Week 3

Ben......

Have you got time to do another preview?

Right sorry for the delay been pretty ill all weekend but here we go...

Week 3

Newcastle vs Plymouth

This week's feature match pitches two of this season's movers and shakers in a compelling match. It also brings Samir Nasri and Nemaja Vidic up against their old clubs for the first time. Newcastle will take heart from a big result last week with Kolarov notching two goals to help his team fight back from a two goal deficit to draw with champions Manchester City. Newcastle will hope for more of the same from their LB who with Mario Balotelli looking to fire up his scoring boots will make things difficult for an unconvincing Plymouth side who kicked off their account with a 1 nil win courtesy of a 69th minute Robinho strike.

Rumours are abound that Ben Wilson has made yet more tactical changes at Plymouth and he will hope that Wayne Rooney and Samir Nasri in new roles can get this team firing. Newcastle have the edge in this game but I wouldn't bet against a high scoring draw for this one.

West Ham vs Reading

The second of our games brings two sides who, having been promoted last season, have found things tough lying 11th and 12th in the table. West Ham will take heart from their performance against Plymouth and were unlucky not to hold out for a draw with Philip Sendoros having a storming game keeping Wayne Rooney quiet. Fans will be hoping for a better performance up top from big man Roland Bianchi this week as they look for their first point of the campaign.

Reading were unfortunate to face an in-form Fulham side last week and though Dave Kitson put the home-side ahead with an 8th minute strike they failed to deal with the might of Fulham's attacking presence. James Milner ensured all 3 points went back to Craven Cottage after Bobby Zamora had equalised in the 36th minute. If they can play in a similar manner this week they will certainly test West Ham and I wouldn't be surprised if they got a much needed win out of this one!

Fulham vs Everton

The big question for this game is whether Will Buckley can guide his team to a third consecutive win? New signing Darren Bent is likely to start on the bench this week and only adds to Fulham's strength in depth up front. A 2-1 win last week against newly promoted side Reading means that the side go into this game brimming with confidence. Buckley however was this week critical of Dutch Superstar Arjen Robben and we wait to see if this has caused any repercussions in the Fulham camp who face an Everton side who can blow both hot and cold.

Everton were unlucky to lose last week in a close affair against a Man United side who currently sit at the top of the table. They will be looking to make amends this week and in Sandro, Hugo Viana and Joe Cole they have three players who can all cause Fulham problems . If they can combine with the powerful Kenwnye Jones then they might just have enough to halt Fulham's steady progress this season.

Man United vs Blackburn

Man United are another one of the sides who have made a great start this season and find themselves top of the table. After last season's changes they have finally found themselves with a settled side with the potential to cause even the best teams problems. In Rafael Van der Vaart and Luka Modric they have two of the best midfielders in the Premier League. A 1-nil win against a solid Everton side last week means they are odds on to take all 3 points this week against a Blackburn side who have made a poor start this season. They find themselves deep in the relegation zone having taken only 1 point from 2 games this season and they need Roque Santa Cruz and Craig Bellamy to start firing soon if they have any chance of getting something out of this game.

Birmingham vs Aston Villa

Birmingham finally got their campaign off the ground last week with a 1-nil win against Blackburn thanks to a 74th minute Andy Carrol strike. Like Plymouth, they are a team that have found themselves under an early bit of pressure and this week saw a number of changes at St Andrews. Theo Walcott and Adeboyer both departed the club in a shakeup that has seen both Tom Cleverly and Nani enter the fray. In Nani they have signed one of the Premier League's top wingers and manager Richard Allen will hope he can start firing this week as they seek their second win of the season.

They face an Aston Villa side who last week provided the shock result of the week defeating a strong Arsenal side. With Gabby Abonlahor starting to find his scoring boots they could prove a stern test for Birmingham in what promises to be a fiery derby game.

Arsenal vs Manchester City

In another feature game of the round Arsenal face an even sterner test this week against Champions Manchester City. Having only picked up 1 point from their opening two games, manager Phil has rung the changes brining in England starlet Theo Walcott to complement what is a fantastic line-up of forwards. Robin Van Persie scored their only goal on the game last week and if he can combine with Carlos Tevez they have a strikeforce with the potential to cause Manchester City serious problems this week.

Champions City will be gutted to have let Newcastle off the hook last week having given up a 2 goal lead and will looking to make amends at the Emirates. In Shaun Wright Philips and Adam Johnson they have two wingers who can cause Arsenal some considerable problems and both will be brimming with confidence having both got on the scoresheet last week. However, questions are being asked over the state of their defence, and I wouldn't be surprised if they head up north with nil-points. Write them off at your peril though.

Good work fella.

Feeling better now?

Was it man-flu?

Just about. Possibly although I genuinely felt awful over the weekend- not sure the umpteen pints on Friday night helped though lol.

Excellent work ben,

Really enjoy reading it,

Bent is imdeed on the bench and your right Arjen is under pressure to do more in a game than just pass the ball sideways from the odd free

Good work

Thanks mate, hopefully others might want to do previews for other leagues if there is at all time?

ben you should have got a feeder club in italy, it might have made things interesting with your reportage.

Thursday morning and posty has been and gone,

Nothing here, anyone else ?

Nowt here Mr Buckley.

Boooooooooo!

Like the UK results at Eurovision I've got nothing.

Just posted out week 3 this morning thursday, a day later than normal, but hopefully you will still get them before the weekend.

Ben, great review, I really enjoyed it too.

Thanks Paul and thanks for letting us know about the turns. On a note with the reviews if anyone wants me to add anything to their view, any news etc then let me know and will get them in for the next week. Simarly team news etc feel free to ping me before if u so wish...

Post anyone?

im rubbish at every game i play except ones where im on my own. i give up fuck it.

got turn lost 1-0 at home bye bye bar tactic only 25% possesion that two draws two losses same as last season already:-(

Stuart@Roma wrote:

im rubbish at every game i play except ones where im on my own. i give up fuck it.

Stu ..... masturbation isn't a game.

Super win for the Foxes over Spurs - at last we're off and running.

And Diego Milito arrives at Betis for a snip of £2,200,000. Very happy with that. Betis cant do anything right except sign players at the moment!.

Rob@Inter wrote:

Stuart@Roma wrote:

im rubbish at every game i play except ones where im on my own. i give up fuck it.

Stu ..... masturbation isn't a game.

I know but atleast its free and doesnt cost £4 for the privi

Stuart@Roma wrote:

Rob@Inter wrote:

Stuart@Roma wrote:

im rubbish at every game i play except ones where im on my own. i give up fuck it.

Stu ..... masturbation isn't a game.

I know but atleast its free and doesnt cost £4 for the privi

That is very true.

Battered Villa and only came away with a draw, Scotty Parker back this week which will help massively, happy with Pereira coming in at Gremio, looks a talent.

Got my turn and battered Norwich and Port vale,Suarez scoring 5 goals in over the two games aswell which was nice, Only 34,000 turned up for my league game compared to the 54,000 for Port vale. Looks like im out the race for Aguero as can't offer much more so plenty of cash spare now....so who has player available???

Is it just me , but it's killed me this turn with the unexpected change in Accasemy eligible ages I now have a sqaud effectiveness of 91% all cos of a change I was unable to prepare for, all I needed was one weeks notice and I could have sorted it

Bit bummed about that

Could someone let me know my result please? Busy packing tonight by would like to know how I got on before I jet off! Cheers

Newcastle 3-2 Plymouth

Balotelli,Kolarov 2