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Now that the turgid, undefeated (but still turgid) mess known as Manchester United got their game out of the way yesterday, it’s time to focus on an EPL slate with feeling. Second-place City travel to third-place Arsenal to figure out just which team is likely to be chasing Fergie’s tail for the coming months, and because it’s January, we could bother to dub it a true six-pointer.
With United’s game-in-hand haunting the rest of the league, one of these teams needs to assert themselves, so why not today?
Wenger is able to call upon his full coterie of fleet-footed artists while Mancini is missing both David Silva, the league’s most incandescent player this season, and the fire-brimstone force of Mario Balotelli. All of which is to say that I’m sure the Gunners will find a way to botch it; just looking at the stats, City have only lost once to the Gooners in their last six, and it was the Eastlands match in mid-October where Dedryck Boyata did what he had to do and left his side breathlessly chasing shadows for 85 minutes.
Elsewhere, Chelsea tussle with Wolves in the battle of who-could-care-less, Liverpool roadtrip to the Venky’s Chicken Shack, Spurs sojourn to Goodison Park, and Sunderland look to keep pace with the fifth-place Ancelotti crowd in their journey to Villa Park.
It’s all set to kick off in the next half-hour, and it’s all sure to be riveting. Come watch and comment with us!
FIXTURES and LINEUPS
ASTON VILLA v SUNDERLAND
Aston Villa: Friedel, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Clark, Ashley Young, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Downing, Agbonlahor, Heskey.
Subs: Marshall, Pires, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Bannan, Lichaj, Herd.
Sunderland: Gordon, Bardsley, Ferdinand, Bramble, Richardson, Elmohamady, Meyler, Henderson, Malbranque, Welbeck, Bent.
Subs: Mignolet, Zenden, Angeleri, Da Silva, Riveros, Gyan, Adams.
Referee: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)
WOLVES v CHELSEA
Wolverhampton: Hennessey, Zubar, Stearman, Berra, Elokobi, Jarvis, Foley, Edwards, Hunt, Fletcher, Doyle.
Subs: Hahnemann, Ebanks-Blake, Ward, David Jones, Milijas, Batth, Doherty.
Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Essien, Lampard, Kalou, Drogba, Malouda.
Subs: Turnbull, Ferreira, Sturridge, Anelka, Kakuta, Bruma, McEachran.
Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)
ARSENAL v MAN CITY
Arsenal: Fabianski, Sagna, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy, Song, Wilshere, Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, van Persie.
Subs: Szczesny, Rosicky, Denilson, Squillaci, Arshavin, Chamakh, Bendtner.
Man City: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Toure, Zabaleta, De Jong, Barry, Toure Yaya, Milner, Tevez, Jo.
Subs: Given, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Adam Johnson, Boateng, Lescott, Vieira.
Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire)
NEWCASTLE v WEST HAM
Newcastle: Harper, Simpson, Steven Taylor, Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Barton, Nolan, Tiote, Gutierrez, Lovenkrands, Best.
Subs: Krul, Williamson, Guthrie, Routledge, Perch, Ranger, Ferguson.
West Ham: Green, Ben-Haim, Tomkins, Upson, Gabbidon, Sears, Parker, Kovac, Noble, Piquionne, Cole.
Subs: Boffin, Reid, Barrera, Spector, Behrami, Hines, Obinna.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)
BLACKBURN v LIVERPOOL
Blackburn: Bunn, Salgado, Samba, Nelsen, Givet, Hoilett, Dunn, Pedersen, Olsson, Mame Diouf, Mwaruwari.
Subs: Fielding, El-Hadji Diouf, Linganzi, Doran, Goulon, Hanley, Morris.
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Kyrgiakos, Skrtel, Konchesky, Cole, Gerrard, Lucas, Maxi, Torres, Ngog.
Subs: Gulacsi, Agger, Jovanovic, Kuyt, Babel, Poulsen, Kelly.
Referee: Andre Marriner (W Midlands)
EVERTON v TOTTENHAM
Everton: Howard, Neville, Distin, Heitinga, Baines, Coleman, Arteta, Fellaini, Pienaar, Saha, Beckford.
Subs: Mucha, Hibbert, Bilyaletdinov, Osman, Yakubu, Rodwell, Anichebe.
Tottenham: Gomes, Hutton, Dawson, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Modric, Jenas, Bale, Van der Vaart, Crouch.
Subs: Pletikosa, Pavlyuchenko, Keane, Palacios, Bassong, Kranjcar, Corluka.
Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire)
BOLTON v WIGAN
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Ricketts, Knight, Cahill, Robinson, Moreno, Muamba, Mark Davies, Taylor, Kevin Davies, Elmander.
Subs: Bogdan, Petrov, Blake, Alonso.
Wigan: Kirkland, Gohouri, Alcaraz, Gary Caldwell, Stam, Figueroa, Thomas, Watson, Cleverley, McArthur, Rodallega.
Subs: Pollitt, Gomez, Steven Caldwell, Diame, Lopez, McManaman, Robinson.
Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)
I was at work today, so hopefully its not too late to say Suck It Spurs.
@Ryan: No.
.
@WNF: Tu quoque, sir.
@Ryan, he may not be good, but he certainly had a good game against Everton, for some reason he always does, considering he has had 13 goals in 14 games or something stupid like that
It may be my last chance to celebrate a Toffee victory this year…
@Anonsters: Okay, I admit that was like 50% serious/50% windup, but in all seriousness don’t you kind of have to wonder a little bit? From the highlights I saw, he made nearly all of Spurs chances by knocking the ball down for VdV. Will a new striker being brought in be able to do that?
@Ryan: Ah, you meant as something other than a striker. In that case, then yes, he is decent.