Championship Preview

The Championship kick's off at lunch time at the league leaders, West Ham host Crystal Palace. 

Points are needed at St Andrews when Birmingham meet Nottingham Forest at St Andrews for both very different reasons, Forest are looking over their shoulder in 21st place while Birmingham are eyeing the automatic promotion zone.

Brighton will hope Ipswich's mini revival is short lived as they hope make ground on the playoffs following a 0-0 draw at the KC with Hull in midweek.

Blackpool will be hoping to make ground on the playoffs as well when they face a Bristol City side that sitting a the wrong of the table, points will vital to both sides if they want to improve their season.

Burnley and Millwall will hope to get closer to their targets of Playoffs and steering clear of relegation when they meet at Turf Moor.

Coventry will be hoping they can recover from their 2-0 loss at fellow relegation rivals, Nottingham Forest with win over mid table Barnsley at the Ricoh Arena. Coventry have won the last 4 out of 5 league home games.

Doncaster will also be hoping they can move off the foot of the table when they face Peterborugh side that demolished Bristol City 3-0 last Saturday. Both sides are in the wrong half of the table so points will be vital.

The game of the day is between two playoff contenders, Middlesbrough and Reading. Reading will hope they can conjure a fourth win in a row while Middlesbrough have won the last two games beating Forest 2-1 and Millwall 3-1.

Portsmouth are trying to make up as much points as they can to stay in the division but they'll have a hard job when newly appointed Leeds, Neil Warnock brings his side to Fratton Park play their first game.
Leeds will hope to set off were they left off against Doncaster when they scored a late stoppage time winner in a 3-2 win.

Tomas Kuzsack should make his debut for the Hornets when they welcome second place Southampton to Vicarage Road. Southampton will hope to continue to follow on from their 4-0 thrashing of Derby with a win over Watford to take to the brink at the top of the Championship. 

FA Cup preview.

Sunderland meets Arsenal 7 days after the Gunners 2-1 Premier League win at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland will play host to Arsenal a 2nd consecutive Saturday after winning their 4th round replay against Middlesbrough. Arsenal will be without last week's goal scorer, Thierry Henry after he jetted back off to the States however Gevinho could return to the lineup returning home from Africa Cup of Nations this week. Arsenal will hope a win at the Stadium of Light can take their minds away from their 4-0 humiliation at the San Siro in the Champions League on Wednesday. Sunderland will hope they can claim their first silverware since 1973 and go all the way to the final to claim their third Fa Cup title.

Everton will hope to continue on from their impressive 2-0 win over Chelsea with win over Championship high flyers, Blackpool at Goodison Park. Everton will have to vigilant for Matt Phillips who has hit some form scoring 16 goal in 24 games this season.

Millwall and Bolton can take their eyes of their precarious league positions when they meet at the den on Saturday. Bolton will hope to forget their 2-1 home defeat to the hands of lowly Wigan with victory over the Londoners. Meanwhile Millwall will be positive going into fixture after getting a decent point at Brighton on Tuesday night.

Norwich City will be favorites to advance to the quarter finals when they take on a inconsistent Leicester side at Carrow Road. The Canaries will hope to continue on from their 3-2 win in Wales against Swansea on Saturday while Leicester will want to forget about their 3-2 away defeat to the Hornets.

AVB will hope to forget about Chelsea's top four nightmares with a home tie with Birmingham. Chelsea will surely be favorites to take the victory but Birmingham are sitting highly in the Championship and could give Chelsea a hard time in the lunch time kick off. AVB can hope the FA Cup could be a lifeline to keeping his job so a slip up against Birmingham could cost him dearly.
Predictions.
Sunderland 1-1 Aresnal
Everton 2-1 Blackpool 
Millwall 1-2 Bolton
Norwich 3-0 Leicester 
Chelsea 2-0 Birmingham 

Champions League Preview

The Champions League is back after the winter and the round of 16 kicks off tonight. 

