Remember the time when you just couldn’t wait for football to come back

Depending on your allegiances, that feeling has either faded fast or reached an all-time high – less than a week after the 07/08 season has started, the future is a bit clearer and as usual, a season of over-achievement and heartbreak awaits.

All the Premiership games are previewed below – and you are welcome to join in, by copy-pasting the list below in the comments and offering your own predictions.

Weekend Matches

Portsmouth vs Bolton Wanderers

Birmingham City vs West Ham United

Fulham vs Middlesbrough

Reading vs Everton

Tottenham Hotspur vs Derby County

Wigan Athletic vs Sunderland

Newcastle United vs Aston Villa

Manchester City vs Manchester United

Blackburn Rovers vs Arsenal

Liverpool vs Chelsea

Alright then, on with the preview:

Saturday 18 August 2007

Portsmouth vs Bolton Wanderers

While Pompey have looked rusty, they improved against United and will be favourites for a win.

Bolton can only rely on their character to get themselves back up – but I wouldn’t bet on them beating their funk in an away game at Fratton Park.

Also Read: full Portsmouth vs Bolton match preview

Soccerlens Prediction: Portsmouth to win.

Birmingham City vs West Ham United

Birmingham are not strong defensively (not strong enough, rather) and as a result it will be a good opportunity for West Ham to punch through and get an away win. The only downside is that while West Ham are short of goals at the moment, their defence also lacks confidence and as a result it’s Birmingham who are more likely to come through as winners.

Also read: full Birmingham City vs West Ham preview.

Soccerlens Prediction: Birmingham City to win.

Fulham vs Middlesbrough

Fulham managed a win against Bolton and it looks like a season of scrapping, huffing and puffing for Fulham (again). With the investments made in the squad (and with Davis and Healy playing well), Fulham should pose a stiff challenge to Boro’s injury-ravaged defence.

Middlesbrough, injuries or not, have a job to do and that starts with eliminating defensive errors from their game. Yes, the first-choice defenders are injured (and out till September) but short of getting Southgate back into a pair of shorts, Middlesbrough have to get their house in order and there can’t be any excuses for gifting goals to the opposition.

I expect a tough, bruising game and a lot of it will depend on Downing and how much havoc he can cause against Fulham. For me, this is Downing’s year at Middlesbrough and while he has the talent, he needs to be producing results on a consistent level.

Wonder if Boro will play Mido or not – if they do, it could be a surprise Boro win.

Soccerlens Prediction: Fulham to win if they can take Downing out of the game, draw otherwise.

Reading vs Everton

The odds seem to be in Reading’s favor, what with their home form, Everton’s tendency last season to let games drift away from home and the fact that Reading have just played two big games and will be pumped for this one (not to belittle Everton’s away win at WHL in any way though).

Chelsea had done to Reading what I expected – matched their discipline and then overran them with their quality. Everton will need to play a very good game to match Chelsea’s efforts and for all their good work I don’t see them having the striking firepower to break down Reading’s defence (although Duberry’s injury will be a problem). Arteta and Osman on their day can penetrate any defence but will they be enough

Should be a great game to watch, although I feel both sides will neutralise each other and it’ll turn into a tight, tactical game.

Soccerlens Prediction: Draw. Actually all 3 results are so close here that I have no idea at all.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Derby County

There are some people who will look at Tottenham’s last two results, their injury list, factor in their bias against the Spurs and jump to the conclusion that Tottenham will lose.

I’m not one of those, so as much as I like Derby’s style, I think Tottenham will win this one.

Also read: full Tottenham vs Derby preview.

Soccerlens Prediction: Tottenham Hotspur. If Derby win though, you can bet your asses that I’ll write about it