Premiership Football Preview: Last Games in December

The hectic football schedule continues this week for the Premiership and lower leagues in England and Scotland. Having played (generally) on 23rd and 26th December, the teams take up arms once more on 30th December and then 1st January, with one or two exceptions to suit the TV schedules.

As alluded to in my last piece, the likely performance of teams going into these matches may be affected by the immediacy of the preceding games, and this may be the case for one or two critically positioned teams in the Premiership.
Take Chelsea for example. Their matches against Wigan Athletic and Reading saw two matches where the "inferior" opposition gave the Champions a good examination and, but for a late goal in the Wigan game, could have left the Blues with a mere two points out of a possible six. Suddenly, Jose Mourinho is pleading a squad crisis which so far has been met with indifference by impartial observers short on sympathy for the over-indulged boys in blue! Is there a crack appearing in the armour?

At the other end, Charlton Athletic and Watford continue to suffer from late losses of goals that have blighted their respective seasons. Fulham's late equaliser against the Addicks in particular may be a significant event in the fortunes of the club. On the 23rd they lost tamely at Middlesbrough and the next day received a new manager in the shape of Alan Pardew. Quite how much compensation has been paid out by the Charlton Board this season to ex-managers can only be speculated at but the gamble on Premiership survival gets bigger by the minute, and we have to question if the players can handle it. Perhaps too many can spot an easy exit to another club at some stage while they continue to be paid extremely comfortably. It doesn't bode well for Charlton.

The line up over the next few days is as follows, with TV schedules shown:

Saturday, 30th December
Blackburn Rovers v Middlesbrough
Bolton Wanderers v Portsmouth
Charlton Athletic v Aston Villa, 12.45pm (LIVE: PremPlus)
Chelsea v Fulham
Everton v Newcastle United
Manchester United v Reading
Sheffield United v Arsenal, 5.15pm (LIVE: Sky Sports 1)
Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool
Watford v Wigan Athletic
West Ham United v Manchester City

Monday, 1st January
Fulham v Watford
Liverpool v Bolton Wanderers, 12.45pm (LIVE: Sky Sports 1)
Manchester City v Everton
Middlesbrough v Sheffield United
Newcastle United v Manchester United, 5.15pm (LIVE: Sky Sports 1)
Portsmouth v Tottenham Hotspur (LIVE: PremPlus)
Reading v West Ham United
Wigan Athletic v Blackburn Rovers

Tuesday, 2nd January
Arsenal v Charlton Athletic, 7.45pm
Aston Villa v Chelsea, 8.00pm (LIVE: Sky Sports 1)

Concentrating once more on the TV games, Charlton get another run-out in front of the cameras when they meet another out-of-sorts team, Aston Villa, at The Valley. A few weeks ago, the odds of 13/8 (Bet365) on Villa to win would have been knocked over in no time. But, with Pardew now in place at Charlton while Villa struggle to buy a win, perhaps the 9/4 on the draw with VC Bet and Ladbrokes is the better bet.

Later in the day, Arsenal, fresh from wins over Blackburn Rovers and Watford, travel to an expected roughing-up at Bramall Lane live on Sky Sports 1. Sheffield United have stuttered a bit after a short burst out of the relegation zone and will be hoping to get at least a point from this. If Arsenal do not improve on their own indifferent efforts shown at Watford on Boxing Day, a draw is a distinct possibility with the Blades sure to be snapping at the aristocratic heels of the Gunners' players. Bet365 go 3/1 the draw.

We'll be back with more on the New Year's Day games. The bookies have yet to price up for those matches.

Ed note: A £50 Free Bet is on offer at Ladbrokes along with a $100 Poker Bonus when you sign up for the Sportsbook.

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