A Trio of Six-Pointers

Things have been pretty busy in the soccer world recently at least as far as this site goes, what with the African Cup of Nations in full swing and the FA Cup 4th Round ties and 5th Round draw over the past few days.

Let’s not forget the bread and butter though. Premier League action heats up again with a round of midweek games, starting with four tomorrow and then five on Wednesday. Three of tomorrow’s matches are extremely, extremely important and so I wanted to give you a brief preview of what to watch for. These games are the definition of the term “six-pointers”, as each of the six teams involved are in the relegation fight and could either go three points closer to safety or three more points behind the teams they’re chasing in the battle to remain in the Premier League.

Middlesbrough (13th; 22 pts) vs. Wigan (17th; 20 pts):

This will be game #1 of the post-Jonathan Woodgate era at Middlesbrough. Say what you like about Woodgate and how injury-prone he is, but he’s a quality center-back and his presence will sorely be missed at the Riverside, especially as Boro have already conceded 37 goals this season. They’ve won just once in their last six league matches and only twice at home all season. Both Tuncay Sanli and Gary O’Neil should return to the lineup, however, and that will be a boost to Gareth Southgate’s club.

Marlon King should be set to make his debut for Wigan after recently joining the Lancashire side from Watford. King is a serviceable striker who will help Wigan up front; they’ve scored only 23 goals in as many matches this season. They’ve won just once away from the JJB this year but have earned points in five out of their last seven league games, including their sole road win at Derby. As a sidenote, this will be Wigan’s 100th match in the Premier League.

Bolton (15th; 21 pts) vs. Fulham (19th; 15 pts):

Out of the six clubs I’ve highlighted today, I think these two need a victory the most.

Bolton lack any type of scoring punch now that Nicolas Anelka has continued his nomadic ways and moved to Chelsea, and the likely signing of Aston Villa central defender Gary Cahill doesn’t address that need whatsoever. The Trotters have won just twice in their last seven league games and those wins came against Derby and Birmingham. El-Hadji Diouf and Abdoulaye Meite are both away due to African Cup of Nations duty and that doesn’t help matters at all.

One thing that does work in Bolton’s favor, however, is Fulham’s awful road form. Bolton have been solid at home this season (5-3-4) and Fulham have picked up only four points in eleven away league matches so far (0-4-7). The Cottagers actually hadn’t won away from home in the 2007 calendar year either, so Bolton should have the advantage tomorrow in that regard. Fulham will need Clint Dempsey to have a good game tomorrow if they have any hope of gaining a much-needed three points.

Sunderland (18th; 20 pts) vs. Birmingham City (16th; 20 pts):

Sunderland will head into tomorrow’s match with a much-weakened side as Michael Chopra, Danny Higginbotham, Grant Leadbitter, Ross Wallace, Kieran Richardson, Carlos Edwards, and Dickson Etuhu will all be out and each of those players has had an appreciable role with the club this season. The Black Cats have shown improvement recently with two wins in their last five league matches, including the dominant 2-0 win against Portsmouth at the Stadium of Light on January 13. Kenwyne Jones is capable of scoring every time he walks onto the field and Birmingham will likely have trouble containing him in the air.

The Blues have the most away wins (2) out of any team in the bottom seven in the Premiership and will likely hand James McFadden his first start since his recent move from Everton. Mauro Zarate has joined the club on loan as well and trust me, this kid is a star in the making. He scored the winning goal for the Argentine U-20 team in the final of last summer’s FIFA U-20 World Cup against the Czech Republic, and was the co-top scorer in the Argentine Apertura in 2006-2007 with 12 goals. Birmingham are healthy and will have every opportunity to steal a victory on the road, although they’ll have to earn it as Sunderland are 5-3-3 on home turf this season.

Barack Obama is a West Ham Fan

Have you all seen the article on the Telegraph's website "revealing" that Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is a West Ham supporter?

I'm not sure what to make of this. Reports state that ever since Obama went on a trip to England five years ago, the Illinois senator has been a fan of the Claret and Blue and that he watches Premiership matches whenever he can with his busy schedule.

