Premier League Fixtures 18th September 2010

Aston Villa v Bolton Wanderers
Aston Villa’s new manager Gerard Houllier doesn’t take charge of the team until after this fixture. Villa will be hoping to convince him they’re usually a pretty good side. After being overlooked for the manager’s job, caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald is said to be considering following Martin O’Neill through the so-called revolving door.
James Collins should make his 150th league appearance in central defence for Aston Villa.
Sam Ricketts could come into central defence in place of the suspended Gary Cahill.

Blackburn Rovers v Fulham
I question BBC Sport’s view that Fulham manager Mark Hughes is returning to the club where he made his name as a manager. He did manage a certain international side first. But either way, he’s back at Blackburn If he gets a draw, he’ll have drawn 12 of his last 16 games as a manager.
Fulham don’t like away games and, with Bobby Zamora out at least until February, their home games don’t look like much fun either.
Fulham do have Simon Davies though. So things could be a lot worse.

Stoke City v West Ham United
West Ham will probably be quite glad to be facing Stoke next week,. After all, Stoke have only won one more match than West Ham (i.e. one match) and they, along with Everton, are keeping the Hammers company in the bottom three.
But considering Stoke’s opponents this season have included Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa (the latter of whom they beat) maybe West Ham shouldn’t get too complacent.
Ryan Shawcross and Danny Collins are likely to keep their places in Stoke’s defence.
Danny Gabbidon is back in training after recovering from a hamstring problem and though some sources say he won’t play, a number say he will. Jack Collison is a long-term absentee following a knee operation in the summer.

Sunderland v Arsenal
Arsenal return to the Premier League following a 6-0 victory over Brags midweek in the Champions’ League, hopefully ready to prove to their critics that they’re more than ready for a Premier League title challenge (although in my opinion they mounted a good title challenge last year, despite having about as many players on the injured list as they have named in their Premier League squad.
The injured list doesn’t look too bad now – but how will it look after a visit to Sunderland?
Aaron Ramsey won’t play for Arsenal due to a broken leg.

Tottenham Hotspur v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Tottenham will be hoping Wolves don’t get a sneaky winner like they did against Tottenham last season while Wolves will be hoping the opposition are still hungover following their Champions’ League draw with Werder Bremen.
Wolves will be particularly hoping Tottenham’s star player Gareth Bale will be hungover but I’ve got bad news for you, boys. Gareth Bale is teetotal.
David Jones might or might not regain his place in Wolves’ starting line-up but Wayne Hennessey’s chances of a recall must be considerably slimmer. Dave Edwards will be hoping to be in the squad somewhere after being left out completely last week.

West Bromwich Albion v Birmingham City
This match is the first of twelve West Midlands derbies in the Premier League this season so West Brom and Birmingham will be glad to get this one out of the way before supporters become fed up with them. Of the last 14 Premier League meetings between these two sides, Birmingham have won 13.
Boaz Myhill will probably be on the bench for West Brom.