Expert Bet

Venue: JJB Stadium

Date: Sunday, 28 September

Kick-off: 16:00 BST

Wigan Athletic are undefeated in five league and cup games (three wins, two draws) and conceded just two goals in the process. They drawn the last two Premier League matches; home to Sunderland and away to Tottenham. The 0-5 away win over Hull is their only Premier League maximum this season.
Wigan conceded more goals in the first 15 minutes of Premier League matches this season than any other club (four). Wigan is also the best performing club in the second-half of Premier League matches; leading in three, drawing in two, five goals scored, none conceded.
Manchester City won three of the last four Premier League matches, scoring a total of 12 goals in the three victories. They are on the longest current sequence of 19 Premier League games without a score draw; 1-1, away to Derby on 30 January being the most recent.
City recorded their biggest margin of victory in nearly 40 years with last Sunday’s crushing 6-0 triumph over Portsmouth at Eastlands. It was the biggest home win of this Premier League season; Wigan’s 0-5 victory at Hull on 30 August is the biggest away win.

HEAD TO HEAD
The Latics have won more matches (four) against Manchester City than against any other club in the Premier League. They have gained more points (14), and scored more goals (11) than against any other team.

TEAM NEWS
Wigan manager Steve Bruce has no new injury worries for Sunday’s match at the JJB Stadium.
Ryan Taylor is back in contention following a shin problem, while full-back Erik Edman is nearing a return from a long-term knee injury.
Manchester City are set to welcome back Robinho, who was rested for the Carling Cup match against Brighton.
Micah Richards, Shaun-Wright Phillips, Elano and goalkeeper Joe Hart are also likely to reclaim their places.

SQUADS
Wigan: Kirkland, Melchiot, Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa, Valencia, Cattermole, Palacios, Kilbane, Heskey, Zaki, Brown, Camara, De Ridder, Kapo, Koumas, Kupisz, Scharner, Taylor, Pollitt, Kingson.
Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Richards, Dunne, Ben Haim, Garrido, Ball, Elano, Kompany, Johnson, Ireland, Hamann, Fernandes, Wright-Phillips, Robinho, Jo, Schmeichel, Evans, Sturridge.

QUOTES
“I hope we can go and get a big scalp like Man City now to kickstart us and it’ll be good to continue our record against them.” (Wigan manager Steve Bruce)
“Wigan are a big, strong powerful side, who will upset a lot of teams. We do not want that to happen to us.” (Manchester City boss Mark Hughes)

LAST SEASON’S CORRESPONDING GAME
Wigan Athletic 1-1 Manchester City
1 December 2007 - Ref: Mike Riley
Wigan scorer: Scharner 25
Man City scorer: Geovanni 1
Sent Off: Melchiot (Wigan) 88

PREDICTION
I expect a spectacular match which could end in a high scoring draw.
Possible correct scores: 2-2 or 3-3.

Venue: Stamford Bridge
Date: Sunday, 21 September
Kick-off: 14:00 BST

Luiz Felipe Scolari has made a most impressive start as manager of Chelsea with four wins and one draw from five matches in all competitions.

This is Manchester United’s second successive ‘Big Four’ match-up in the Premier League, after last Saturday’s 2-1 away loss to Liverpool. They are in danger of suffering successive league defeats for the first time in 122 outings.

Manchester United can be in real trouble if they lose this game as a defeat for Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad will leave United 9 points behind their closest rivals at this early stage and put a serious question mark on their ability to retain the title this year.

FORM AND STATISTICS
Chelsea

1. The Blues are unbeaten in 25 Premier League matches; won 18 and drawn seven since losing 1-0 away to Arsenal on 16 December 2007 - their only defeat in 35 league outings.
2. Chelsea is the only club with an unbeaten Premier League record in 2008; won 16 and drawn six of 22 matches.
3. Matched last season’s start when they had 10 points after their first four, and the first five fixtures.
4. Undefeated in a record 84 home Premier League matches. Not lost a league game at the Bridge since the 1-2 reverse to Arsenal on 21 February 2004 (won 61, drawn 23).
5. Won the last two against ‘Big Four’ clubs, home to Arsenal and Manchester United, and not lost in three to the trio of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, since the 1-0 defeat by the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium on 16 December 2007.

