Football News: Premier League Match Previews Sunday 10th September

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Sunday 10th September 2017

Burnley v Crystal Palace 1:30pm kick off

Wells (ankle injury) out
Hendrick (thigh muscle strain) late fitness test
Marney (ACL injury) major doubt

Sean Dyche must be fairly happy with his team's start to the season, with a shock opening day victory over Chelsea and the last gasp rescue of a point away to Tottenham Hotspur last time out. Those four points will be more than he could possibly expected from those two games and made up, in large part, for the defeat to West Bromwich Albion which was sandwiched inbetween. I am sure that at this point in the season, after those games, he would have been looking to have 3 points. Now it is important his team take advantage of Palace's struggles and crank up the pressure on de Boer with a win. Dyche is one of the many managers who would not have wanted an international break at this stage of the season, he would have wanted to maintain the momentum from rescuing a point against Spurs. To keep that excited buzz around the training ground for a week is hard enough, but to even hope to roll it over while so many players head off on their travels is too much.

Most important player: Jack Cork. Dyche has made a few tactical changes for this season, amongst them the use of an out and out holding midfielder in the centre has been one of them. It is an important position for a team that have so little possession and so Cork has to ensure he not only wins the ball back as early as possible but uses it well. The new tactics are intended to give Burnley more of the ball, but that all stems from how well Cork performs.

Cabaye (ankle injury) late fitness test
Souare (fitness) major doubt
Tomkins (groin strain) late fitness test
Loftus-Cheek (groin strain) slight doubt
Riedewald (groin strain) slight doubt
Zaha (knee injury) out
Sako (calf muscle strain) out
Wickham (ACL injury) out
Sakho (knee injury) doubt

I am not sure if de Boer could have got off to a worse start if he tried. Everything he has done has not worked, so far at least. The formation and tactics have been a complete mess as the players struggle to get to grips with their instructions and positions. Three defeats in a row in the league have been, to a degree, broken up by a win over Ipswich Town in the EFL Cup 2nd Round. Unfortunately for the Dutchman, the pressure is still mounting on him and he does not look to have any plan to improve things, other than to just keep going as he is and hope things improve. Unless he gets a result against Burnley, the pressure is going to be cranked up another notch. Unlike most managers, de Boer would have been glad of the international break to give him some time to work with the players and try to get them to understand the way he wants them to play.
Most important player: Christian Benteke. With the Eagles yet to score a goal in league football, it is time for the big Belgian striker to step up and show why he has been sold for such huge fees in the past.

Defining Battle: Palace are set up to try and dominate possession and control the ball, but lack the players to truly suit that style of play. Burnley are also trying to move over to a system that allows them more control of the ball, with an extra body in midfield. The battle here will be who can be better at using the ball, which team's players have finally understood their tactical instructions better.

Editors' Predictions:
Ed002 - 1-1
Ed003 - 2-1
Ed004 - 3-1
Ed007 - 1-1
Ed018 - 2-1
Ed025 - 2-0
Ed033 - 0-1

Swansea City v Newcastle United 4pm kick off

Ayew (sickness) slight doubt
Bartley (MCL injury) out
Britton (back injury) late fitness test
Sung-Yeung (knee injury) out
Dyer (achilles injury) out
Blair (broken foot) out
Botti Bia Bi (hamstring strain) out

There were big changes at the Swans in the summer, with it came increased pressure on Paul Clement, who will be expected to ensure Swansea steer clear of a relegation battle this time around, after a few years of struggling. It has been a mixed start for the South Wales club, but the signs are better than last season as, despite receiving a thrashing at the hands of Manchester United, they immediately bounced back with a win. Now they need to maintain the excitement that transfer deadline day brought to the club and begin to meet the raised expectations with a good performance against Newcastle.
Most important player: Alfie Mawson. The young defender has been guilty of a few clangers already this season, it is important he puts them to the back of his mind and does not dwell on them. With a lack of real options in defence, they have no one to bring in to replace him if he continues to struggle.

Mbemba (groin strain) out
Darlow (ankle injury) late fitness test
Gayle (illness) slight doubt
Lejeune (ankle injury) slight doubt
Dummett (hamstring injury) out
Yedlin (hamstring injury) slight doubt
Sterry (groin injury) slight doubt
Mitrovic (suspended) out

This was always going to be a difficult season for Toon fans, even without the barrow boy owner's idiotic and embarrassing attempts to claim he has no money put into the club. If he would stop with his false justification of his cheap and cheerful policy things would go a lot better. Newcastle United as an entity makes money, he has no need to put money in to buy players, so his nonsense about his billions just being on paper and not having any actual cash to spend is irrelevant. The club has been making money for his wallet for years now, nothing needs to come out of his pocket at all. The only thing he needed to do was stop stuffing used fivers into it from the Newcastle fans, and start allowing the club to finance itself.

None of this limit on spending more than £15m on any one player when the club is offloading huge numbers of players. It is like Rafael Benitez is managing with one hand tied behind his back needlessly. It seems like Ashley believes that the jumble stores he runs are a good model for all businesses, buy cheap tat and hope to sell it on at a good price later. However he forgets that life is not one size fits all, sport is not the same, it is a competition and you sometimes need to put out for better players to compete, as Newcastle did in the past to acquire Alan Shearer. The Toon missed out on so many players because of the 15m limit in the transfer window, players that would not have cost a lot more but could have made a significant difference to their fortunes this season. Now it is difficult to see anything but a long, hard slog, a battle against relegation.

Most important player: Mikel Merino. The Spanish midfielder, on loan from Borussia Dortmund, has impressed already this season. He and Isaac Hayden look to be developing a good partnership in the centre of the Newcastle midfield.

Defining Battle: the central midfield battle will be frantic and there will be little space, as both managers like to play through there. Will Swansalona be able to get the better of former Real Madrid manager Benitez? Can Rafa trust in former Swans midfielder Jonjo Shelvey to not do something stupid and get sent off?

Editors' Predictions:
Ed002 - 3-1
Ed003 - 1-2
Ed004 - 2-1
Ed007 - 1-1
Ed018 - 2-0
Ed025 - 2-1
Ed033 - 2-1

Written by Tris Burke September 10 2017 04:45:04