13 March 2007

Prem and UEFA Cup predictions 3/14-3/15

Two Premiership games tomorrow, and in a valiant attempt to make up for the slacking off that led to no predictions for the FA Cup quarterfinals over the weekend, some quick UEFA Cup predictions that are pretty much guaranteed to be wrong. As an FYI, the early US daylight savings time continues to wreak havoc upon the usual starting times.

Aston Villa v Arsenal (3:45pm, Setanta): It’s tempting to think that Arsenal will rebound from the Carling Cup final and exits in the FA Cup and Champions League with a strong performance where they actually put away the chances they create. But I’ll go with the other tried and true cliché about Villa as draw specialists, with 12 ties out of 28 PL games. And yes, continuing on a theme I’ve harped on for a couple of months, I am still waiting for Carew and Young to bring Villa back up the table. There’s always next year… 1-1
Man City v Chelsea (4:00pm, FSC): Poor Psycho. Less than a year removed from speculation about being a future England manager, he’s already in hot water, and now City will play host to the two-time defending league champions. And then they’ll travel to the Northeast for games against Boro and Newcastle, which are never easy places to play. Pearce will probably end the season out of a job, and it will boil down to his failed striker signings, especially £6m (which City could hardly afford to blow) on Georgios Samaras. Oh, and Joey Barton was just arrested again, by the way. Chelsea 2-0

UEFA Cup
Wednesday
Bayer Leverkusen v Lens (agg 1-2), 1:15pm, Setanta: Bayer 1-0
Osasuna v Rangers (agg 1-1), 3:45pm: Osasuna 1-0
Werder Bremen v Celta Vigo (agg 1-0), 3:45pm: Bremen 2-0
Tottenham v Braga (agg 3-2), 4:15pm: Tottenham 2-1
Thursday
Shakhtar Donetsk v Sevilla (agg 2-2), 2:30pm, Setanta: Sevilla 1-0
AZ v Newcastle (agg 2-4), 3:35pm: AZ 1-0
Espanyol v Maccabi Haifa (agg 0-0), 4:30pm: Espanyol 1-0
Benfica v PSG (agg 1-2), 5:00pm: Benfica 2-0

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