Premier League Preview – Home Slice

There are 6 matches in store tonight, with Liverpool and Chelsea desperate to stay in touch with Man Utd at the top after yesterday’s trouncing of West Brom. There are some interesting clashes too, with Footie Frog keen to see how the rest of the league gets on after the Transfer Window madness.

Blackburn v Bolton: All the B’s if you add Boring – neither side has inspired thus far this season, both are hard to beat with little creativity going forward. Blackburn’s better forward line inspires the Frog to plump for them. Home win.

Chelsea v Middlesbrough: No matter how miserable Chelsea’s recent performances, Middlesbrough are doing a fine job of making all their opposition look like Brazil. It is hard to see anything but a home win, and no wins in ten should turn to none in eleven later tonight.

Everton v Arsenal: Arsene Wenger has talked up the strength of Everton ahead of this one, so he presumably predicts a loss for his team and is getting his reasoning in early. Footie Frog is inclined to agree with him – though Everton are striker-less, they could bully Arsenal out of their back yard. Another home win.

Manchester City v Newcastle: Not one to be inconsistent, Footie Frog can’t see anything but a home win here either. The Toon have looked shoddy at times recently, and a side strengthened in the transfer window by both steel and pace should cause them problems. Keep an eye on the debutants. Oh and the bailed Brazilian.

West Ham v Hull: Bizarrely the match that Sky have decided to show, they must see something in this one that a certain Frog thinks will be lacking. A couple of debuts to keep an eye on though, as both Bullard (Hull) and that 3 in 25 scoring *ahem* sensation Savio (West Ham) are set to play. Both sides could find scoring difficult. A draw.

Wigan v Liverpool: The only win that Footie Frog predicts will not be at home this evening is this match at the JJB. Liverpool should be able to overcome a Wigan side that were in fine form, but who have just sold two key players. It will be interesting to see how the Latics cope with a combination of sales and injuries tonight. Carra and Co shouldn’t be quaking at the prospect of Mido, Heskey’s replacement. Away Win.

Premier League Preview - Midweek Madness

After the excitement of the FA Cup at the weekend, we have a midweek feast of football with a full Premier League programme over tonight and tomorrow.

Portsmouth (will attempt to) entertain Aston Villa in what promises to be the most interesting of tonight’s matches. The likelihood is, however, that Pompey (who have looked somewhat beleaguered since Adams seized the reigns) will be the ones entertained by a Martin O’Neill side who have looked more than good for the sought after fourth spot this season. Oh and there’s the small matter of Villa having won their last 5 games away from home. There could be debutants in this one, as Adams could hand a starting berth to his recent and somewhat underwhelming signings of Hayden Mullins and Pele, replacing the injured Diop and the ill Davis…
Footie Frog knows that a more exciting possibility awaits the Villa fans though, as their bargain bin capture Emile Heskey could make his bow, and if the Portsmouth defence looks as shaky as it has recently, it could be a goalscoring one. An away win seems to be on the cards here.

Unfortunately for both the neutral and Spurs fans, most of Tottenham’s new signings won’t be appearing tonight as they welcome Stoke to White Hart Lane. Wilson Palacios is suspended, and another ‘new’ boy Pascal Chimbonda wasn’t registered in time. Carlo Cudicini will undoubtedly make his Premier League bow for Spurs tonight though, with Heurelho ‘the Count’ Gomes has a slight injury and is…well…not great (despite recent improvement). With the consistently consistent Cudicini now at the Lane a place on the bench awaits The Count on his return from his strained thigh methinks.
With Jenas, Bent, Hutton, King, and O’Hara all out, and Woodgate, Lennon and Modric all carrying knocks, a match against a physical Stoke side will not be what Redknapp wanted. Both sides have the same number of points (21 - the lowest in the league) and Footie Frog can see a scrappy affair, just edged by the more physical Stoke.

West Brom will be thanking their lucky stars that Man Utd’s trip to the Hawthorns could be made a little easier thanks to the Red Devils having as horrendous an injury list as the Baggies. With captain Greening added to the list of Meite, Barnett, Martis, Morrison, Moore, Beattie and Miller all out, on top of the fact that they are rooted to the foot of the table, things are looking bleak in the black country. United’s list is scarily long too, with Patrice Evra (ankle), Rio Ferdinand (back), Wes Brown (ankle), Jonny Evans (ankle), Fabio (calf) and Rafael (groin) Anderson (ankle), Nani (groin) Ji-Sung Park (ankle) Owen Hargreaves (knee) Wayne Rooney (hamstring) and Danny Wellbeck (ankle) all set to miss out. This means Fergie could hand a debut to Tosic on the left wing, which at least gives everybody a point of interest, as the match is bound to be poor.
Footie Frog thinks that Mowbray’s men will never have a better chance than tonight to record a win over the World Champions, but with class like Berbatov, Tevez and Ronaldo, a victory should go United’s way.


No new players to keep an eye on at the Stadium of Light, as fans of both Fulham and Sunderland have only seen stars leave so far this window, Bullard and Chimbonda respectively leaving their clubs in the last week. There should be fairly strong starting line-ups on show however, as Sunderland welcome back the rested and replenished Jones, Cisse, Whitehead and Diouf, and Fulham have no injury concerns. There have been (except Chimbonda) many positive words said in the last few days about the new era at Sunderland, and Ricky Sbragia will be hoping that a win tonight will kick-start the second half of the campaign, bringing a recent slump to an end.

Roy Hodgson will have his fingers crossed that his side turns up tonight, with Fulham being notoriously bad on the road this season, but it is goals that both sides will find difficult to come by tonight. Neither club has found goals particularly easy to come by this season, Sunderland’s 23 just edging Fulham’s meager 19. Footie Frog thinks that the 0-0 at Craven Cottage in the first half of the season sums these two teams up, and the score tonight at the Stadium of Light could well be a reverse of that.

Amphibious Landing!

Footie Frog is back! After stress and hassle upon his return to university, your amphibian cult hero is back with the news, the gossip, the previews, opinions, and undoubtedly some Budweiser-scented guffs (better out than in, particularly in the New Year Detox!)


And is there a more perfect time to return than January?
A TIME when holes in sinking ships have been patched up with multi-million pound desperation-signings (by no means a reference to West Ham and their *ahem* saviour Savio Nsereko – I’m not holding my breath)…
A TIME when Tottenham Hotspur re-sign all the players they sold in the last 12 months… A TIME when more short-term work permits are issued than at the beginning of the Farming Calendar…


Hope springs eternal for everyone in the Premier League in January, but it will be interesting to see how quickly even the most optimistic of football fans turn back into the nervous, jibbering wreck that they and most of the League were before the transfer window.

Good Luck To Everybody (Yes, even Tottenham)

Footie Frog X
(above) Savio Nsereko

The Return!

Hey Readers!

Your favourite FootieFrog will be back on Tuesday 27th, with a Premier League Preview, Transfer Window Round-Up, and the new Wonderkids feature all on their way!! See You Soon!

F.F. x