The Who, What , When and Where returns after taking a break last weekend. No one from the Scoreline team picked up the slack when I was on my holidays. I’m sorry but I am blaming my colleague Ken, DAMN IT KEN! Before you say it, no, that is not me being sour that he is ahead of me in our virtual football manager league, honest. ( Check out the podcast #cheapplug). Anyway on with breakdown of this weekends fixtures.
Friday 12th March
20:00 Newcastle United v Aston Villa on BT Sport 1
Relegation-threatened Newcastle United will be looking for their first win in a month when they host Aston Villa in the Premier League. That win does not look too likely either as the Magpies are without trio Callum Wilson, Miguel Almiron and Allan Saint-Maximin. They have drawn their last two games against Wolves and West Brom, but a win will go a long way before their crunch clash with Brighton next weekend. Aston Villa have not been performing their best in the last few games, which coincides with Jack Grealish being out. Dean Smith will be hoping his main man can pass a late medical test. Last time these two side met Ollie Watkins and Bertrand Traoré goals secured the three points for The Villian’s, a game where Newcastle only managed one shot on target.
Saturday 13th March
12:30 Leeds United v Chelsea on BT Sport 1
The new manager bounce for Chelsea looks like showing no signs of coming to a halt as they look to go 10 games unbeaten. The Blues have done tremendously well since German Thomas Tuchel took over in January, but its certainly hard to lose when their defence has only conceded twice. Leeds on the other hand is becoming quite accustomed to conceding, having lost four of their last five games. Chelsea came out 3-1 winners when the side met last December, and will be hoping to do a league double over Leeds for the first time since the 1988-89 season.
15:00 Crystal Palace v West Bromwich Albion On Sky
This is the obligatory draw game. I mean Palace have not scored at home in the last three games while West Brom have only conceded two in their last five. In fact The Baggies have only lost the once in their last five games, recording three draws and one win. With Chelsea on the horizon for Big Sam he will need to get the full three point to make up some ground on Fulham, Brighton and newcastle. The Eagles are safe enough on 34 points, but they should be eager to score at Selhurst Park. They banged five in past West brom the last time these two sides met to seal an emphatic victory, but Sam Allardyce wont make it as easy for them.
17:30 Everton v Burnley On Sky
Burnley make the trip to Goodison to face Everton, with both sides having vastly different league aspiration. Burnely are by no means safe from relegation with only four points separating them from Fulham. Meanwhile Everton are four points off the top four with a game in hand. The Toffees were quitely racking up the victories, getting three in a row before Chelsea defeated them last time out. Despite this Ancellotti’s recent home form has been a cause for concern, losing four of their last six games. Burnley have only lost once in their last seven, however it should be said they only sealed the three points once also. The Clarets are proving difficult to beat, a fact that Everton will know only too well having drawn 1-1 in the reverse fixture at Turf Moor.
20:00 Fulham v Manchester City on BT Sport 1
Why can’t Fulham beat Man City. Sure didn’t Scott Parker’s men only go onto beat the defending champions, Liverpool last week. Eh, and the Man City team might be tired after their Derby defeat to United last Sunday and their midweek game against Southampton. Sure they showed no signs of stopping by romping to victory against The Saints, and sure they have only lost once since the End of November but….but….actually thinking logically Man City will run riot. They made Fulham just another number in their unbeaten streak last December with a 2-0 win, they will expect to do the same again.
Sunday 14th March
12:00 Southampton v Brighton and Hove Albion on BBC One
After their January win against Liverpool who would of thought that the Saints would have to wait two months to pick up three points in the Premier League again. After a long arduous journey Southampton finally managed a win against lowly Sheffield United last weekend. They did go onto being trounced by Man City midweek, but should have enough confidence in their ability to win again versus relegation threatened Brighton. The Seagulls have been in a terrible run of form, surprisingly since their victory over Liverpool at the start of February. Will they have to wait another month to achieve maximum points? Danny Ings was the decided the last time these two sides faced off, as Southampton came away with a narrow 2-1 win.
14:00 Leicester City v Sheffield United On Sky
All the talk before this game will no doubt focus on Chris Wilder. The Blades have cut ties with the man wholed United to the brink of European football in their first season back in the Premier League. However, the side are currently bottom and twelve points from safety. Have they left it a bit late to rely on a new manager to create a miracle? One team that know all about a manager experiencing dizzying heights and crashing lows are Leicester. Like they did sack ole Claudio Raneiri the season after doing the unthinkable and winning the Premier League. A few years on and that decision, while lambasted at the time, seems justified. It was not a straight swap for current manager Rodgers however that cut throat attitude has seen Leicester become a regular top 4 contender. The Foxes managed to snatch a late victory last time out, with a Jamie Vardy 90th minute goal, will this game be as tough?
16:30 Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur On Sky
The North London derby is not the only super charged derby taking place on Sunday, however it is the game that will attract the most eyes this side of the world. Spurs are coming into good form with five victories on the bounce which included a Thursday night Europa League victory Adding to the tense nature of the affair is the fact that The Gunnars have drawn two and lost three of their last five against their rivals and have have never gone six games without a victory over Spurs. The latest defeat game the last time these side met, with Spurs winning 2-0, however this did mark the start of an abysmal run for Jose Mourinho’s side.
19:15 Manchester United v West Ham United On Sky
Despite United defeating rivals Man City, Solskjaer’s recent run of form has been shocking. To go from being top of the league by three points to potentially being 17 points behind the leader come Sunday in just two months is unforgivable. West Ham are perfroming well above expectations this season, with David Moyes in the running for manager of the year. They have only lost twice since the turn of the year, and that was to Liverpool and man City. They will confident going into this game after they held United to a goalless draw in 90 minutes of FA Cup action recently however they did eventually lose that game, just like the they did in December. Pogba and Rashford were both on the scoresheet tht day, however both will be ruled out come Sunday.
Monday 15th March
20:00 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Liverpool On Sky
Liverpool will be coming into this game knowing that the footballing world is ready to bounce on another Premier League slip up. However after a confident performances against RB Leipzig midweek they should have enough belief in themselves to be requested from this slump. A loss will see them slip to 10 defeats in the league this season, whats even crazier is that all but one defeat came in the last two months. Wolves do not seem to be the same animal of old this season and are languishing in 12th place. They win some, they lose some, they draw some, however surely they will smell blood from the wounded Pool. Will Wolves avenge their 4-0 defeat to Liverpool or will the sleeping giant finally wake up and repeat a similar performance?
Tune into Scoreline at the weekends from 2-6 on KCLR for live updates throughout the show.
