Another tight affair between Hamburg and Bayern Munich
The match between
Hamburg and defending champions, Bayern Munich, will kick off the
European weekend on Friday. It has always been a tight affair between
these two sides in the past four seasons and this one should not be any
different.
The margin of
victory for either has been the odd goal; and on the basis of goals
scored in the current season, it is debatable that there will be
anything different. With 13 and seven goals scored between both sides
in eight matches, Bayern will have to continue to plod on without their
most effective players of Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben. Hamburg
stopped the terrific march of Mainz last weekend and moved to fifth in
the standings; and in Ruud Van Nistelrooy, they have a rejuvenated
marksman who is still on top of his game. He will be supported by
Mladen Petric and Eljero Elia. Martin Demechelis, Bayern defender seems
set for the exit door, and Holger Badstuber will continue to pair
Daniel Van Buyten.
Spurs need a come-back victory
Harry Redknapp
needs to lift his side after their 4-3 loss to Inter Milan, and he will
be happy with the return of Rafael Van Der Vaart to the side. Ledley
King is still out and there are fears on when he will make his return.
Gareth Bale gave a master class performance and hit three neat goals
which were not enough for a draw in Italy and a return to familiar
surroundings may help Tottenham get over the first 35 minutes in Italy,
where they fell to four goals. Jermain Defoe is still weeks from a
return to the first team.
Everton on a high
Everton have been
buoyed by the Merseyside win and will be highly wound up for this trip
to West London. Against Liverpool, the midfield led by Mikel Arteta
pressurised Liverpool midfielders high up the pitch and that allowed
the Everton defence to push up and squeeze the space where Fernando
Torres and Steven Gerrard could run into. Yakubu Aiyegbeni had an
excellent outing in attack and seems to be back to his bullying best.
Louis Saha is near to a return from injury that has kept him out since
the beginning of September with Steven Pienaar still out. Marouane
Fellaini, Jack Rodwell and Victor Anichebe all remain on the long-term
injured list.
Wolves set on mission impossible
After a second
match in 42, in which the Blues did not score, it is back to Stamford
Bridge where they have scored 14 goals in four matches. Wolves will be
hard pressed to get a win at the Bridge but have scored on all their
away trips except one – last weekend’s 2-0 loss to Wigan. The major
highlight will be if one goal will be enough to get a win or a point.
Stephen Hunt looks like getting a debut on the left with Matthew Jarvis
shifted to the right and these two will cause the Chelsea defence some
problems with their pace and trickery. Jose Bosingwa could start in
place of Paulo Ferreira and Didier Drogba should make a return to the
front line to help his team get goals as they have scored just two
goals in their last three Premiership matches.
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