Barclays Premier League Round-up Preview

With Premier League title rivals Manchester United and Manchester City facing off in a potentially crucial decider on Monday evening, the focus of the weekend action will undoubtedly be on the race for Champions League football and the fight against relegation to the Npower Championship.

Newcastle United have the chance to tighten their grip on fourth spot when they play Wigan Athletic on Saturday, whilst Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur will hope to reclose the gap on Sunday against QPR and Blackburn respectively.

And all three of those games will naturally have massive implications on the battle to beat the drop, for which QPR and Wigan hold a narrow advantage over Rovers and the other teams at the bottom of the table.

Blackburn may well fancy their chances of nabbing a result at White Hart Lane with Spurs currently enduring a miserable run of form.

Harry Redknapp’s side have fallen well off the pace after once being considered potential title challengers and they have clearly been hurt by their miserable F.A Cup thrashing at the hands of Chelsea.

Blackburn remain three points adrift of safety but they will be in buoyant mood after breaking a five match losing streak at home to Norwich City last time out.

Rovers secured a 2-0 victory relatively comfortably against the impressive top flight newcomers and have a chance of building upon that progress at White Hart Lane – at very long odds.

Punters certainly won’t be queuing up to back the hosts at long odds-on and Spurs season could quite conceivably be over at the final whistle.

In stark contrast, Aston Villa will be preying that their campaign has come to an end after clashing with West Brom at the Hawthorns.

Alex McLeish’s side continue to endure a miserable time of things but they only require one more win to be absolutely guaranteed of safety and a place back in the Premier League next season.

And even a solitary point against the Baggies may suffice should the other relegation candidates fail to make up ground on the Villains who are 15th heading into the final four fixtures.

The Villa faithful should be in for another tough watch however and West Brom will be confident of following up on their excellent success against Liverpool at Anfield.

The Reds are another team completely friendless with punters at the moment and they could be set for another league defeat away at Norwich City.

Kenny Dalglish’s charges appear to have turned their attentions towards the forthcoming F.A Cup final and Norwich will be out to correct themselves after that miserable loss at Blackburn.

Swansea should improve upon their already impressive record at the Liberty Stadium by beating relegated Wolves, whilst Sunderland are a fairly big price at even money to deal out more punishment to second bottom Bolton Wanderers.

Everton pulled off a remarkable 4-4 draw at Old Trafford on the road and they return to Goodison Park in search of another strong performance.

Fulham are the visitors on Merseyside and the Toffees can claim another healthy result, which would almost definitely see them finish above rivals Liverpool.

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23/04/2012     © Frixo 2024