Tottenham to beat Wigan 1/1
After opening their season with fixtures against the quick-starting
Manchester United and City respectively, Tottenham have got their
Premier League season underway with back-to-back victories to nil over
Wolves and Liverpool respectively. Emmanuel Adebayor has started life at
Tottenham with 3 goals in 2 games as he attempts to live up to the
potential Arsenal fans thought he once had.
Rafael van der Vaart hasn’t had much
time recently, while Gareth Bale has done nothing in his opening 4
games. Luka Modric scored in last weekend’s 4-0 victory over Liverpool
as Harry Redknapp tries to resettle the Croatian back in at White Hart
Lane after a failed move to Chelsea over the summer. Scott Parker is
protecting the defence, shown by clean sheets in both of his games.
Yes, Wigan won at White Hart Lane last
season and took 4 points off Spurs without conceding a goal. The 0-0 at
the DW last season came after an international break and just days
before their Champions League quarter final first leg tie with Real
Madrid. Where do you think their heads were at that game? The surprise
1-0 home loss came off the back of a Champions League game also. The
season before, Tottenham won 9-1 and 3-0.
Since last season, Tottenham have
upgraded with the aforementioned Adebayor and Parker, while Wigan have
downgraded with the losses of Tom Cleverley and Charles N’Zogbia. Last
season’s goalscorer Hugo Rodallega is injured and will not take part in
this match. Convinced now?
Wigan opened the season with draws
against both Norwich City and Swansea City before two Franco Di Santo
deflected shots saw them take 3 points from one of the new sides by
beating Queens Park Rangers 2-0. That victory has been followed up by a
3-0 thumping at Manchester City and then being outplayed by Everton in a
3-1 loss. Tottenham have the quality in their side to do the same.
Convinced now? Tottenham win.
Manchester United to beat Stoke 6/10
A one-sided first half affair all-but-finished Chelsea on Sunday, with
their 3-0 lead. Yes, Chelsea defended poorly in the first half and yes
they were wasteful too. But that’s the difference between these two
sides right now. And United deserved the 3 points.
Wayne Rooney continued his record of
scoring in all Premier League games so far this season (9 goals in 5
games) and wasn’t made to pay for his missed penalty in the second half
(the curse of smiling towards John Terry?).
For the England striker to make it 6
games in a row, Rooney will need to break his duck versus Stoke, having
failed to score in all of Manchester United’s 6 victories during the
Potters’ first three seasons in the top flight. The league leaders have
scored 16 times in those six previous meetings, conceding just two. Both
of those came in each of their 2-1 victories in which Javier Hernandez
scored 3 of the Champions’ goals.
Yes, Stoke City have made an impressive
start to this season, but were brought back down to earth with a 4-0
thumping at Sunderland last weekend. The Europa League appeared to play
its part. Coincidently, Arsenal and Birmingham City too conceded 4 goals
each on the back of midweek action.
With Wayne Rooney in form and the nimble
Javier Hernandez in the area, whether he starts or is brought on in the
second half to the often, devastating effect, Manchester United have
goals in this side against Stoke City. The pace and trickery of Ashley
Young and Nani down the wings will cause Stoke’s defence problems in
this game also.
Defensively, Manchester United have two
good defenders in the air in Chris Smalling and Phil Jones who will be
required to protect David de Gea from the physical game Stoke will no
doubt employ on the shaky Spanish goalkeeper.
There’s enough creativity in this
Manchester United team to once again outscore their opponents and I see
them continuing their 100% win record again this weekend.
Official source: http://www.premiershiptips.com/2011/09/premier-league-betting-tips-september-24-26