Soccer Betting Preview: Premier League Teams Dealing with Injuries
Many Soccer Betting Premier League teams are dealing with injuries heading into this weekend’s action. Chelsea is at the top of the standings with their unbeaten start but they will be missing a number of key players in Sunday’s match against Aston Villa. In their Wednesday Champions League match with FCR Cluj they were without Joe Cole, Deco, Ricardo Carvalho and Ashley Cole. What is even worse is that they lost Didier Drogba to a knee injury in that match and he could be out of a while. John Terry and Alex were also hurt in that match. “I need to think for the game on Sunday,” said manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, “I have a few days to build the team again. I don’t know now what the possibilities I have for Sunday are.”
The injuries really could cause Chelsea to fall out of first place. “If Didier is out for a while, we will have to pitch in with goals from all around the team, which we can do, though the situation is not ideal,” said midfielder Frank Lampard, “The experience is not really there, but I believe the quality is.”
The game against Aston Villa would not have been easy anyway, but now it looks like a possible loss for Chelsea. “Premier League points are hard to come by,” Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill said. “We seem to be getting into the habit of winning close games, which is very encouraging.”
Sunderland is still without striker Kenwyne Jones and he will miss the match against Arsenal this weekend. “Kenwyne’s making good progress,” Sunderland manager Roy Keane said. “The surgeon is delighted with the way it is going. He’s working extremely hard to get back and is showing a great attitude in the gym. Hopefully it will now be a matter of weeks.”
Manchester United will be without midfielder Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney is doubtful for the road match at Blackburn. Other games on Saturday have Fulham at West Bromwich Albion, and Middlesbrough at Wigan. In Sunday’s other matches Newcastle is at Everton, Stoke is at Portsmouth, Bolton is at West Ham, Tottenham hosts Hull. Tottenham is the only winless team in the league. It is not all bad news for Tottenham though as they defeated Wisla Krakow 3-2 on aggregate to advance to the group stage of the UEFA Cup on Thursday.
