My Naija News - Obagoal and Newcastle Challenge Chelsea Might

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Obagoal and Newcastle Challenge Chelsea Might

Written by Adeleke Afolayan

Friday, 21 November 2008

Premier League pacesetters Chelsea and Liverpool have the luxury of home fixtures this weekend while champions Manchester United in third place travel to Gabriel Agbonlahor's Aston Villa in fifth place.

John Obi Mikel's Chelsea, atop with 32 points, welcome Obafemi Martins' Newcastle United with a fully fit squad save for Ivorian Didier Drogba who got himself a three match ban starting this weekend for throwing a coin back into the crowd in the League Cup defeat to Burnley.

Chelsea enter the match on the back of four league wins without conceding while Nicholas Anelka will form the main threat upfront having scored seven goals in his last three matches for the Blues; rendering Drogba's absence close to insignificant.

Newcastle meanwhile will be happy to have Michael Owen back in the fold alongside Obagoal and Shola Ameobi though the bigger picture for the Magpies is being further away from the relegation zone; being at the moment just off by goal difference.

As Chelsea negotiate the Newcastle test, Liverpool welcome Fulham to Anfield with news that captain Steven Gerrard is a doubt while Fulham in mid-table will be out to build on the win home to Tottenham Hotspur. The Cottagers have also named Nigerian international Dickson Etuhu in the squad hopefully for a long awaited debut for the Londoners.

Spurs before that defeat had been unbeaten in all competitions since Harry Redknapp took over from Juande Ramos, putting them straight back into the bottom three and making Blackburn Rovers' visit to White Hart Lane on Sunday a perfect opportunity to to climb out of the dreaded drop zone.

Spurs have 12 points in 19th while Rovers is one place and point above and with Newcastle with 13 points at Stamford Bridge and West Brom, bottom of the league with 11 points, hosting Seyi Olofinjana's Stoke City with 14 points, the weekend will focus more on the relegation battles.

Back at the top, the star match of the weekend sees Aston Villa host Manchester United on the back of an impressive 2-0 win at Arsenal last week though Villa have quite a poor record with the Red Devils.

The Midlands side have lost the last 11 league matches against United and failed to score in five of the six clashes with last season's 4-1 loss the only goal recorded by Villa in the miserable run.

United however is likely to be without Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov after picking up an injury in his country's 6-1 thrashing at Serbia, defenders Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown are also doubtful while England international Wayne Rooney may return from injury.

At the City Stadium, Arsenal travel face a Manchester City side it has beaten in eight of their nine clashes with the Gunners receiving further boost with the return of Robin van Persie from suspension. Theo Walcott is however out with a dislocated shoulder and Kolo Toure is a doubt.

In other matches this weekend, Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Joseph Yobo should be available for Everton on the trip to face Wigan while Nwankwo Kanu may get little or no time for Portsmouth at home to Hull City.

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