Manchester City (2nd) vs Everton (7th)
Roberto Mancini must decide whether to keep Kolo Toure in his starting line-up for Saturday's Barclays Premier League encounter. Toure returned from serving a six-month suspension for a failed drugs test in Wednesday's Carling Cup win over Birmingham but Mancini has to work out whether the Ivorian defender is fit enough to complete back-to-back matches. Mancini has already decided that such a task would be too much for Owen Hargreaves after ending three years on the sidelines with a goalscoring contribution to the Birmingham win.
Everton manager David Moyes is likely to restore several players to his first XI. Tim Howard, Sylvain Distin, Leon Osman and Tim Cahill were all left out of the team that started the Carling Cup third round victory over West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday and are set to return. Louis Saha's chances of featuring against City remain unclear after he missed the last four matches and been working on his fitness. Victor Anichebe (groin) is injured and new signing Marcus Hahnemann is not part of the squad heading to Manchester.
Manchester City boast three of the top four scorers in the Premier League, with Sergio Aguero on eight goals and Edin Dzeko (pictured right) six, while Emmanuel Adebayor, currently on loan at Tottenham, has three. Until last week's draw against Fulham, Manchester City were on a seven-match winning streak. Everton hold an impressive record against the hosts, having won seven of the previous eight meetings between the two sides.
Betting Recommendations:
A tough one to call, but once again, I believe Manchester City has too much option in the attacking area, and they will beat Everton despite Everton having a good record against them. Man City to win 2-1 or 3-1.
Liverpool (8th) vs Wolverhampton Wanderers (10th)
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has a decision to make over whether to start Steven Gerrard against Wolves on Saturday after his captain ended a six-month injury lay-off with a 20-minute comeback in midweek. Midfielder Charlie Adam and Martin Skrtel are both available again after serving one-match suspensions in the Carling Cup win over Brighton for their red cards last weekend. Skrtel is likely to replace Daniel Agger (broken rib) in central defence while Martin Kelly is expected to return at right-back with Glen Johnson (hamstring) still injured.
Wolves skipper Roger Johnson and striker Steven Fletcher will return. Johnson missed the midweek Carling Cup win over Millwall with a sore calf while Fletcher has recovered from a recent groin injury. Kevin Foley (ankle), Jody Craddock (hamstring), Ronald Zubar (groin) and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (knee) are still sidelined.
All Liverpool’s goals in their last victory over Wolves, a 3-0 win at Molineux, were scored by Raul Meireles and Fernando Torres who both now play for Chelsea. Wolves’ 1-0 victory at Anfield last season proved to be Roy Hodgson’s penultimate game in charge at Anfield. These two sides have met just three times in the Premier League at Anfield. Liverpool have won two and Wolves one.
Betting Recommendations:
We will not see another shock in this fixture. The Reds will be extra careful not to lose points in matches against weaker teams. Liverpool to win this on 1-0 or 2-0. Liverpool to keep a clean sheet may also be an option.
West Bromwich Albion (20th) vs Fulham (18th)
West Brom manager Roy Hodgson will revert to his first-choice side. Hodgson made nine changes for the Carling Cup defeat at Everton, with only Jonas Olsson and Peter Odemwingie surviving, but most of those should return. Defender Gabriel Tamas remains suspended following his red card against Norwich City, but striker Shane Long could return after illness ruled him out of Wednesday's match.
Fulham could have defender Aaron Hughes back from a knee injury for the trip to West Brom. Forward Andrew Johnson (ankle) is also close to being in contention, but midfielder Dickson Etuhu (thigh) and defender Bjorn Helge Riise (groin) remain sidelined. Brede Hangeland, Damien Duff, Clint Dempsey and captain Danny Murphy are all set to feature after being rested for the midweek Carling Cup penalty shoot-out defeat at Chelsea.
Betting Recommendation:
Both sides are in need of a win after a disastrous start. West Brom are currently bottom and Fulham are not that far on 18th leading only by goal difference. A six-pointer game which I would back the home side to get the win. West Brom to win for me.
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