Back Aston Villa to stifle Rory Delap’s sling

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Since Stoke’s promotion, many methods have been employed to try to nullify the threat posed by Rory Delap’s bullets into the box.

Dean Windass tried distracting him with some unusual warm-up routines, Lucas Neill attempted to engage in some towel-related mind games and, just the other day, Burnley tried pushing the advertising hoardings closer to the pitch, but still goal after Stoke goal stems from a Delap throw.

Aston Villa won’t need any fancy techniques to shield themselves from an onslaught – they’ve got Richard Dunne, while the presence of James Collins

Posted: March 11th, 2010 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Darren Bent will get the better of Sorensen tonight

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It’s been a miserable few months for Sunderland, who have taken just three points from their last nine league games but throughout the miserable run, Darren Bent has continued to score.

DBTheTruth has scored five in his last six outings and has found the net eight

Posted: February 1st, 2010 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

There’s only one match left standing…and it’s going to be a stalemate

The weather has yet to claim victory over the Britannia Stadium but there’s still no guarantee of goals tonight.

Blackburn and Aston Villa’s match has fallen foul of the weather so hoofball fans will have to look elsewhere for their evening’s entertainment.

The last surviving game involving teams in the top-five tiers of English football is Fulham’s trip to Stoke and there’s plenty of value to be found backing low on the goal front and dismissing the hosts.

Our best bet is the draw at 23/10 on Ladbrokes because the Potters are struggling, having won once in nine league matches, but it’s too risky to back Fulham as they’ve triumphed in just one of their last 13 away.

Stoke are the league’s lowest scorers so a repeat of last season’s 0-0 at 8/1 is also worthy of consideration.

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Posted: January 5th, 2010 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Is the rise in away wins a result of poor home support?

chickendinner tries to pinpoint why there are more away wins

As part of chickendinner’s ongoing investigation into why away wins are at an all-time high in the top-flight, we are looking at some of the clubs who are better at home and some who are better away in an attempt to identify why this is the case:

Better at home

Manchester United
The champions have won their last six home league games and as the atmosphere hasn’t been too spectacular this year when chickendinner correspondents have visited, it could be that the main reason for their advantage is a fear factor. It could be that most teams go to Old Trafford believing that a draw is as good as they can get and set their stall out to defend. However, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, it’s very rare that teams that set-up in such a way don’t get breached in the end, as Sunderland found out the other week.

Fulham

Posted: December 18th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Fashion news: the 3pm kick-off is making a comeback

None of tomorrow’s five Premier League games are on TV!

With the Manchester derby and Chelsea/Arsenal both televised on Sunday and Liverpool held off until Monday, there are no games deemed worthy of the hallowed lunchtime or early evening slots taking place on Saturday, meaning that all five fixtures will kick off at the once-fashionable time of 3pm. Rather than leaving you confused about what to expect from tomorrow’s games, chickendinner has previewed every game to help you decide who to put on your accumulators:

Aston Villa v Fulham
It would be typical of Villa to go from beating Arsenal and drawing with Manchester United to losing at home to Fulham so victory in this game would go a long way to establishing their credentials for sustaining a top-four push. However, Martin O’Neill’s side have won none of their four home games against top-half sides this season, drawing three and losing one. Fulham are no longer pushovers away from home as last weekend’s draw at Anfield showed and they have lost just one of their last seven Premier League games. Last season, the home side won both of these encounters but before that they drew five successive clashes and a draw (11/4 with Paddy Power) could be on the cards again.

Middlesbrough v Newcastle

Posted: November 28th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Cristiano Ronaldo no longer scores on his travels

But sadly for Stoke, he nets more than ever at Old Trafford

Last season Cristiano Ronaldo managed to score ten goals in seventeen Premier League away games but in this campaign all seven of his goals have come at Old Trafford, despite the fact he has played just 35 minutes more at home this season than he has on the road.

Ronaldo has scored in his last ten domestic home games which comes as really bad news for this weekend’s visitors Stoke, especially considering he has already scored three goals against fellow newly-promoted sides West Brom and Hull.

All his four goals in United’s last two home league games all came in the first-half, with both openers in the first fifteen, making the 5/2 that SkyBet offer on him scoring a quicker goal than Fernando Torres, Nicolas Anelka, Darren Bent, Nicklas Bendtner and Obafemi Martins on Saturday look very appetising.

Posted: November 13th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment