BLACKBURN vs ASTON VILLA (EPL)

well, martin o'neill has come out and stated that his side are better at playing away from home, which is obvious, really. his team plays well on the break, utilising the pace of players like young and agbonlahor very well. tonight, however, they miss the services of nigel reo-coker, and i think this might be advantageous for blackburn. new signing el-hadji diouf will look to re-ignite his career at blackburn, and sam allardyce will ensure it happens. aston villa have been playing well, but more importantly, lady luck has apparently forgotten her orders to take turns at various clubs. instead, it has been reported that she actually fell asleep during villa's 0-0 with manchester united at villa park. she is so fast asleep that she is still there, in a corner of the stadium. the effect of this, of course, is that aston villa have been really lucky in a really long run of matches. well, i hope she has packed her bags and moved over to the emirates, and i think aston villa might finally lose here.

Eddy's prediction: $5 on blackburn level ball @ 2.05 = $10.25

WIGAN vs FULHAM (EPL)

well, both teams are on form here. wigan come into this game on the back of 2 draws against better opposition - liverpool and aston villa - and were very strong against man shitty and man utd where they lost 1-0 rather unluckily. fulham posted a 10 game lossless streak and have won 3 in their last 5, albeit against lesser opposition like kettering town, sheffield wednesday and portsmouth (tony adams sucks). wigan have the quality to win this and new signing n'zogbia will be looking to impress in front of the home crowd. just a fun fact: zaki has scored more than both fulham's strikers combined. go figure.

roland's prediction: $5 on wigan -0.5 @ 2.060 = $10.30

WEST BROM vs NEWCASTLE (EPL)

after the 5-0 loss to manchester united, west brom bounced back strongly and secured a 2-2 draw against hull at the kc stadium. i expect west brom to take this game as newcastle are a totally depleted side, and their most consistent player, gutierrez, is suspended for this match. it seems like everyone in the squad has lost confidence in joe kinnear and their body language on the pitch isn't exactly inspiring, while west brom will play their guts out as they expected to be in this position and have a good team spirit. i think west brom should win here as they will show more desire than newcastle.

roland's prediction: $5 on west brom -0/0.5 @ 1.950 = $9.75

SUNDERLAND vs STOKE CITY (EPL)

stoke have never ever won away from home, whereas sunderland are very strong at the stadium of light. sunderland have brought in davenport and ben haim for defensive cover and both have the quality to help strengthen their defence. with rory delap out for stoke, it's quite hard to see how stoke can get the goal since they have been deadly from his throw ins. i think that a strike force of jones cisse is probably 500 times better than fuller beattie, so sunderland will win here.

roland's prediction: $5 on sunderland -0.5 @ 1.81 = $9.05