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England: Weekend Premiership Preview [Fri Sep 16th, 2005]
The clash between those two old foes Liverpool and Manchester United takes centre stage this weekend.
Both clubs come into this one off the back of thorough European examinations against Betis and Villarreal respectively. While Liverpool defeated Betis 2-1 in a hard-fought match at the Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, United earned a credible 0-0 draw with Villarreal.
In that match at El Madrigal they had to play the final quarter with ten men, after Wayne Rooney was sent off for ironically applauding the referee. The young England striker will need to be on his best behaviour at Anfield against the great rivals of his former club Everton.
Gabriel Heinze is out with a knee injury, joining Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Louis Saha, Quinton Fortune and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the sidelines.
For Liverpool, Fernando Morientes is still injured. Djiril Cisse may start after only making the bench against Betis. Steven Gerrard is certain to come back in after being rested on Tuesday.
Champions Chelsea travel to The Valley on Saturday to face Charlton. This will be a battle between the league’s two early frontrunners, with Chelsea having won their first five games, and Charlton having taken 12 points from a possible 15.
Dean Kiely, Jason Euell and Matt Holland are out for Charlton, while Chelsea are without full-backs Glen Johnson, Asier Del Horno and Wayne Bridge.
Tottenham make the trip to Aston Villa knowing that these are the kind of games they will have to win if they are to challenge for a Champions League place. A point last weekend at home to Euro champs Liverpool was respectable enough, while the 2-0 reverse at home to Chelsea would have been expected by many, but it is now time for Martin Jol’s charges to get back on the winning trail.
Aston Villa manager David O’Leary will no doubt have his players fired up after the embarrassing 4-0 defeat to West Ham last Monday.
The Hammers make the visit to Fulham this weekend for an intriguing London derby at Craven Cottage. Fulham have had a low-key start to the season, but will surely be targeting three points from this match. Mark Crossley, Jaroslav Drobny, Mark Pembridge, Sylvain Legwinski and Alain Goma are all out injured for the Cottagers.
Newcastle are still without a win to their name this season, and will not have things their own way against Blackburn at Ewood Park. Mark Hughes’ sometimes overly physical side are a hard team to beat, and last weekend secured a 0-0 draw at Bolton in a tepid match.
Michael Owen will be looking to get off the mark for Newcastle after drawing a blank against Fulham last weekend.
The hamstring curse struck once against at Newcastle this week when new signing Albert Luque was ruled out for up to ten weeks. This is another blow for Graeme Souness who will once again be light up front should Alan Shearer or Owen pick up a knock.
Bolton go into their game against Manchester City off the back of a 2-1 win over Lokomotiv Plovdiv in their European debut. Jared Borgetti scored a late winner in that match and then promised that there was more to come.
“I’m delighted to have scored my first goal for the club, but I’ve been expecting it," said Borgetti.
"I’ve been wanting to score to prove the manager’s confidence in me, and for all the people who believed in me before I came here.
"I know I have to score in The Premier League because that is where you prove yourself as a striker, but this is the first of many goals for me.â€
Middlesborough travel to Wigan this weekend looking to build on recent home wins. Last weekend they secured a highly impressive 2-1 win over Arsenal, while on Thursday they saw off the threat of Greek side Xanthi in the Uefa Cup.
Wigan are a team in form, having won their last two matches against Sunderland and West Brom. They will be hoping that Boro’s Euro clash will have taken something out of them ahead of this one.
Elsewhere this weekend, Portsmouth will be looking to build on their first win of the season against Everton when they face Birmingham, while Sunderland host West Brom.
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