Premiership
Birmingham City vs Arsenal
Arsenal would be looking to bounce back from 2 disappointing results by winning at Birmingham to maintain their 5 point gap or even increase their lead at the top.
Birmingham would feel that if they could get a draw at the Emirates than they can either get the same result or provide a shock against the league leaders but it would not be easy.
Arsenal should win this but with some difficulty.
Liverpool Vs Middlesboro
You never know what you are going to get from Liverpool and especially from their manager. The 1 thing you do know you are not going to get is the same side that beat Inter Milan on Tuesday. Middlesboro have not lost a game this year and would like to keep that run going but if Liverpool play to their full potential they should win. It would not surprise me if this ends in a draw but I really do expect Liverpool to with this game.
Newcastle United Vs Manchester United
Newcastle have not won under Kevin Keegan and after tomorrow, I expect that record to continue as anything other than a Manchester United victory would be a total surprise.
They would not lose 6-0 as they did at Old Trafford but I still expect them to lose against a team that would be buoyant after decent results against Arsenal and Lyon in the champion’s league.
The 1 saving grace for Newcastle is that Manchester United do not always play well immediately after a champions league tie but unfortunately Newcastle do not have the desired quality to trouble the champions.They did get an improbable draw against Manchester United last season and Keegan always wants to beat Ferguson so you never know.
Carling Cup Final
Chelsea Vs Tottenham Hotspurs
Juande Ramos is a past master in winning cup finals but I cannot see them defeating Chelsea on Sunday bearing in mind they played 2 days after Chelsea did in the midweek and also how very organised Chelsea are defensively.
If Ledley King plays then Spurs would stand a slight chance as he provides so much defensive prowess to them but if he does not then I do not give them a chance.
Spurs have all the flair and attacking prowess but Chelsea are a very hard nut to crack and Tottenham have to score 1st to stand any chance.
I would like to see Spurs win the cup but I just cannot see past Chelsea winning it.
SerieA
Roma Vs Fiorentina
This is the game of the weekend in Italy and pits 2 of the most attractive teams against each other.
Roma managed to defeat Real Madrid in the champions league on Tuesday and that would have boosted their confidence after some shaky results whilst Fiorentina defeated Rosenborg to go through to the next phase of the UEFA cup just last night.
The fact that Fiorentina played 2 days after and do not exactly have a very good away record makes me opt firmly towards Roma.
Sampdoria Vs Inter Milan
Inter would be looking to put their 1st defeat in 5 months against Liverpool firmly behind them and I strongly fancy them to beat Sampdoria at Genoa.
Sampdoria, inspired by Antonio Cassano did well to defeat city rivals, Genoa last weekend but I do not see them repeating the trick against Inter unless Inter decide to implode by having a man sent off early again.
Inter do have problems at the back though with Ivan Cordoba ruled out for the season joining Walter Samuel as casualties for the season.
Reginna Vs Juventus
Juventus are coming off 2 excellent results and would be full of confidence when they face relegation threatened Reginna on Saturday evening knowing fully well that a victory would catapult them to 2nd albeit for a few hours.
This would not be easy as Juventus have shown this season that they tend not to win games you fully expect them to and have drawn a lot of games they were expected to win. But I do think they would win this game but not very comfortably.
Milan Vs Palermo
Like Liverpool, you never know what you are going to get and this is not an easy game to call. You would think Milan should win this game but they have drawn far too many home games to consider any game a home banker.
Pato and Kaka are back so that should help and they would also be buoyed by their midweek performance at Arsenal.
I expect a very narrow victory for the Rossoneri.
La Liga
Sevilla Vs Zaragoza
Sevilla are quite formidable at home and Zaragoza are inconsistent everywhere so I would expect Sevilla to win this game.
Barcelona Vs Levante
Barcelona looked like they are coming back into some semblance of form with a number of key players performing well against Celtic including Ronaldinho, Deco, Thierry Henry and most especially Lionel Messi.
Samuel Etoo is back as well and Levante, which is possibly the poorest team in La Liga this season do not have a prayer.
Real Madrid Vs Getafe
This is a local derby with the added spice of Real Madrid manager Bernd Schuster coming up against his former club and Getafe manager, Michael Laudrup coming up against a side he graced so well as a player.
Real were unlucky to be defeated at Roma and have a 100% home record in la Liga this season. They also have the additional boost of Robinho returning to the fold so I fully expect them to be too strong for a Getafe side that played yesterday in Uefa Cup defeating AEK Athens 3-0.