Arsenal vs Stoke City preview- December 18

Game :- Arsenal vs Stoke City

Venue :- Emirates Stadium, London

Saturday, December 18, 2010

KO time:- 15.00 UK

Arsenal can temporarily go back to the top of the Premier League if they claim all three points against Stoke City at the Emirates Stadium this weekend. Bet on Arsenal vs Stoke City with PaddyPower after reading our preview..

The Gunners lost 1-0 to Man United on Monday and surrendered their spot at the top of the Premier League. With United only playing on Sunday, Arsenal can reclaim top spot with a win over Stoke.

Arsenal failed to reproduce their usual fluid game against United and had few chances of note. Young Polish keeper Wojciech Szczesny is again likely to stand under the sticks with Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski both out injured. Szczesny made his first Premier League start of the new season against United and put in a more than decent performance against the Red Devils.

Samir Nasri has been in tremendous form for Arsenal recently, especially at the Emirates. In his last six home games for Arsenal, he has netted a total of six times.

Arsenal form- last five games- most recent first- Arsenal scorers in brackets-

Man United 1-0 Arsenal
Arsenal 3-1 Partizan Belgrade ( Robin Van Persie, Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri)
Arsenal 2-1 Fulham ( Samir Nasri

Cheltenham December Meeting Review: Festival Pointers

Posted by Matt Bisogno on December 13, 2010 · 3 Comments 

Racing at Cheltenham is rarely anything other than top class, dear reader, and the weekend just passed was like a ‘mini Festival’ with so many trainers keen to get a run into so many horses when they’d normally try to avoid meeting each other prior to the March meeting.

So what did the action tell us, aside from the fact – pointed out to me numerous times – that Faasel is not quite as reliable a stick as I’d envisaged. Trying to explain to people who simply want winners the concepts of value and the long term benefits of using trends can sometimes be pointless. So, to those who just want winners, sorry but you’ll not find any guarantees of that here on any given day.

But for the vast majority of you who understand that if you generally take 14/1 about  horses that start at 11/1 (as Faasel did), you’ll come out in front.

Onwards. What did we learn at the Cheltenham December meeting? We learnt the following:

1. Spirit River is a hurdler. He hates fences, and has now fallen on both attempts in novice chase company. Anyone who takes the 20/1 with Betfred (or even the 33/1 best price with William Hill) wants their head examining. As it stands, he must be half those odds to even line up in this race, given his high class form over the smaller obstacles. And running in a 2m5f race is a curious preparation for a two mile championship contest, in any event.

Liverpool vs Aston Villa preview- December 6

Liverpool vs Aston Villa

Barclays’ Premier League

Monday, December 6, 2010.

KO time- 20.00 UK time.

Gerard Houllier returns to the club he managed for six years between 1998 and 2004 when Aston Villa meet Liverpool at Anfield on Monday. Bet on Liverpool vs Aston Villa after reading preview with PaddyPower

Liverpool went down 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend in the Premier League. Jamie Carragher suffered an injury in that game and has been ruled out for weeks, leaving Kygriakos and Skrtel as the only two established centre halves in Roy Hodgson’s side in the absence of the former and Daniel Agger.

Liverpool did draw with Steaua Bucharest away from home in the Europa League on Thursday. A goalkeeping error from Pepe Reina proved to be their undoing against Steaua as they gifted the Romanians an equalising goal.

Apart from Carragher, Liverpool will also be without Steven Gerrard for this game.

Liverpool form- last five games- most recent first- Liverpool scorers in brackets

Steaua Bucharest 1-1 Liverpool ( Milan Jovanovic)
Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool ( Martin Skrtel)
West Ham 0-3 Liverpool ( Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt, Maxi Rodriguez)
Stoke 2-0 Liverpool
Wigan 1-1 Liverpool ( Fernando Torres)

Aston Villa have been poor away from home this season. They lost 4-2 to Arsenal last weekend, a game in which they had a decent second half, but a poor first one. They were also eliminated from the Carling Cup by local rivals Birmingham City on Wednesday.

Ashley Young is suspended for Aston Villa. Scottish midfielder Barry Bannan is a doubt with his groin injury, leaving Villa with more problems in midfield as Steve Sidwell, Fabian Delph and Stiliyan Petrov are all long term absentees.

Aston Villa form- last five games- most recent first- Villa scorers in brackets-

Birmingham 2-1 Aston Villa ( Gabriel Agbonlahor)
Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal ( Ciaran Clark