Premier League Midweek Preview - Part 1
Christmas period is always packed with football fixtures and this one is no different. After a host of exciting fixtures at the weekend, teams will be busy again in the midweek fighting it out for points going into the New Year.
Here is a preview of the matches taking place in the midweek:
Tuesday, December 28
Birmingham v Man Utd – St. Andrews Stadium, Birmingham, 2000 hrs kick off
Manchester United are fresh from a 2-0 win over Sunderland and will have a chance to extend their lead at the top of the table to 5 points when they face Alex McLeish’s side on Tuesday.
Sir Alex Ferguson expects Nani and Darren Fletcher to be available after the pair missed out the win on Sunday with Nani suffering from a knee niggle and Darren Fletcher caught out by cold and flu, but Paul Scholes is set to miss out as he is not expected
back in the side until the turn of the year. Park Ji-Sung will also be missing as he has flown out to Qatar to take part in the AFC Championship for South Korea.
The same fixture last year ended in a 1-1 draw while United won the home leg 1-0. United are unbeaten in the league this season and are going into the match on the back of four consecutive wins while Birmingham are not in the best of shapes as they have
drawn two and lost one of their last three fixtures.
The match referee for tonight’s game at St. Andrews will be Lee Mason.
Man City v Aston Villa – City Of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, 2000 hrs kick off
Manchester City are the only team that can stop their city rivals from opening a five point gap at the top of the table, but after tonight’s game City will have played three more games than United and that will give Sir Alex’s side some breathing space even
if they lose tonight and City leapfrog them into the pole position.
Manchester City bounced back from the defeat at Everton with a win on Boxing Day and remained within touching distance of United only 2 points adrift and tonight they will have to come up with the goods against an Aston Villa side that lost to Spurs on Boxing
day and will be looking to make amends.
Kolo toure will return tonight after serving a one match ban and is expected to replace Jolean Lescott at the heart of the defence.
For Aston Villa, Emile Heskey is a doubt after being substituted in the first half of the game against Spurs while Ashley Young will also be missing as his tenure of the sideline continues with a knee injury.
This fixture was won by City 3-1 last season while the away game ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
City have won 3 of their last five fixtures while Aston Villa have lost four times during the same period. For Gerrard Houllier’s side, a win is a must tonight but same goes for City.
City will be looking to Carlos Tevez for goals as the Argentinean has banged in 12 this season while the top scorer for Villa is Stewart Downing with six goals.
The referee for this game will be Michael Oliver.
Stoke v Fulham – Britannia Stadium, Stoke on Trent, 2000 hrs kick off
Stoke won convincingly last time out against Blackburn while Fulham had to face the humiliation of losing at home to West Ham. But they will be looking to bounce back against a Stoke side that has not been very good at home of late and has won two and lost
2 of their last five fixtures but the problem for Fulham is the fact that going into the match their record in the last five games is even worse as they have drawn two and lost 3.
Fulham slipped into the bottom three with a defeat against West Ham. The pressure on Mark Hughes is increasing by the day and he will have to get the results flowing in or face the sack.
The referee for this game will be Kevin Friend.
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