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Sorry for the combined post this week ladies and gentlemen. I have just flown into Santiago, Chile from Lima, Peru on the red-eye and I only have enough energy left in me for one post. So let's jump right in!
Let's take a quick look at Saturday's fixtures:
Chelsea v QPR
Everton v Swansea
Hull City v Southampton
Stoke City v West Ham
Leicester City v West Brom
We have an exciting set of fixtures set before us for Saturday with Chelsea and Arsenal facing home matches with the two bottom clubs, QPR and Burnley, respectively. On paper the move should be to load up players from both Arsenal and Chelsea. While I feel Chelsea will get the job done at Stamford Bridge, Arsenal, well, can pull an Arsenal at any point, so I am not diving in too deep. However this seems one of those times to put the perverbeal eggs into one basket (or in this case two).
Southampton will look to continue their strong form against Hull City at the KC Stadium. Although Hull City have proven to be a handful for any team drawing level with both Arsenal and Liverpool in recent matches. This will be a test in Southampton's resolve to see if they can keep their upward momentum moving towards an European birth.
Everton will hope they can fire past a Swansea City side that has impressed so far this season. Glyf Sigurdsson is proving to be a remarkable piece of business upon his return to the Swans, linking up play and generally getting involved in most of the attack. Everton's defense will have to keep close tabs on the Icelandic midfielder and the physical threat of Wilfred Bony. Time will tell if Lukaku is indeed benefitting from having an experienced striker in the likes of Eto'o alongside him.
Newcastle will hope to continue their turn around against a stuttering Liverpool side (boy it hurt me to write that). Something tells me NUFC will be able to knick something from this match unless Balotelli can find a way to finally assert himself in front of goal. This is certainly no easy fixture and undoubtably a hard one to call. I'd be treading lightly in who you select from this match.
Saturday rounds out with Stoke City v West Ham, which has 0-0 written all over it and Leicester City v West Brom. Stoke have been totally inconsistent this season and West Ham have been shockingly superb, but I feel this match will fall into old habits and become a war of attrition. I bank on West Brom to get all 3 points against Leicester City, who started brightly but have failed to impress in recent matches. All those holding Saido Berahino will be licking their lips come kick off. With a proven eye for goal already this season and penalties in his locker to boot, the young English forward will be the main threat to the Foxes defense. I expect atleast a goal if not a brace.
My team is currently as follows:
Courtois, Ivanovic, Chambers, Bertrand, Hazard, Di Maria, Tadic, Fabregas, Berahino, Sanchez, Costa
Bench: Lamela, Kelly, Moore, Gazz
Okay there we have it! Who are you still considering for Week 10? Who will be your hunch/dark horse picks this week?
Cheers!
Kellz