Dave Pundit's Predictions 02/03/09

Hi, I'm Dave Pundit. Football has changed almost beyond recognition since I played the game. In fact I'd go so far as to say you'd barely recognise the sport of today if you'd been around in my day. Of course for those of you who are old enough to remember the old days you'll realise that nothing much has changed. Footballers are all cut from the same cloth. We all love the game, we all want to win and we all get screwed over when we have to divorce our wives. But that's just football, I guess.

West Brom v Arsenal
Everyone knows that Arsenal are lightweight and defensively week. If there's one thing you're guaranteed in an Arsenal game it's goals. Sadly West Brom don't seem to have enough English grit and passion to take advantage of Arsenal's shoddy back line. Which result in that rarest of things: an Arsenal clean sheet.
Verdict 0-1

Portsmouth v Chelsea
This is exactly the sort of game Pompey don't need if they're going to beat the drop. They just wont be able to break Chelsea down and that's entirely down to one man, John Terry. Terry is so English that if he was a piece of art Tate Britain would have to be renamed Tate England.
Verdict 0-2

Liverpool v Sunderland
Liverpool will want to wipe away the memories of their defeat to Middlesbrough. You just have to have a clean slate, completely wipe the past from their minds. If they can just focus on their peformance against Real Madrid they should be able to stop dwelling on the past.
Verdict 2-0

Man City v Aston Villa
When Man City play to their strengths they can be fantastic they just haven't done it enough. This is down to a lack of British spine, however bringing in Shay Given should help sort that out. Villa have so many Brtitish players you could almost say their whole team is a spine.
Verdict 1-1

Newcastle v Man Utd
Man Utd proved that they were winners in the Carling Cup and they did it in the best possible way by drawing 0-0 after extra time. Any team that can draw a game and still win are something special.
Verdict 0-3

Stoke v Bolton
This fixture just screams classic. Two British sides play proper British football. Proper British center-halves. One to do the tackling one to hoof it up field. Proper British grafters in midfield, none of this time on the ball rubbish, just more tackling and more hoofing. And up front a traditional big centre forward to hold up the ball and irritate defenders. It's games like this that make you realise how much all these technical, skillful, intelligent foreigners playing beautiful free flowing football have ruined our game.
Verdict 0-0

Wigan v West Ham
I think the best teams take on their managers character. Which is why Wigan are very good at winning ugly. It's also why West Ham a little bit short up front. I think of it like this; you put Steve Bruce and Gianfranco Zola into a boxing ring who's going to win? it's going to be the guy who looks like he's already gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson isn't it?
Verdict 1-0

Blackburn v Everton
Very few managers are a match for Sam Allardyce but I've got to say David Moyes comes close. However his players do seem to get injured a lot so he obviously needs to have his defenders practice a few leg breaking challenges on the strikers in training to toughen them up. They'll certainly appreciate it when going up against Blackburn.
Verdict 2-1

Fulham v Hull
Fulham went to Arsenal and played football and they got what they deserved. A nil-nil draw. Now if they'd just gone and parked the bus for 90 minutes they might've been able to nick a one-nil win. Let's hope they're a bit more defensively minded against Hull.
Verdict 1-0

Tottenham v Middlesbrough
This will be a test of the Tottenham players' fitness after a long, hard match at Wembley, whereas Middlesbrough will be rejuvenated after their lucky win over Liverpool. The Spurs players will be all right though they've probably been drowning their sorrows since the game and I always found a massive binge in between games helped my performance. Plus they'll be able to bring back Robbie Keane so they'll be able to add a bit of British steel up front.
Verdict 2-1