Premiership Football Preview: New Year's Day

The last programme of the busy Christmas football schedule takes place on New Year's Day with a couple of games the following evening. Many a club's destiny is shaped over this period where up to 12 points can be salvaged or lost.

The top of the English Premiership is a case in point. It is feasible that Manchester United could be nine points clear of Chelsea after the New Year's Day games are completed yet before the break, Jose Mourinho was looking at leading the pile after United's defeat at West Ham and Chelsea's late wins over Wigan and Everton. Instead, Chelsea have a record of eight goals conceded in four matches against relatively lowly opposition, all without John Terry anchoring a shaky defence.

Aston Villa will believe this is a great time, if there is any such time, to play Chelsea. Sadly for Villa, their own form has hit a low point in the season. Meanwhile, nothing stops the Red Devils of Manchester United from an inexorable march toward recapture of their beloved Premiership title.

At the bottom, West Ham sunk a little further into the mire and their mood will not have been helped by a last minute win by Charlton Athletic against Aston Villa. That also scuppered my draw tip! Added to a home defeat by Manchester City along with Sheffield United scrapping out a win over Arsenal (who definitely do not like it up 'em!), Christmas has been anything but merry for the Hammers.

The New Year line-up is as follows:

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)

The cameras are busy at four games over this programme. The first is at Anfield for an early afternoon meeting of Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers. It is difficult to call games involving Bolton especially as so much depends on whether Nicolas Anelka decides to turn up. However, he has made it his habit to do so against former teams as Arsenal and Manchester City have both recently discovered to their cost. Liverpool are in great form at home so even Anelka's talents may not be enough. If you believe an Anelka goal is pre-destined, Blue Square will lay you 11/4 on a goal at any time from Anelka. In the win market, Bet365 go 8/13 Liverpool while VC Bet and Blue Square offer 5/2 the draw. Away optimists can grab 5/1 from several layers for a Bolton win.

On PremPlus at 3pm, an intriguing match takes place between two teams in decent "EUFA Cup place" form. Portsmouth welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Fratton Park where life is always tough for the away team. Spurs do not travel well and a home win would be unsurprising unless Jermaine DeFoe can continue his run of sharply taken goals. DeFoe is 9/4 at Ladbrokes which seems decent value. For Pompey, The return of Kanu after a rest makes the 7/4 at Blue Square attractive for him to continue his run of goals here. In the win market, Pompey at 7/5 with Bet365 seems good value as I make Portsmouth a likely winner here with Spurs suffering some injury concerns.

The late kick off on New Year's Day sees a traditional "big match" except this season the away team are hot favourites. Manchester United go to Newcastle United looking to complete a full set of wins over the festive period and pull decisively away from Chelsea in the league table. Newcastle will have a rampant support behind them at St James' Park but their footballers may not have the defenders to prevent Ronaldo, Rooney and company from tearing them up. Ronaldo is in blistering form currently but I feel Wayne Rooney is due to hit the target soon. Ladbrokes and VC Bet offer 5/4 on a goal from Rooney.

On Tuesday, the cameras are watching to see if Chelsea's slump in defence continues at out-of-form Aston Villa. The bookies are still not letting punters get a piece of Chelsea for a price worth having. 8/13 is the best on offer currently. The draw at 13/5 at VC Bet seems a worthy punt in Chelsea's current mood while Villa die-hards can get 6/1 on the home win in places.

Whatever your luck at the bookies, Pokernews Sportsbetting wishes all its readers a prosperous 2007!

Ed note: Start he year off with £100 Free Bet Basket when you open an account at Bet365

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