English Prem 13th/14th/15th Feb

[Swooperman]

13 Feb-20:00 West Ham v Birmingham 1.90 3.25 4.00
14 Feb-20:00 Liverpool v Arsenal 2.10 3.10 3.30
15 Feb-20:00 Blackburn v Sunderland 1.50 3.75 6.00
odds Bet365

[cakes]

does any1 else fancy Birmingham to do West Ham? while they dont reallly have a team...........i feel they can do it.

Ashton 1st scorer though

[ONEDUNME]

No - I'm seeing it a a probable draw cakes.

[JohnB2]

I can see odds of @2.25 for Liverpool online, seems superb for me....this is not the Arseanl of old yesterday.....all washed up, that defence is 5 years away from maturing and i doubt all of them will make the grade either....

Long as Stevie G plays, all is good with Liverpool

Lump on Liverpool get your weeks wages on...1 Purple chip on and get another back and a bit more.

Who are ya!! Who are ya!! Who are ya!!

[JohnB2]

While i remeber Champs Lge knockout stage.
Galitocs vs Arsenal
Reaaaaaaaaal available @2.10 to win the home leg is just buying money. I can see many goals, Arseanl will truley be exposed for what they are....

Reaaaaal 5-0 wouldnt surpise me.....

and certainly the -1 handicap should be snapped up big time

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Welcome to TDP John.

Will add my thoughts for tomorow but i am unsure of a Birmingham win due to the Hammers decent showings at Upton Park so far this season.

Completely agree with Liverpool looking a superb choice for midweek and one i can imagine myself lumping on.

More to follow.

[JohnB2]

Am luving the @1.60 on Blackburn vs Sunderland....
and the -1 asain @1.9

[mrmuzeman]

Ahhhhh bugger im liking Liverpool here too

That does look a great price to me 6/5. Arsenal lost half their away games this season going to Anfield where theyve got a 9-2-1 record.

Not a great lover of head to heads but I sometimes think its worth noting in big games and its certainly in favour of the scousers from memory. Anyone back this up?

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

After much ooohing and aaahing over tonights game i have decided i am not going to get involved with it.

West Ham have been excellent at home and are on a decent run at the minute but i am just wary of a Birmingham side that has the players to get something out of this game.

Pennant down the wings is coming into a lot of form recently and if he could sharpen up his crosses to Suttonand Heskey they will start getting the goals.

Although Sutton hasn't been scoring the goals since he arrived his experience and what he brings to the side has been great. Holds the ball up well and his inter play has been excellent. All thats lacking is the goals which i do think will come soon.

But for all Birminghams problems i just have a gut feeling they might nick something from this game tonight so no bet for me.

[cakes]

plumped for Ashton 2-0 the Hammers 22/1

[Winrew]

Not much team news , this from the BBC

West Ham have a slight fitness concern over defender Danny Gabbidon, but the Wales international is expected to recover from a shin problem.

Goalkeeper Roy Carroll (back) is set to be out for another two weeks with his back injury, so Shaka Hislop deputises.

Birmingham will be without Emile Heskey after he received a one-match for improper conduct on Friday.

Damien Johnson is banned while Martin Taylor (ankle), Kenny Cunningham (groin) and Matt Upson (knee) are out.


Cant see it being a entertaining game to be honest , reckon Brum might just play for the draw.

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Liverpool v Arsenal

Now if Liverpool were around the 1.9 mark, which they should be due to each sides form etc, i wouldn't have gone near it but that 2.24 looks a very good price to me.

Arsenal are in a state of emergency imo and the way things are going they could find themselves missing out on that CL spot for 4th and the way they are going at the minute i wouldn't rule that out.

They haven't seemed to have gotten over the departure of Viera and haven't brought in a sufficent replacement that could do the job he does as you can see them lacking a player of his calibre in games.

Defensively they are a shambles at the minute although so far they have managed to restrict sides from scoring many goals against them and i think this could be just around the corner for them with them getting a bit of a drubbing.

Arsenal defender Sol Campbell (ankle) faces two more weeks on the sidelines, so Alex Song could step in.

Fellow defenders Ashley Cole (thigh), Gael Clichy (foot), Pascal Cygan (hamstring), Lauren (knee), Kerrea Gilbert (back) are all out.

That was the state of things at the weekend and i could be wrong but looking at their starting line up it seemed the defence was Flamini, Senderos, Larsson and Djourou.

Hardly players that strike you as being excellent defenders. Flamini is a midfielder being played wiht te other 3 players thta have been on the fringes of the squad this season.

