Yesterday’s relief at the English Premier League’s return as faded into anticipated. No early kick-off today, thanks to bSkyb’s nPower Championship feature. No late match, thanks to the frozen tundra of Bloomfield Road. Six matches. One start time. And a swarm of updates from SB Nation Soccer. Let’s walk through it ...
English Premier League Saturday: Six Matches, One Start Time
A lot of our focus is going to be on the City of Manchester Stadium, where fourth place Manchester City hosts sixth place Bolton. Bolton has become the Premier League’s darlings, while Manchester City’s become a weird combination of Billy Zabk and Draco Malfoy. It’s not fair to those who have supported the Citizens since before their reascension to the first division, but that’s what having a rich dad does.
For those still not enamored by names like City and Bolton, both Chelsea and Arsenal play at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Chelsea gets Everton at the Bridge. They also get Michael Essien and John Terry back, good news when facing a team that took four points from you last season. The Blues have only won one of their last seven league meetings with Everton.
Arsenal’s match is a little more straight-forward, hosting 17th place Everton, though their North London rivals have a more difficult task. Kicking-off at the same time as the Gunners and Cottagers, Tottenham Hotspur visiting Birmingham City, looking for three points in their first match since Rafael van der Vaart’s hamstring injury. Luckily, running onto a Peter Crouch knockdown isn’t the most unique skill in the world. Spurs fans will be hoping Jermain Defoe, whenever he plays, will beat Scott Dann to that second ball.
Elsewhere, Blackburn hosts Wolves while Wigan welcomes Stoke to the DW, two matches that are difficult to sell after I’ve talked about Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, and City-Bolton. I really should organize these posts better.
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