The Fixtures
Saturday 1st May
Premier League:
Birmingham v Burnley 12.45 pm (Live on Sky Sports 1)
Man City v Aston Villa 3pm
Portsmouth v Wolverhampton 3pm
Stoke v Everton 3pm
Tottenham v Bolton 3pm
Sunday 2nd May
Premier League:
Liverpool v Chelsea 1.30 pm (Live on Sky Sports 1)
Fulham v West Ham 3pm
Sunderland v Man Utd  4pm (Live on Sky Sports 1)
The Preview – Saturday
The battle for the final Champions League spot kicks off what should be a cracking weekend in the Premier League. The game of the day is at Eastlands between Manchester City and Aston Villa where the Blues will be looking to put an end to Villa’s slim hopes of Champions League football next season.
Neither side is in great form ahead of what could be a pivotal clash. City have taken only one point from their last two games against Man Utd and Arsenal and didn’t manage to hit the net in either game. Villa, on the other hand, needed a lucky penalty decision to prevail in the Birmingham derby last weekend and their small and over worked squad have been showing signs of tiredness approaching the end of the season.
Gareth Barry (thigh) is a major doubt to face his old club, while Emmanuel Adebayor could also miss out with a hamstring injury and emergency loan signing Martin Fulop looks set to make his debut in goal.
Anything less than a win for Villa and they can kiss the Champions League goodbye for another year. Martin O’Neill’s side would want to show a tad more ambition than against Birmingham last week where they looked lethargic, devoid of ideas and were extremely lucky to escape with three points.
At White Hart Lane, Tottenham Hotspur should be able to recover quickly from last week’s setback against Manchester United and get their fourth place challenge back on track against Bolton, who are now safe after last weekend’s results.
Aaron Lennon should play some part for Spurs after making his return at Old Trafford last weekend while Harry Redknapp will more than likely shuffle his pack in defence after Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s unconvincing display in the unfamiliar surroundings of right back last week.
The odds:
Man City 10/11, Aston Villa 7/2, Draw 13/5
Tottenham Hotspur 2/7, Bolton 10/1, Draw 4/1
JOE prediction:
Spurs to ease to victory over Bolton at the Lane while City should put an end to Villa’s Champions League dreams at Eastlands. That set of results would set up a mouth-watering clash between the sides on Wednesday evening in the battle for fourth spot. Spurs and City to win.
In the other games, there is very little to play for, apart from Everton, who can keep their ailing Europa League ambitions alive with a victory over Stoke City at the Brittania. We fancy the Toffees to prevail and elsewhere Birmingham should overcome relegated Burnley at St Andrews and Portsmouth to get one over ahead of Wolves ahead of their FA Cup final with Chelsea in two weeks time.
The odds:
Birmingham 8/15, Burnley 6/1 Draw 11/4,
Portsmouth 6/4, Wolves 7/4, Draw 23/10
Stoke 11/4, Everton 11/10, Draw 12/5
JOE Prediction:
Everton to beat Stoke, Birmingham to batter Burnley and Portsmouth to take advantage of a Wolves side still in celebratory mode.
The Preview – Sunday
For one weekend of the season, all Manchester United followers will be going against the very moral fibre of their beings and supporting Liverpool this Sunday. Such a situation has arisen before, in 1995, when Liverpool beat Blackburn at Anfield on the final day of the season, but United failed to take advantage of their bitter rivals’ generous nature on that occasion, failing to beat West Ham at Upton Park which allowed Kenny Dalglish to deliver Blackburn’s one and only league title.
Liverpool are likely to be suffering a European hangover following their deeply disappointing Europa League exit on Thursday night. Chelsea, on the other hand showed against Stoke last week that if they’re feeling the pressure, they’re certainly not showing it after knocking in seven goals at the Bridge for the third time this season.
If Liverpool do the Mancs a favour in the early fixture, United will still have to get a result at Sunderland, which has proved beyond plenty of teams at the Stadium of Light this season. Liverpool and Arsenal were both defeated there, while Steve Bruce’s side have yet to taste defeat at home so far in 2010.
Darren Bent will be looking to increase his remarkable goal tally against a side he has already scored against this season and from an Irish perspective, David Meyler has been in cracking form of late and has been rewarded with a call up to Giovanni Trappatoni’s Irish squad.
Word from Old Trafford is that Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney have both been training and may take some part in Sunday’s clash. Dimitar Berbatov showed some signs of form against his old club last week, but the mere presence of Rooney could do wonders for a United side looking to build on the momentum they have built up in recent weeks after looking dead and buried until Paul Scholes’ late winner against City two weeks ago.
In the other game, expect a leisurely end of season encounter at Craven Cottage as Fulham bask in the glow of their qualification for the Europa League final and West Ham sit back and relax with Premier League safety assured.
The odds:
Liverpool 7/2, Chelsea 10/11, Draw 14/5
Fulham 11/8, West Ham23/10, Draw 12/5
Sunderland 17/2, Man Utd 2/5, Draw 19/5
JOE prediction:
A depressed Liverpool without Torres and with an out of sorts Gerrard won’t have enough to beat the Blues and we fancy Chelsea for a 2-1 win. United have a good record at the Stadium of Light and should keep it going to force the title race to the last day of the season. We go for 2-0 to United. At Craven Cottage, we don’t expect the players to over exert themselves in any way at all. 1-1 draw.
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