Manchester United

Manchester had a surprisingly slow start, and only scored four goals in five games, in all the competitions entered.

United have been beaten more times by Chelsea in the Premier League than by any other club (10) and have dropped more points to them than any other team (56).

The Red Devils were the last club to beat Chelsea in a Premier League game by more than a single goal (23 September 2007); Chelsea were the last club to beat United by more than a single goal (29 April 2006).

1. Only had as few as four points after the first four games of a Premier League season once before; in the inaugural campaign of 1992-93.
2. No club has scored fewer Premier League goals this season (three).
3. The Red Devils haven’t lost consecutive Premier League matches since beaten away to Norwich and Everton on 9 and 20 April 2005 respectively.
4. Lost their last two league games against ‘Big Four’ clubs; away to Chelsea last season, and away to Liverpool last weekend.

TEAM NEWS / INJURIES

Sir Alex Ferguson could have both Dimitar Berbatov and Cristiano Ronaldo in his Manchester United starting line-up to face Chelsea on Sunday.

Berbatov missed Wednesday’s Champions League draw with Villarreal after suffering a knee injury at Liverpool last weekend, while Ronaldo made his comeback in midweek after two months out following ankle surgery.

However, Ferguson confirmed Berbatov is fit again and is also considering whether to hand Ronaldo a place in his side at Stamford Bridge.

Ferguson is without suspended defender Nemanja Vidic, while England goalkeeper Ben Foster is out for six to eight weeks with ankle ligament damage suffered in a reserve team match against Blackburn Rovers on Thursday night.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is in contention to play for 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge.

Luiz Felipe Scolari could start him and take him off in the Barclays Premier League match, or put the Ivory Coast international on the bench.

Michael Ballack has recovered from a foot injury but has only trained properly this week. Michael Essien is a long-term absentee.

SQUADS

Chelsea: Cech, Hilario, A Cole, Carvalho, Terry, Bosingwa, Lampard, J Cole, Mikel, Malouda, Deco, Anelka, Drogba, Di Santo, Ballack, Ferreira, Kalou, Alex, Belletti, Bridge.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Brown, Neville, R Da Silva, Ferdinand, Evans, O’Shea, Evra, F Da Silva, Ronaldo, Nani, Hargreaves, Anderson, Possebon, Fletcher, Park, Giggs, Tevez, Rooney, Berbatov, Manucho, Welbeck.

PREDICTION

Chelsea vs. Manchester United betting odds have Chelsea as the 2.20 favorite and Manchester United with odds of 3.10.
Manchester United could get a draw here, prices at odds around 3.20.
This titanic clash might end up in a 1-1 draw, prices at odds of 7.00.

The Trotters

Bolton are sitting in 13th position in the Premier League with their 1-1-2 record but are level on points with Blackburn in 18th. They have scored 4 goals and conceded 4 goals in their first 4 games. At the Reebok Bolton are 1-1-0 with 3 goals scored and 1 conceded.

Wanderers are struggling to put the ball into the back of the net with only 2 goals scored in their last 4 games in all competitions and they were beaten here at the Reebok by Northampton Town in the Carling Cup.

The Gunners

Arsenal’s visit to the Reebok Stadium will be their third away trip in eight days after the 4-0 win at Blackburn and the 1-1 draw at Dynamo Kyiv. Wenger is likely to give some of his players a breather.

They have made a promising start to their league campaign with a 3-0-1 record, managing to score 8 goals and only conceding 1. Away from home they are 1-0-1 with 4 goals scored and 1 conceded.

Arsenal have bounced back from their 1-0 loss to Fulham earlier this season to win their next 3 games and draw 1 with 12 goals scored and only 1 conceded. Arsenal have managed 5 clean sheets from their first 7 games this season and have only failed to score in that 1 game at Fulham.

Team News

Arsenal will again be without midfielder Samir Nasri for Saturday evening’s Premier League clash against Bolton at the Reebok Stadium. Nasri has not featured for the Gunners since the 3-0 home win over Newcastle last month because of a knee injury.

Recent signing Mikael Silvestre remains out with a muscular problem but there were no fresh injury worries from the midweek Champions League trip to Kiev.

