Premier League Fixtures 21st February

Aston Villa v Burnley
James Collins should keep his place in Aston Villa’s side. James is one of probably relatively few footballers still on Twitter and his comment about his girlfriend has caused much amusement. Not that I think it’s funny.

Blackburn Rovers v Bolton Wanderers
Jason Brown will probably be on the bench for the home side. Sam Ricketts has done well for Bolton lately and his enjoying being a centre back so I’d expect him to play. But whether I expect him to be on the winning side is a different matter entirely.

Fulham v Birmingham City
Simon Davies has done well since his latest injury comeback and has already scored his first goal of the season. But Fulham have a busy schedule at the moment so he might need a rest.
Simon was considering retiring from Wales (he’s about at the average age for retirement) but luckily drawing England in the qualifiers has changed his mind. I just hope Wales draw England for the next lot of World Cup qualifiers too. He doesn’t want to play in the Wales friendly against Sweden but I can’t really blame him. If Fulham don’t give him a rest then Wales will have to. It’s just going to be difficult with Joe Ledley out too.

Manchester City v Liverpool
Craig Bellamy is still having problems with his dodgy knee but reports suggest he’ll play anyway. He has just had another argument with Roberto Mancini but that probably doesn’t mean anything. As long as Craig is breathing, he’s going to have arguments and I definitely want him to keep breathing.

Wigan Athletic v Tottenham Hotspur
Jason Koumas has been told he can go on loan so I doubt he’ll want to risk injury by playing for Wigan, even if they did want him to play. Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion are both interested and I’m sure Jason would prefer a promotion push to a relegation battle.
Gareth Bale should keep his place on Tottenham’s starting line-up. This won’t be another 9-1 but it could easily be another three points for Tottenham.