Everton Vs Chelsea Today 830pm
My Prediction: The Toffees 3-2 The Blues
An FA Cup weekend it is; and some great matches lined up! Everton Vs Chelsea will be a thriller tonight because both teams are trying to get into Europe next season. Chelsea are already out of the Champions League and their only hope of European football next season is to win the FA Cup. How sad! Yeah right! As regulars in the Europa League preliminary stages, Everton too are seeing this tournament as their only way to get into Europe so it will be tough! Chelsea actually haven’t beaten Everton this term. In the first leg of their league clash the match ended in a 3-3 draw, and in January when the two met again at Goodson Park, Chelsea lost 3-1. So of course Roberto Martinez has the upper hand going into this; but that’s only if he’s fixed his defensive and psychological problems in the team. Over the weekend Everton let a 2 goal lead against West Ham go and that didn’t go down well. They ended up losing that match 3-2! Chelsea are reeling from their loss to PSG midweek and will use that to try and motivate themselves in this competition. I don’t believe they plan on exiting two competitions in the span of one week! Side-bar: Sounds like an Arsenal affair. This game is going to be tough but I think the Toffees have found The Blues’ kryptonite and will end up victorious!
Arsenal Vs Watford Sunday 430pm
My Prediction: The Gunners 3-0 The Hornets
Arsenal have gone through a re-awakening! Ever since they had their players’ meeting just over a week ago; they have re-ignited their resolve to get results. And the last week hasn’t been all bad. The draw with Spurs was a decent result and the thrashing of Hull City was a sign that “we’re back!” Injuries are the Gunners biggest worry right now. Hopefully Laurent Koscielny will be back for this game. Manager Arsene Wenger has also confirmed that injuries that forced Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista off during the Hull match weren’t serious and they’ll both be available for selection tomorrow. I’m not too worried since Wenger did rest key players on Tuesday so they are fresh to smash Watford tomorrow. Watford have only won two matches in their last ten in the league but this is a Cup competition which every team has to believe they can win, so they will put their best foot forward here. Arsenal tend to play better away but I think that now they have resolved their psychological issues; we’ll be just fine. I forecast another goal fest in our favour; although I think Wenger should just try playing Joel Campbell for 90 minutes for a change. I think he could continue to create some magic!
Manchester United Vs West Ham Sunday 7pm
My Prediction: The Red Devils 1-2 The Hammers
This is going to be tough! Man United is not the team of old; and The Hammers are actually doing extremely well. West Ham are ahead of United in the standings after their extraordinary come back from 2-0 to beat Everton 3-2 last weekend. They’ve lost just two matches in their last ten while Man United have lost three. The Red Devils also suffered an embarrassing 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in Europa on Thursday which dented their ego; but the fans need to admit that their team was rubbish on the day. If they repeat that rubbish against the on fire Hammers, then their FA Cup dream will be over; just like their Europa dream is potentially over (although I must add that they could still turn that around at Old Trafford). Teams like West Ham know that their real chance of silverware is in tournaments like this and I think they will get one over the inconsistent United!