[lichtie23]

Should be a great feast of Football this afternoon with 4 of the top 5 squaring off.

1st up 3rd placed Spurs travel to the Etihad to face top of the league Manchester City. A Spurs win will leave them only 2 points off top and will surely confirm them as legitimate title contenders.

Following that the other half of Manchester travel to the Emirates to face long time rivals Arsenal. The Gunners are apparently without 10 first teamers.

Should be a fantastic afternoon

[young_bairn]

2 draws?

[lichtie23]

young_bairn, on 22 January 2012 - 08:34, said:

2 draws?

I fancy a Manchester double

[Berti_Dee]

Man City haven't been convincing in the last few weeks, and I reckon Spurs will give them a severe test this afternoon. The pace that the away side possesses in midfield, with Bale and Lennon down either flank, in addition to their pairing of Modric and Parker, could cause problems for a City midfield which includes Gareth 'the crab' Barry, and is without Yaya Toure.

Perhaps just as crucially as the battle in the middle of the park, however, will be how the two defences line up, and perform. Kompany missing out will again, be a huge blow for City, Savic being nowhere near as effective as the man he is in the side to replace. It is also clear that Spurs look much more composed at the back when Ledley King plays. Whilst his fitness remains a doubt, he'll play if available.

Man City do, however, still contain genuine quality going forward, particularly in Silva and Aguero. I can see both sides scoring and whilst, if pushed to pick a winner, I'd opt for the away side, my prediction would be Man City 1 - 1 Spurs.

[Paco]

Arsenal just have too many injuries for me. They'll still put out a relatively competitive side but they're missing six defenders and the defence isn't exactly superb at the best of times. They might not even have the psychological boost of Henry to come off the bench as he's a major doubt too.

Can only see a third straight defeat for Arsenal.

[lichtie23]

Man Utd are 13/8 with Ladbrokes, probably bigger elsewhere

[H_B]

Paco, on 22 January 2012 - 09:36, said:

Arsenal just have too many injuries for me. They'll still put out a relatively competitive side but they're missing six defenders

Worse news for them is that none of these injuries are Mertesacker.

This post has been edited by H_B: 22 January 2012 - 09:40

[lichtie23]

H_B, on 22 January 2012 - 09:40, said:

Worse news for them is that none of these injuries are Mertesacker.

[ICTJohnboy]

Yep, I'm looking forward to these two fixtures. Like young_bairn I can see two draws being a likely outcome.

The EPL is becoming almost as exciting as the SPL.

[lichtie23]

Man City: Hart, Richards, Savic, Lescott, Glichy, Milner, Barry, Nasri, Aguero, Silva, Dzeko

Subs:Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Johnson, Kolorov, De Jong, Onouha, Balotelli

[The Naitch]

For once I'm hoping the matches today live up to the hype.

This post has been edited by The Naitch: 22 January 2012 - 13:03

[lichtie23]

Spurs: Friedel, Walker, King, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Parker, Modric, Bale, Van Der Vaart, Defoe

Subs: Cudicini, Pavlyuchenko, Bassong, Dawson, Kranjcar, Livermore, Pienaar

[lichtie23]

Savic & Lescott could be the weak link for City

[tintax]

Should be a good afternoon, I expect Tottingham to have a right go at City who haven't looked great recently. And surely Arsenal will be gunning for revenge after what happened at Old Trafford

[lichtie23]

Out for Arsenal today

Barcary Sagna
Kieran Gibbs
Francis Coquelin
Gervinho
Marouane Chamakh
Mikel Arteta
Jack Wiltshire
Thomas Vermaelan

Thierry Henry will have a fitness test

[roverthemoon]

Hopefully Tottenham can win to keep it nice and open at the top

[ffcsam]

Savic is fucking woeful . I hope Spurs tear him a new arsehole

[lichtie23]

Here we go then

[Sooky]

Hoping for a win for both North London teams, unfortunately I'm not confident that it'll happen.

[lichtie23]

What the f**k is Clichy doing?

[Widge]

lichtie23, on 22 January 2012 - 13:41, said:

What the f**k is Clichy doing?

Aye, he's now got 80 minutes against Lennon and Walker, the 2 fastest players on the pitch.

[mattydfc]

I hate the fact I have work so I can't see either of these games through til the end. MOTD2 for me tonight

Tottenham have started decent , hope they win.

[Lex]

4 of my dream team are involved here, so basically i want Aguero, Richards and Bale to score and emmm Friedel to keep a clean sheet aswell

[Bogs_Dollox]

i have a fiver on this double

man city (-1)
man utd (-1)

returns around 60 quid


although i would love to see spurs win today!

[J_Stewart]

Why does Coleman keep calling David Silva - one of the most talked about players in the Premier league - Da Silva? It's irritating as f**k.

ETA: Sergio Ramos has never managed Spurs Chris, and his name's Clichy, not Cliche you absolute penis.

This post has been edited by J_Stewart: 22 January 2012 - 13:55