootball.com) 
The Gunners have been rebuffed in their attempts to sign Stuttgart's 15-year-old goalkeeper Odessas Vlachidimos for £1m.(Daily Mail) 
Newcastle defender Steven Taylor, reportedly involved in a training ground bust-up with team-mate Andy Carroll, will leave this summer with Everton and Aston Villa chasing the 24-year-old.(The Sun) 
Portsmouth have been offered £250,000 by Spartak Moscow to terminate Quincy Owusu-Abeyie's loan early and send him back to the Russian side. (Daily Mail) 
Birmingham are ready to offer Matthew Taylor an escape route from Bolton by bidding £2m for the unhappy 28-year-old this summer.(The Sun) 
Stoke City are interested in Congo-born Belgian striker Christian Benteke, 19, who is on loan at KV Kortrijk from Standard Liege.(Daily Mail) 
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish is reportedly keen on Nantes youngster Jonathan Nanizayamo.(Daily Mirror) 
Wolves manager Mick McCarthy is plotting a double raid on cash-strapped Portsmouth with a joint £1.5m bid for Tommy Smith and Aaron Mokoena.(The Sun) 
Everton want to lure Bristol City youngster Christian Ribeiro to Goodison Park.(TribalFootball.com) 
Nottingham Forest have suffered more transfer frustration after failing to land Aston Villa left-back Wilfred Bouma on loan.(Daily Mirror) 

OTHER GOSSIP

West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola banned team co-owner David Sullivan from a meeting with his players after their relationship broke down in the wake of Sullivan's highly critical open letter to fans.(Daily Mail) 
Zola says he is confident he can keep the Hammers in the Premier League, but is less confident he will still be manager next season.(Daily Express) 
Norwich boss Paul Lambert, a former Celtic player, is the favourite to succeed Tony Mowbray on a permanent basis as manager of the Bhoys - with Henrik Larsson an outside bet.(The Times) 
Craig Bellamy is being investigated by Manchester City after allegations of an incident in the players' tunnel at the end of their 2-0 defeat by Everton on Wednesday.(Daily Mail) 
Meanwhile, Everton want an apology from Manchester City chief executive Garry Cook after he had a VIP fan and his wife thrown out of Eastlands.(Daily Mirror) 
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has told his players their Premier League game against Birmingham on Saturday is the "priority" over next week's Champions League meeting with Barcelona.(Daily Mirror) 
Wenger has suspended contract talks with stars such as William Gallas and Mikael Silvestre, refusing to discuss terms until crucial matches are out of the way.(The Guardian) 
Meanwhile, the Gunners could welcome back Dutch striker Robin van Persie within three weeks as he continues to make progress after an ankle ligament injury.(The Sun) 
Chelsea defender Paulo Ferreira has revealed some of Chelsea's older players fear they will never win the Champions League after last week's last 16 defeat to Inter Milan.(Daily Star) 
No such worries at Liverpool, where midfielder Javier Mascherano has pledged his future to the club and expects to sign a new contract soon.(PremierLeague.com) 
Though Reds legend Phil Thompson has urged stars Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to threaten to quit the club unless there is real investment in the playing squad at Anfield.(The Sun) 
Portsmouth boss Avram Grant will ask Tottenham's permission to let on-loan midfielder Jamie O'Hara play in the two sides' FA Cup semi-final meeting next month.(Daily Mirror) 
England fans are angry that the team will play three Euro 2012 qualifiers on Fridays so that players can return to their clubs a day early.(The Guardian) 
Portsmouth's Ricardo Rocha has accused Chelsea star Florent Malouda of setting out to hurt him with a swipe of the elbow during the teams' Premier League clash on Wednesday.(Daily Mail) 
Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has moved a step closer to a return after being pulled out of a reserves game to train with the first team.(Daily Mirror) 
Sven-Goran Eriksson, Mark Hughes and Bernd Schuster will find out on Friday which one of them is to coach Ivory Coast at the World Cup in South Africa this summer. (Daily Express) 
Burnley are facing a mass exodus in the summer after refusing to give in to players' wage demands, with 11 first-teamers out of contract at the end of the season. (Daily Star)
Former Peterborough manager Mark Cooper has emerged as the favourite to replace Steve Staunton as boss of Darlington.(The Sun) 

AND FINALLY

Paul Gascoigne confronted an imposter who posed as him on social networking site Twitter, taking a photo of himself in front of a TV news channel displaying the date and time to prove he was the real Gazza.(Daily Star) 
Riot police in Brazil restored order in a league match between Genus and Moto Clube by baton-charging and then pepper-spraying the players.(The Sun) 
Three-time world player of the year Ronaldo has apologised for making an obscene gesture to fans of his Corinthians team in Brazil after their defeat by Paulista.(NBC) 
Juventus goalkeeper Antonio Chimenti was so upset after conceding a 35-yarder against Sampdoria that he broke his hand punching a dressing room table. (The Sun)

