{"id":29916,"date":"2019-10-18T14:35:07","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T13:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=29916"},"modified":"2019-10-18T14:35:07","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T13:35:07","slug":"premier-league-weekend-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/premier-league-weekend-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier League weekend preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHELSEA VS NEWCASTLE (3:00PM)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chelsea: 1\/3, Newcastle: 21\/2, Draw: 49\/10<\/p>\n

Chelsea host Steve Bruce\u2019s Newcastle, with the Blues unbeaten in their last
\nfour and Newcastle looking for back-to-back wins for the first time in 6
\nmonths. N\u2019Golo Kante is expected to return to the line-up, after being absent
\nfrom his teams win over Southampton with a muscle strain, whilst Andreas
\nChristensen and Antonio Rudiger are back in contention following groin
\ninjuries. Newcastle are expected to line-up with the same eleven that stunned
\nManchester United at St. James Park, meaning match-winner and local lad
\nMatt Longstaff could make his second-ever start for the Magpies.
\nWith Newcastle only winning once in 25 meetings against Chelsea, Lampard\u2019s
\nmen will be confident of extending their excellent run of form. Despite their
\nheroics against Man. United, Longstaff\u2019s goal merely papered over the cracks\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0of what is going to be a tough season for a side that have won only twice this
\nterm.<\/p>\n

Micah\u2019s prediction: Chelsea 3-0 Newcastle<\/em><\/p>\n

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR VS WATFORD (3:00PM)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spurs: 4\/9, Watford: 7\/1, Draw: 41\/10<\/p>\n

Tottenham will be looking to put behind them talk of unrest and unsettlement
\nwithin the squad by beating struggling Watford. Their task will not be helped
\nby the fact captain Hugo Lloris will be facing a long spell side lined and summer
\nsigning Giovanni Lo Celso faces a month out. Michel Vorm has returned to the
\nclub on a short-term contract and is expected to make his debut. Meanwhile,
\nWatford captain Troy Deeney is closing in on a return after knee surgery, and
\ncould feature on Saturday.
\nSpurs have been, at best, unconvincing this season but have been handed a
\ngreat opportunity to put things right against the league\u2019s bottom side.
\nManager Quiqe Sanchez Flores will be looking for his first win in his second
\nspell in charge of the Hornets and may see the stuttering Tottenham as a good
\nchance to shock the world and kickstart a blunt season so far.<\/p>\n

Micah\u2019s Prediction: Tottenham 2-1 Watford<\/em><\/p>\n

CRYSTAL PALACE VS MANCHESTER CITY (5:30PM)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Palace: 12\/1, Man City: 1\/4, Draw: 6\/1<\/p>\n

Crystal Palace face their toughest test of the season as they host back-to-back
\nchampions Manchester City at Selhurst Park. City will be looking to try and
\nclose the 8-point gap between themselves and rivals Liverpool, who play 24
\nhours later. Palace, though, could leapfrog Guardiola\u2019s men into second place
\nwith a win and other results going in their favour. Palace\u2019s only injury concern
\nis Frenchman Mamadou Sakho, who will miss Saturday evening\u2019s clash with a
\nmuscle strain. Captain Milivojevic will return after his suspension and is
\nexpected to start. City remain without Aymeric Laporte in the long-term,
\nwhereas John Stones and Kevin De Bruyne are in contention to return after<\/p>\n

spells out of the team. Sergio Aguero faces a late fitness assessment following
\na car accident in the international break.
\nPalace come into this one in excellent form; back-to-back wins have silenced
\nclaims that the Zaha transfer saga unsettled the squad. Ecent wins over
\nManchester United and last season\u2019s 3-2 triumph against City will have buoyed
\nthe Eagles, who know they can beat anyone in front of their own fans. City
\nmeanwhile, will be looking for blood after a surprisingly rare home loss to
\nWolves last time out and will be looking to get their title defence back on track.<\/p>\n

Micah\u2019s prediction: Crystal Palace 0-2 Manchester City<\/em><\/p>\n

SHEFFIELD UNITED VS ARSENAL (MONDAY, 8:00PM)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sheff. Utd: 3\/1, Arsenal: 19\/20, Draw: 47\/16<\/p>\n

Arsenal will be looking to get on the path to consistency but face a stern test
\nagainst Chris Wilder\u2019s Sheffield United. The Blades have already impressed
\nagainst big boys Liverpool and Chelsea with their positive football and famed
\n\u2018over-lapping centre-backs\u2019, whilst Arsenal have flattered to deceive after
\nsplashing the cash in the summer. Arsenal will be boosted by the long-awaited
\nreturn of Hector Bellerin after an ACL injury; the wing-back had been out since
\nJanuary. Oli McBurnie and John Fleck are major doubts for Sheffield United,
\nafter picking up injuries on international duty, whilst David McGoldrick remains
\nside-lined with groin trouble.
\nThe Gunners\u2019 big problem last season seems to have carried over into this one;
\nan inability to win the so-called \u2018winnable\u2019 games. This term, Emery\u2019s men
\nhave become even more reliant on talisman Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang,
\ndespite investing \u00a372m on Nicolas Pepe, whilst their back-line looks organised
\nat the best of times. Wilder\u2019s men may just snatch a victory in front of their
\nown fans.<\/p>\n

Micah\u2019s prediction: Sheffield United 2-1 Arsenal<\/em><\/p>\n

ELSEWHERE..<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

League leaders Liverpool will travel to Old Trafford to face fierce rivals
\nManchester United. A win will see the Reds set the record for the most<\/p>\n

consecutive in Premier League history. You can read more about this clash
\nhere (link to Alex\u2019s article). Leicester will be looking to extend their excellent
\nstart to the season at home to Burnley, Bournemouth face struggling Norwich
\nwhilst Aston Villa host Brighton. Wolves, flying high after their defeat of
\nManchester City, face Southampton at Molinuex.<\/p>\n

Words by: Micah Chudleigh<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHELSEA VS NEWCASTLE (3:00PM) Chelsea: 1\/3, Newcastle: 21\/2, Draw: 49\/10 Chelsea host Steve Bruce\u2019s Newcastle, with the Blues unbeaten in their last four and Newcastle looking for back-to-back wins for the first time in 6…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":29928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-sport"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}