Jonno Turner mixes a bit of Premier League with the Swedish fourth tier in his first column of the week...
To be honest, I'm glad this weekend is over. I spent nearly all of it doing DIY, with my new step-ladder. I never really got along with my real ladder.
I'm not very good at DIY, so I went to the library and asked the lady if she had any books on shelves. I was there for eight hours. To make things worse I am barred from my local hardware shop after reporting them to the police a couple of summers ago - despite the hose pipe ban, they were still blatantly selling them.
I'm constantly getting nagged to do things around the house, but like I always used to say to my ex - if a man says he will fix something, he will. No need to remind him every six months about it.
We're off to Merseyside for our first tip of the new week as and Everton welcome Manchester United to Goodison Park, looking to dent the confidence which is currently overflowing from Old Trafford.
The visitors scored a real coup by signing Robin van Persie last week, and the Dutch striker is set to make his first start in United colours tonight, with all eyes on his potentially deadly partnership with Wayne Rooney.
United won five of their last seven on the road at the end of last season, and that stands them in good stead as they attempt to win their 20th league title.
And three clean sheets in five on the road shows that, with an abundance of quality in attack, Fergie still sees steady defending as his bread and butter.
So he will be desperate to produce another solid performance at the back, although they are struggling for players, with Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling, Rio Ferdinand and Phil Jones all likely to miss out. As a result, Michael Carrick may be selected to partner Nemanja Vidic at centre back.
Everton are renowned for starting slowly, and that could cost them as they welcome a United side still wounded from their final day disappointment from last season. The Toffees finished seventh last time out - and boss David Moyes will want to improve on that by clinching a place in Europe.
But that will be a difficult task as, although they have won their last four at home, they lost key midfielders Tim Cahill and Jack Rodwell in the off-season and have Marouane Fellaini and Darron Gibson in the physio room, albeit expected to play some part tonight.
Two wins from their last five in the Premier League indicated that the hosts didn't quite have the cutting edge to improve their mid-table position last term and it remains to be seen whether the changes rung by Moyes will lift the Toffees to new heights this year.
I really like the look of the visitors at these odds despite their defensive troubles and I fancy them to snatch a victory on Merseyside, although it could be a case of "we'll score one more than you".
Bet 1: Manchester United (AWAY) to win @ 2.01/1
Over to Sweden now, as Assyriska BK welcome IFK Uddevalla, looking to extend an excellent run of five straight home wins.
After finishing in the bottom half last season, they have started with a bang this time, losing only four of their first 13 to ascend to third place. Three successive home clean sheets accompanied by ten goals suggest that they won't be fading away any time soon.
By contrast, visitors IFK Uddevalla have lost three of their last five league fixtures on the road - conceding nine in the process - and go into this encounter in sixth.
And a 3-1 loss to Assyriska BK the last time these sides met won't do much for the visitors' confidence either in a game which I expect to end in a comfortable win for their hosts.
Bet 1: Assyriska BK (HOME) to win @ 1.695/7
There are no comments on this article.
No comments:
Post a Comment