Of course, Bill and Hillary Clinton are supposedly huge Manchester United fans as well. They're also fans of the New York Giants as Bill recently said while speaking to an elementary school. Curious that New York has more electoral votes than Massachusetts, the home state of the New England Patriots, the Giants' opponent in the Super Bowl. Curious also that the Clintons seem to enjoy jumping on the bandwagons of successful teams.

Anyway, back to Obama. What do you guys think, is he a true Hammers fan?

FA Cup 5th Round Draw Revealed

The draw for the 5th Round of the FA Cup was conducted at 8:30 Eastern Time this morning and I have to say, there are some very interesting ties that will be worth watching.

Here's the complete draw (Premiership teams are in bold, home teams are listed first):

Bristol Rovers v Southampton
Cardiff City v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Sheffield United v Middlesbrough
Liverpool v Barnsley
Manchester United v Arsenal
Preston North End v Portsmouth
Coventry City v West Bromwich Albion
Chelsea v Huddersfield Town

If you're a fan of lower-league soccer, this is a mixed bag. Huddersfield Town and Bristol Rovers (both in League One) are the lowest-ranked teams left at this stage, and while the former has no chance to advance, Bristol Rovers could very well pull off an upset. You're guaranteed to see either Cardiff or Wolves move on and either Coventry or West Brom as well. Other than that, the pickings are slim.

I don't think I'm going out any real limb in predicting that Sheffield United will beat Middlesbrough at Brammall Lane. I know they're only in 14th place right now in the Championship, but this is a team that has already beaten Bolton and Manchester City in the FA Cup this year and Middlesbrough are struggling in the Premier League and could be without Jonathan Woodgate as well. If all else fails, maybe someone at Sheffield United can steal some more money from the visiting team's locker room.

Liverpool have been lucky enough to draw lower-league sides in both of their previous FA Cup ties and the trend continues in this round as the Reds will host Barnsley, who currently occupy 16th place in the Championship.

David Nugent will make his return to Preston as his current club, Portsmouth, heads to the North West and Deepdale. Preston are really struggling this year without Nugent (22nd in the Championship) but both they and their fans will really be up for this game, particularly if Nugent is playing.

Undoubtedly, the tie of the round is Manchester United-Arsenal, although it will be interesting to see what sort of team Arsene Wenger trots out at Old Trafford. Will he go with the kids as he does in most cup games, or will he go with a more traditional side since this is a big, big matchup? We'll see.

African Cup of Nations Recap--Day 8

Manchester United are looking smarter and smarter for their interest in Manucho as the Angolan striker scored twice in seventeen minutes in the second half to propel his country to a come-from-behind 3-1 win yesterday over Senegal.

Manucho now has three goals in two games in this edition of the African Cup of Nations, Angola has four points and is sitting in the driver's seat to qualification for the quarterfinals, and Senegal is without their head coach as he resigned after the loss. The Lions of Teranga are in big trouble and it looks unlikely that they'll advance even though they have a roster full of quality players who make their living overseas, including six players in the Premiership who appeared in yesterday's game. One of those players, Newcastle's Abdoulaye Meite, put Senegal ahead after just 20 minutes, but after a first half in which they were dominated, Angola came out in the second half and simply took it to their opponents.

The other game yesterday also ended with a 3-1 score as a more experienced Tunisia side beat the 2010 World Cup hosts, South Africa. Francileudo Santos scored twice in the first half and The Eagles of Carthage took a 3-0 lead into the break. South Africa only avoided a clean sheet with an 87th minute goal and didn't even deserve that with their sloppy play all game long. Tunisia's lineup included two Birmingham City players, Radhi Jaidi and Mehdi Nafti, and South Africa started both Steven Pienaar and Aaron Mokoena once again. Their hopes of advancing to the next round are likely over, and Tunisia can seal the deal with a draw or win against Angola in the last group match.

Group D Standings (after two games):

1. Tunisia (4 points, +2 goal differential)
2. Angola (4 pts, +2 GD)
3. Senegal (1 pt, -2 GD)
4. South Africa (1 pt, -2 GD)

Group A is back in action today as they'll wrap up their part in this stage of the tournament. The Ghana-Morocco match is huge as Morocco will likely need to beat Ghana to advance to the quarterfinals because they're currently tied on points (3) with Guinea, who have the huge advantage of playing lightweights Namibia. If both Morocco and Guinea draw, Morocco would advance due to a better goal differential.