Premiership fixture reviews
And now the race begins; 55 players have been members of England squads selected by signore Capello since his appointment as England supremo, following the team’s latest qualifying debacle, and will all be playing for a place on the plane next summer. Some, like Joe Lewis, the Peterborough goalkeeper, Michael Mancienne and Luke Young can start deciding between Mauritias and the Bahamas for their summer retreat, others, such as David Bentley, Joe Hart, Dean Ashton, Tom Huddlestone, Jimmy Bullard, David Wheater and Chris Kirkland, will need Sea-the-Stars-esque finishes to their seasons to warrant a broken-English phone call from the boss and let’s not open the Michael Owen debate for fear of riot. And I’m tired. And it’s late.
Rio, JT, Coley, Bazza, Lamps, Stevie G and Wazza appear to be the only dead certs for South Africa. Sorry, how very Steve McClaren of me…still can’t quite get the taste of him out of my mouth. God that sentence sounded a lot better in my head… Still, he’s not doing a bad job at FC Twente and it’s not as though there were any standout candidates for the role at the time and….I digress.
So, here’s to you James Milner, Ben Foster, Carlton Cole, Michael Carrick and the rest: What can you do to force your way into the 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup? Go on, impress me. Play out of your mind! Score a goal! Throw a pie! Whatever! The clock is ticking…
Aston Villa v Chelsea
The likely home of Capello for this Saturday afternoon; both teams boast a number of England hopefuls but, unfortunately for Villa, their contingent are far more likely to be sweating come squad-announcement time. Emile Heskey needs more first team football, Ashley Young needs to recapture his form of last season and Stewart Downing needs to get fit. It’s only a broken foot man! In my day….
Chelsea have won 10 of 11 this season and are coming off their biggest win to date, a methodical win over rivals Liverpool. 11 from 12? Yup. 2-0 to the Blues.
Sunderland v Liverpool
Should Sunderland win this fixture, they’ll move above the Reds in the table, and in Kenwyne Jones and Darren Bent have one of the league’s most dangerous front pairings; Bent, renewed with confidence, has 7 goals, 6 in the first half, while Jones has 5, 4 in the second half. Good stat that.
Liverpool have not struggled to hit the net themselves with only Arsenal scoring more in the Premiership. Their concerns appear to be at the other end of the field where Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel have reneged on their commitment to quality and endeavour. Torres and Gerrard, Liverpool’s finest, will both miss the game.
Sunderland have signed Bolo Zenden? Really? The things you learn…
Got to hide behind the agnostic shelter of a draw here. 1-1in Wearside.
Portsmouth v Tottenham
The International hiatus could not have come at a worse time for Pompey – they’d just won a game for the love of God! They still have yet to break their home duck but can now call upon the experience and grizzly features of Avram Grant as well as a squad that will surely be more confident from victory and congealed through time after being thrown together at the last-minute like a Halloween costume for that party I completely forgot about. It’s not even Halloween for two whole weeks! Give me a break!
As for Spurs, well, they just like scoring goals – 29 in 10 competitive games to date – and they will add to that on Saturday. And they’ll win too. I think. 3-1? Yeah, why not.