Barclays Premiership Christmas matches December 2009
Always a great period for drammatic football action, I'm sure that this Christmas will not dissapoint for some superb Premier League matches. What a busy time this will be for Roberto Mancini - fully expected to beat Stoke at home on Boxing Day as well as Wolves away on Monday 28th as well as sign some galacticos for his new club. In sixth, they will be trying to leap frog over Villa and Spurs to go into fourth and for me this is the area of real excitement this Christmas in the Premier League. There is the small matter of Liverpool's disastrous beginning to their 2009/2010 Premiership campaign. Benitez says that he'll get the Reds into the top four - as does Mancini - there's not enough room for them all and with Villa and Spurs doing so well we are in for a great fight for 3rd/4th.
At the top, Ancelotti's Chelsea have a tough game against in form Fulham who beat Manchester United 3-0 on the weekend. Man Utd have a home match against Wigan which you would imagine them to win, Fergie will be tough on the squad going into this so I think wigan will feel the full Old Trafford factor on the 30th. I can't see past Chelsea this year for the Premier League title. Despite missing the chance to go 6 points clear of Manchester United when the drew at Upton Park against West Ham United, they still look physically and mentally strong enough to go the whole way.
So then at the foot of the table, Portsmouth have a potentially tough Christmas, with a relegation scrap away at West Ham on Boxing Day and entertain Arsenal on the 30th. Avram Grant will be concentrating on the West Ham match as a base point to clawing Pompey out of the bottom 3.
I must say that I am surprised to see Bolton struggling in the bottom 3. Gary Megson's boys were pretty strong last season after their boss dealt well with the pressure on his shoulders. Having just beaten West Ham they would have been dissapointed that their match was postponed last night due to a frozen pitch at the JJB Stadium. THey have to continue scrapping - they face Burnley and Hull in the Christmas period so their target has to be to take 6 points. Phil Brown's Hull City seem really galvanised in their plight to remain in the Premier League - in a way playing Man Utd at this time is good (27/12/2009) because they have nothing to lose other than really taking the game to the reigning champions as they did at the end of last season when they narrowly lost 0-1 in May 2009.
Spurs have a tough Christmas - Harry Redknapp has blocked any players Christmas party and the lily whites have 2 away fixtures - both London derbies. They play Fulham away on Boxing Day which will be an interesting match and then have East London strugglers West Ham United on the 28th December.
Here are the fixtures:
Saturday, 26 December 2009
Birmingham v Chelsea, St Andrew's, 12.45pm
Burnley v Bolton, Turfmoor 2pm
Fulham v Tottenham, Craven Cottage 1pm
Liverpool v Wolverhampton, Anfield 5.30pm
Man City v Stoke, Eastlands, 3pm
Sunderland v Everton, Stadium of Light 3pm
West Ham v Portsmouth, Upton Park 1pm
Wigan v Blackburn, JJB Athletic 3pm
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Arsenal v Aston Villa, Emirates 1.30pm
Hull v Man Utd, KC Stadium 4pm
Monday, 28 December 2009
Blackburn v Sunderland, Ewood Park, 3pm
Chelsea v Fulham, Stamford Bridge, 3pm
Everton v Burnley, Goodison Park, 3pm
Stoke v Birmingham, Britannia Stadium 3pm
Tottenham v West Ham, White Hart Lane, 12.45pm
Wolverhampton v Man City, Molineaux, 7.45pm
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Aston Villa v Liverpool, Villa Park, 7,45pm
Bolton v Hull, Reebok Stadium, 8pm
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Man Utd v Wigan, Old Trafford, 8pm
Portsmouth v Arsenal, Fratton Park, 7.45pm