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Thursday's gossip column

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Sought-after Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery has turned down a move to Chelsea and will instead switch to a club in Spain this summer, partly because his wife would hate the English weather.(The Sun) 
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini wants Palermo striker Edinson Cavani.(Daily Mail) 
Palermo, meanwhile, have their sights set on a bid for Blackburn winger Morten Gamst Pedersen, with Rovers hoping to take midfielder Mark Bresciano in the other direction.(The Sun) 
Liverpool's Spanish winger Albert Riera is ready to quit Anfield for a loan move to Spartak Moscow in a bid to save his World Cup dream.(Daily Star) 
Manchester City are also in talks with Grenoble over a summer switch for their France Under-21 midfielder Sofiane Feghouli, who will be out of contract at the end of the season.(The Sun) 
Stoke boss Tony Pulis is keen on Tottenham midfielder Jamie O'Hara, who is currently on loan at Portsmouth.(Daily Mirror) 
Nice striker Loic Remy says he still wants to join Arsenal, despite his move collapsing in January due to a £13m asking price.(Daily Mail) 
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish will turn to Notts County goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel next season if he cannot land Joe Hart on loan again.(The Sun) 
McLeish has revealed Birmingham have held talks with Rangers striker Kris Boyd's representatives, but that the Scotland international is also talking to other clubs. (The Times)
Portsmouth left-back Dusko Tosic, 25, looks set to join QPR on Thursday after a proposed move to Swansea fell through. (Daily Mail) 

OTHER GOSSIP

Former Chelsea boss Glenn Hoddle is being lined up for a dramatic return to management in place of West Ham's Gianfranco Zola.(Daily Mirror) 
Actually, former Man City boss Mark Hughes is the man the Upton Park club want to replace their struggling Italian gaffer.(Daily Star) 
Hughes is also on a three-man shortlist to lead Ivory Coast at this summer's World Cup.(The Guardian) 
Zola has been told to submit a dossier to West Ham's owners to convince them that he can save the Hammers from the drop.(Daily Mail) 
West Ham striker Benni McCarthy has admitted he and his team-mates "hid" during their woeful 3-1 defeat at home to Wolves on Tuesday.(The Sun) 
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has not trained since their 2-1 win over Liverpool on Sunday, prompting fears he is still troubled by on-going knee problems.(The Independent) 
Balram Chainrai, Portsmouth's fourth owner in their turbulent season, could remain in charge of the club for the long term.(The Guardian) 
Man City manager Roberto Mancini and Everton boss David Moyes could face an FA rap after squaring up during their sides' game at Eastlands on Tuesday. (Various) 
Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves, on the brink of a return after injury, has revealed he still needs painkilling injections to get him through training and matches.(The Sun) 
QPR manager Neil Warnock has been handed a £10m summer war chest to take the Loftus Road outfit into the Premier League.(The Sun) 
Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner says he is an injury doubt for Saturday's away game at Birmingham.(Daily Mirror) 
Southampton could hand 16-year-old midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain a shock call-up for Sunday's Johnstone's Paint Trophy final with Carlisle. (Daily Star) 

AND FINALLY

Arsenal defender Sol Campbell has told his team-mates to make sure they are not only remembered for playing pretty football.(Daily Star) 
David Beckham has lost his place at the top of France Football magazine's annual survey of the top earners in the game to Barcelona's Lionel Messi. The Argentine earned £29.6m last year in salary and endorsements, £2.3m ahead of Beckham. (The Independent)

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need a drink

Man City 0 - 2 Everton

Everton dented Manchester City's hopes of a Champions League place with a fully deserved win at Eastlands.
Tim Cahill scored a trademark header after a neat build-up between Mikel Arteta and Leighton Baines, who provided the cross. 
City raised the tempo in the second half but after finding no way through, Arteta slotted home a fine second after a superb run from Jack Rodwell. 
In the final stages both managers were sent to the stands as tempers frayed. 
City boss Roberto Mancini raced to retrieve the ball, clattering into his opposite number David Moyes, sparking a melee on the sidelines and prompting referee Peter Walton to dismiss them both. 
And after delivering Mancini his first defeat as City boss back in January, Moyes once more masterminded a fine victory for his side. 
The Toffees, who have won their last two visits to the City of Manchester Stadium without conceding a goal, were again good for their win here and in the process ended City's unbeaten record at home this season.
www.bbc.co.uk

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WBA - Coventry 1-0

1-0 S. Reid  22.min

Manchester City - Everton

City are in a good shape, they’re two points far from desired 4th position (and have a game in hand). They’re without a defeat in last eight competitive games (five draws though) and didn’t score just once in those (vs. Liverpool, 0-0). Their confidence were boosted first after shocking 4-2 win at Stamford, then in last round at Craven Cottage vs. Fulham (2-1). Their main problem through the season is away shape and last round win should be crucial for them. Also, big rewards from club’s board for CL spot shouldn’t be overlooked, regarding their motivation. We’re approaching to the final part of the season and I expect their strong finish. Mancini will have some injury problems in back line. Joleon Lescott is out for four weeks, while Wayne Bridge remains sidelined (Javier Garrido will continue at left-back). Adebayor is suspended.

 

As tonight’s hosts, Toffees are also in up trend. As their big injury crisis started to fade, their results became better. Lately they’re scoring plenty, but also have big problems to keep the clean sheet as they conceded in last nine competitive games. With return of Arteta they improved attacking potential (scored 9 in last 3 Premier games). Also Pienaar plays in a life form in my opinion and I expect his another very good display (should run the riot against Garrido at the right flank). They have problems when play on the road, but good thing for Moyes they actually have no pressure. Maybe can reach Europe, but won’t be a tragedy if stay 8th. Fellaini and Senderos are injured and it makes their defending potential more vulnerable than usual. Victor Anichebe is having a late fitness test and his place probably will take Saha from the start. Which is actually good.

 

Both teams possess high level of self-confidence currently. And both teams have great attacking potential. City will miss two key defenders and I see a space for Everton. On the other hand Tevez plays in a life shape, Bellamy and young Johnson will produce real trouble for the visitors. I expect goals on both sides. Over 2.5.

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