A boost for the Gunners atthe back though is the return of Kolo Toure and Eboue who arrive back from the African Nations Cup.

Toure was superb in this competition and will definately tighten the defence up to a certain degree. Eboue i would like to seeplay as i thought he was a real liability for the Ivorians throughout the competition and certainly a player Liverpool could exploit.

Added to the injury listalso now is Jose Reyes who is unavailable after being injured at the weekend so thats a big blow to their attackng options.

As Mr M said on the road Arsenal have been really poor and this is the sole reason for their dangerous league position by their standards.

Birmingham 0-2 Arsenal
Everton 1-0 Arsenal
Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal
Charlton 0-1 Arsenal
Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal
Bolton 2-0 Arsenal
Wigan 2-3 Arsenal
Tottenham 1-1 Arsenal
West Brom. 2-1 Arsenal
West Ham 0-0 Arsenal
Middlesbro 2-1 Arsenal
Chelsea 1-0 Arsenal

3-3-6 record away from home but when you look at the teams they have played bar Spurs, Chelsea, Bolton and Everton for their current form you could argue the rest of their opponents there are ones they should be taking 3 points off but they have failed to do.

Anfield is one of the fortress's of the EPL with a 9-2-1 record which that defeat coming to Chelsea if memory serves me right.

Overall i think they have the players to contain and cause problems to Arsenal.

At the back they are defensively solid and don't give much away. In midfield i would take Gerrard and Alonso anyday of the way to overrun Gilberto and Fabregas and upfront either 3 of Cisse for his pace, Fowler for his movement and Crouch for his damage he can cause on flick ons etc i really do find it hard to see where Arsenal can win this game.

Its going to take some Henry magic i'd imagine and while there is always the possibility of the draw i just think Liverpool are the bet to be had here and i wil be on it.

Liverpool to win @ 2.24 Betfair

[Winrew]

Excellent write up Kiko
I can never get excited about Liverpool , theyve buggered my bets up to many times in the past , so as a betting oppurtunity , i,ll leave well alone.

[Napoleon Solo]

I wouldn't have got involved in tonights game if Heskey and Dunn had been playing as, having read the reports from the Liverpool and Portsmouth games, Dunn seemed to create a lot of chances, while Heskey seemed to be on the end of everything that was put into the box. I presume it's gonna be Sutton and Forssell/Campbell up front and i can't see them having as much impact as Heskey and Sutton. Sutton is currently struggling with a groin injury so may not even make the match, in which case Forssell/Campbell/Jarosik may form the front two. Add to this the Blues defensive woes with Upson, Cunningham and Tebily all facing a night on the sidelines, as well as midfielders Butt and Lazaridis.

West Ham have only failed to score at home twice this season (Arsenal and Wigan) and have been on an excellent run of late. They look formidable coming forward with any of Harewood/Zamora/Ashton/Sheringham forming the front two. They've beaten all the teams they've played this season who currently reside in the bottome six of the table, dropping points only against the elite teams and a Michael Owen inspired Newcastle.

Birmingham have improved lately having beaten Portsmouth, Wigan and drawn with Liverpool, but the two wins have come at home while the Liverpool game was due to Liverpools inability to finish Birmingham off and a Xabi Alonso own goal, rather than a good performance from Birmingham. They've failed to score in 7 of their 12 away games, the only goals coming against West Brom, Pompey, Sunderland (all relegation rivals), Man City (when 4-0 down) and Liverpool (O.G.).

With West Ham at full strength and playing some very good attacking football (though the defence could do with tightening up a bit) and Birmingham struggling going forward and with problems at the back i can only see a West Ham win here. Odds of 1.93 (West Ham AH(-0.5)) here are a joke imo, if this was one of the more fanciable teams the odds would be far shorter (much like Fulhams price this weekend).

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Cheers Win.

I agree about these buggers Liverpool. Everytime i back them they lose, everytime i go against them they win. I guess the trend has got to stop one day eh?

I am with you Rockin on the Hammers now. Dunn and Heskey are big blows for them as these are two players who much of Birminghams tactics etc revolve around.

Taylor is another blow as he hasn't had he best of luck wih injuries this season but when i have seen him he has been very good.

Aye im starting to like West Ham now. 4 strikers there who all are in good form is always a good sign and they should cause no end up problems.

Reo Coker and Etherington are the big players here for me tonight as whenever they are marked out of the game or have an off day West Ham seem to struggle with creating chances.

Cheers for that Rockin and good luck