Tomas Rosicky (hamstring), Abou Diaby (thigh), Amaury Bischoff (groin) and striker Eduardo (leg) all remain in recovery.

Bolton record signing Johan Elmander is hoping to return to action in Saturday evening’s Premier League clash at home to Arsenal. The Sweden striker, who scored on his debut in the season opener against Stoke, has been out for almost a month with a hamstring injury.

Defender Matt Taylor remains on the sidelines with a broken toe but will see a consultant on Monday hoping to get the all-clear to return to training.

Gary Cahill is also missing as he completes his two-match suspension while loanee Ebi Smolarek, brought in a day before the deadline, only linked up with the squad on Thursday and will be given time to settle.

Predicted Line Ups:

Arsenal - Alumunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Denilson, Song, Fabregas, Walcott, Van Persie, Adebayor

Bolton - Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, A O’Brien, Shittu, Samuel, J O’Brien, Gardner, Nolan, McCann, Muamba, Davies

Head to Head

The Reebok stadium was once a feared place for Arsenal, as from 2002/03 to 2006/07, the Gunners failed to register a single league victory in Bolton, losing on four of these five occasions.

Now, things are different, Reebok stadium is no longer a fortress and Bolton is merely a shadow of the team from couple of years ago. They are among the candidates for relegation and the visitors will see this game as one of the easiest away games of the season.

Last years corresponding fixture finished Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal after Bolton led 2-0 and Arsenal went a man down.

The Gunners have won 50% of their Premier League meetings with Bolton (nine of 18). Arsenal have won their last four league and cup matches against Wanderers. Wanderers three points against the North London club was on 25 November 2006, when Nicolas Anelka netted twice and Aboulaye Faye got the other in a 3-1 victory.

Quotes

Gary Megson - “We have to go about it in the right manner. If we don’t, then we’ll get absolutely skated by them because they have even more quality than Fulham.”

Arsene Wenger - “We have either been really good or really bad there, lost or won, nothing really in between. Bolton for years had a good side - they still have - and that is why nobody liked to go to Bolton because everybody knows they give great commitment.”

Prediction

Arsenal have made a strong start to the season and have shown some real character to recover from the early defeat at Fulham. They are hanging onto the coat tails of pace setters Liverpool and Chelsea and will want to take 3 points from here to keep the pressure up on the leaders.

They have shown some real quality in defence so far and I can see them scoring at least 2 goals here.

Arsenal to win at odds of around 1.66 looks like a decent bet this weekend.

Dutch striker Robin van Persie to score first should be around the 6.0 mark when the First Goalscorer market gets going and this might be a good bet.

One nil to the Arsenal is around 7.2 on the market.

Ferguson deployed striker Dimitar Berbatov for the first time since his 30.75 million-pound (US$55.1 million; £37.7 million) move from Tottenham on the last day of the transfer window on Sept. 1. But both Bulgarian star Berbatov and Brazilian Robinho found themselves on the losing sides as Manchester United and Manchester City lost 2-1 against Liverpool and Chelsea respectively.

Pavlyuchenko’s new team, Tottenham Hotspur, also lost 2-1 against Aston Villa on Monday night.

Robinho had a dream start as he stroked a 22-yard free-kick into Peter Cech’s net after thirteen minutes. The Brazilian was matched at 12.5 in the first goalscorer market.

Chelsea’s odds reached 4.5 but four minutes later Ricardo Carvalho equalised to set up a half-time 1-1 which was matched at 12.0.

The Blues imposed their superiority in the second-half with goals from Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka to set-up a 1-3 score which was matched at 28.0.

Earlier in the day, Liverpool were backed at a high of 11.0 on their way to victory over Manchester United at Anfield. United traded at a low of 1.55 after Carlos Tevez, who was backed at a high of 14.0 in the First Goalscorer market, gave them the lead after three minutes.

Liverpool hit back through a Wes Brown own goal to leave the sides level at half-time. The half- time draw was backed at a 6.4 high and the 1-1 half time score at 13.5.

Liverpool were the better team in the second-half, harrying United, dominating possesion and put together a number of impressive moves before Ryan Babel won it for them in the 76th minute.

Over 2.5 goals was backed at a high of 2.92 and 2-1 was backed at a high of 16.0 in the correct score market.

The game of the day was at the Hawthorns where West Bromwich Albion were matched at a high of 6.4 on their way to a 3-2 victory over West Ham United. Those who backed Over 4.5 goals at 8.4 will have joined Baggies fan’s celebrations when Chris Brunt scored the winner late in the second-half.

Arsenal did not trade any higher than 1.98 as they cruised to a 0-4 win against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park. However, Emmanuel Adebayor scored a hat-trick which was matched at a high of 26.0.

Hull City gained their second win of the season when they added to Newcastle United’s woes with a 1-2 win at St James Park. New Magpies’ signing Xisco scored on his debut to inspire a late siege on the Hull goal but the away side held out for a victory which was matched a high of 6.8.

There was value at Fratton Park where Portsmouth Town soared to odds of 10.0 before Jermaine Defoe fired them to a 2-1 comeback against Middlesborough.

Elsewhere, Zaki scored a second-half equaliser to give Wigan a 1-1 draw with Sunderland and, with first-half goals from Zoltan Gera and Bobby Zamora, Fulham touched a high of 2.36 as they ran out 2-1 winners against Bolton.

There was value in four Premier League sending offs today with Nemanja Vidic’s red matched at 8.0, John Terry’s at 6.8, Danny Guthrie’s at 6.2 and Lee Cattermole’s at 5.7.

Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko made his Tottenham Hotspur debut in Monday night’s Barclays Premier League match with Aston Villa. Pavlyuchenko replaced Dimitar Berbatov in the Spurs number-nine shirt. Nigel Reo-Coker and Ashley Young both found the net for the Villans.

After these results, Chelsea are 2.12 favourites to win the Premier League followed by Manchester United who are out to 3.85. After their victories Arsenal are 7.6 with Liverpool at 8.4.

Alan Curbishley has resigned his post as manager of West Ham United after 71 games in charge, blaming a “breach of trust and confidence” with the club’s owners for his departure.

Managers usually resign or are forced to resign when their teams are not living up to expectations. However, that’s not the case here. Although it’s still early in the season, West Ham is in 5th place, having taken six points out of nine and advancing to the 3rd round of the Carling Cup.

Curbishley’s decision to quit was triggered by the departures of Anton Ferdinand, a promising young center back, and George McCartney, who started every league game last season for West Ham at left back, to Sunderland just before the transfer deadline. He had wanted to keep both defenders but West Ham owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and his board allowed the sales to go through. Curbishley responded by handing in his resignation on Wednesday.

In a statement released via the League Managers’ Association (LMA), he insisted his position was made untenable by the breach of trust.

“I started my West Ham United career when I left school in 1974 and have remained a lifelong fan,” he said. “I have been incredibly proud to manage such a great club and my decision to resign has been very tough.

“The selection of players is critical to the job of the manager and I had an agreement with the club that I alone would determine the composition of the squad.

“However, the club continued to make significant player decisions without involving me. In the end such a breach of trust and confidence meant that I had no option but to leave.

“Nevertheless, I wish the club and the players every success in the future.”

Curbishley became manager of the club in December 2006, several months after leaving his long-time job at Charlton Athletic. During his time as manager, he lead West Ham out of relegation in the 2006/07 season with wins in seven of the team’s last nine Premier League matches, and finished tenth in the league the following season.

West Ham’s next league match is September 13th against West Bromwich Albion.

Who is getting Curbishley’s job?

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic, a former West Ham player, is the early favourite to replace Curbishley. Former boss Harry Redknapp has recently been linked with a return to Upton Park. Other names also said to be in the frame this afternoon include former Chelsea boss Avram Grant and ex-Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini.

William Hill offers tempting odds for Curbishley’s job.

S Bilic 3/1, H Redknapp 6/1, S Allardyce 8/1, S Pearce 10/1, L Van Gaal 12/1, G Hoddle 12/1, R Martinez 12/1, G Poyet 12/1, T Venables 14/1, P Di Canio 14/1, R Mancini 14/1, D Moyes 14/1, R Gullit 14/1.