English Premier
2008-12-14 - Portsmouth vs Newcastle United
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: England, Premier League
Sunday 14th December 2008 - Kickoff 13:30
Portsmouth (8th - Home : 4-2-2 13:10)
Portsmouth find themselves in 7th spot in the Premier League as Tony Adams attempts to continue the good work that was left in his charge since the departure of Harry Redknapp.
While it is hard to gauge how Adams will do until he makes the team his own, I will say that Portsmouth have continued without too much upheaval since Redknapp left. They have a 6-5-5 record with 19 goals scored and 23 conceded. The majority of those wins have come at Fratton Park where they are 4-2-2 with 13 goals scored and 10 conceded.
Portsmouth have only lost 1 of their last 7 games in all competitions, a defeat that saw them exit the UEFA Cup. There have been a number of goals in their matches in recent weeks and they have failed to keep a clean sheet from any of their last 5 games.
However, Portsmouth are scoring goals in that time, 10 in those 5 games.
Pompey have only lost 1 of their last 7 home games but Adams will be concerned that they have thrown away 2-0 leads in their last 2 games, although they still managed to win their last one against Blackburn at home.
Papa Baba Diop is suspended while John Utaka and Younes Kaboul are both out with injuries. Glen Johnson and Richard Hughes are both back in the squad.
Newcastle United (18th 0-4-4 6:13)
Newcastle, despite all of the good work Joe Kinnear has done for them, are still bang in trouble as far as relegation is concerned. They are currently in 17th spot in the table, 1 point better off than local rivals Sunderland. (but not now that Sunderland won on Saturday)
Newcastle have struggled for wins and have a 3-7-6 record with 19 goals scored and 24 conceded. They have struggled away from home where they have a 0-4-4 record, scoring only 6 goals conceding 13.
Newcastle have only lost 1 of their last 7 games, but have drawn their last 4 in a row, including last week against Stoke after blowing a 2-0 lead.
The Geordies are beginning to improve away from home from a defensive standpoint, ensuring clean sheets in their last 2 including at Chelsea. However they have lost their previous 2 away games at Fulham and Sunderland. Newcastle have only scored 2 goals in their last 4 away games.
Nicky Butt, Damien Duff and Shola Ameobi are all back in contention after injury.
Head to Head
Portsmouth are unbeaten in their last 3 games against Newcastle overall and have managed to win 1 and draw 1 of their last 2 at home.
4 of the 5 games played at Fratton Park in the Premier League between these sides have ended with draws.
Prediction
Portsmouth are scoring goals for fun at the moment and have been unfortunate that they have not won more of their recent matches. However, there must be some concern that the defence is blowing some many leads in recent games at Fratton.
Newcastle are still not finding it easy to win games, drawing after blowing a 2 goal lead last weekend but they have also improved defensively in their away games recently. However, I cant really see them keeping a clean sheet here and I think they will need goals from somewhere.
Portsmouth seem to score enough to win this game and I will play them to do so.
The Statistics :
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pick :
Portsmouth 2-1 Newcastle United
