Saints to go marching in versus Cottagers

The visit of Fulham to Southampton`s St Mary`s Stadium is a terrific opportunity for the recently promoted Saints to get a priceless home win in its fight against the dreaded drop.

While it is the home matches against the likes of Manchester City, Manchester City and Chelsea that will attract the big headlines, it is the St Mary`s Stadium games versus the teams tipped to occupy the middle and bottom thirds of the English Premier League ladder that are the most important.

For Southampton to finish 17th or higher in its first season back in the English elite - and that must be the main aim of its impressive young manager, Nigel Adkins - it has to beat sides such as the Cottagers on the beautiful south coast.

As much as Adkins must be enjoying pitting his wits against the English Premier League`s heavyweights, one can guarantee that he has identified home matches that, to put it bluntly, the Saints must win to prolong their top-flight stay. And the visit of Fulham would be odds on to be on that list.

The Cottagers have been dreadful away from home for several seasons. Last term, they won four, drew five and lost 10 of their 19 English Premier League road games, which meant that despite finishing ninth they had the 15th best away record. And this campaign has seen them take part in four road matches, losing three of them, including their English Capital One Cup tie at second-tier Sheffield Wednesday.

Also, there are rumblings of discontent in the Fulham camp, with former Cottagers striker Bobby Zamora claiming that Martin Jol has lost a chunk of the dressing room. Jol has not dignified Zamora`s comments with a response but, if true, they would go a long way to explaining the recent Craven Cottage exodus headlined by Clint Dempsey.

Most bookmakers are having trouble splitting Southampton and Fulham for Sunday`s game. Help out those layers by backing the Saints to go marching in at odds of around 9-5. Anything over 6-4 about the hosts is a decent price, especially as the visitors are likely to be without Dimitar Berbatov.

The European adventures of Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle and Manchester United make betting on Sunday`s other three English Premier League considerably more problematic.

However, there is a definite value argument for supporting the Toon Army in their English Premier League home match versus the Red Devils, backing Alan Pardew`s team on the handicap line in receipt of a half-goal head start.

Since defeating Manchester United 3-0 at the Sports Direct Arena in last season`s corresponding English Premier League fixture, Newcastle has won 13 and drawn three of its 17 home games in all competitions, with its latest Tyneside triumph coming at the expense of previously-unbeaten-in-17 Bordeaux.

Given the choice between punting on the Toon Army not to lose at odds against or the Red Devils to win at odds on, there is only one way to go. Snap up the better-than-evens quotes that are doing the rounds about Newcastle extending its unbeaten home sequence to half a dozen matches.

The English Premier League will go on a two-week break after Sunday`s four games, with the next top-flight match being the London derby between Spurs and Chelsea at White Hart Lane on 20 October 2012. That promises to be a cracker.

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05/10/2012     © Frixo 2024