German side, Bayer Leverkusen will have a tough test when they face Barcelona at the Bay arena tonight, Barcelona haven't lost in 13 games in the Champions League so Bayer will surely be up against it. It was no question who came out the group the easier, Barcelona winning their group by 7 points beating Italian side, Ac Milan to top spot. Bayer Leverkusen however, only just scraped through beating Valencia to 2nd spot by 2 points. Relying on a 3-0 win for Chelsea against Valencia to send them through to the, round of 16. Both sides will also be quick to forget the weekend's results, Bayer going down 1-0 at league leaders, Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona's difficult task of retaining La liga got harder as they went down 3-2 at Osasuna allowing Real Madrid to open up a 3 point gap.

The other game Tuesday night see's Apoel Nicosia become the first Cypriot side to play in the knockout stages of the Champions league when they take on Lyon at the Stade de gerland. Lyon only just made it into the Round of 16 on goal difference gaining a 7-1 demolition of Dinamo Zagreb to beat Ajax it 2nd spot in the group. Apoel managed to win their group knocking out, Shaktar Donetsk and Fc Porto, sides that had been regularly in Champions League Knockout phases in the last few years. They also beat Zenit to top spot despite losing their final group game 2-0 to Shaktar.

Wednesday night see's one of only two English clubs left in the competition, Arsenal take on Ac Milan at the San Siro. Arsenal will hope the Champions League will give them a chance of Silverware this season however they will have to repeat the heroics of 4 years ago when they reached the last 8 by defeating Ac Milan 2-0 at the San Siro. Ac Milan on the other hand will be hoping they can put one over on Arsenal after that result of 4 years ago. Arsenal managed to win their Champions’ League group beating Marseille to top spot. Ac Milan however were dealt a difficult draw finish second to Barcelona after the Spanish side won all but one of their group games.

The other fixture Wednesday night is Zenit v Benfica, Zenit had to settle for second in their group following Apoel winning it on goal difference. Benfica however beat Manchester United and Basel to top spot winning the group by 1 point.

Verdict 
Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona 

Both sides will want to forget about their weekend results, so this tie will be great to redeem them. Bayer Leverkusen should be looking out for the win having home advantage as they will need some kind of advantage going into the nou camp in a few weeks time. Bayer will also have to keep the Barcelona midfield quiet if they are to stand any chance of winning the game
Prediction: Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Barcelona 

Lyon v Apoel. 
Lyon will be quick to forget their 2-1 home defeat to Caen at the weekend and will be hoping the Champions League can provide an escape from the French league. And the hosts will think they have no better of making it through to the quarter finals playing newbie’s however the pressure could get to them. Apoel on the other hand will need to use their fighting sprit they used to get this far, an away goal will be vital
If they want to stand, a good chance of going through to the last 8.
Prediction: Lyon 2-1 Apoel.

AC Milan v Arsenal. 
Both gaining 2-1 road wins at the weekend both sides will be keen to follow to with a victory. Ac Milan will hope to take their league form into the game and will be reliant on Champions League veteran, Zlatan Ibrahimovic to help them beat the Gunners. Arsenal on the other hand, will be relying on RVP to provide them with attack power and they should go all out attacking in order to get an away goal to make it that bit easier for when they come to the Emarites in a few weeks.
Prediction: Ac Milan 1-1 Arsenal. 

Zenit v Benfica.
Benfica will need to bring their league form into the difficult trip to Russia to take on Zenit. They can hope Rodrigo will be on target again following a brace against Nacional in a 4-1 win. Zenit will much fancied in the first tie with a long trip to Russia coupled with freezing temperatures not being the most convenient for the Portuguese side. Zenit will be hoping these factors will prove dividend in deciding the outcome of the fixture.
Prediction: Zenit 2-0 Benfica. 

Championship preview,

First meets second in what is expected to a cracking encounter in the Npower Championship tonight.

The stand out tie of the evening will be West Ham v Southampton, as first meets second in the Championship tonight. Saints can go top after closing the gap to just point on Saturday following their 2-0 win over Burnley. But they will be hoping that their new signing Billy Sharp can add to his tally of 11 goals this season to propel them back to the top of the table. West Ham on the other hand, will be hoping they can conjure up back to back home wins after beating Millwall 2-1 earlier in the month. It will surely be brutal encounter but with the Hammers fielding home advantage it should see them extend their lead at the top of the league.
 Another stand out tie is the game between two of the playoff hopefuls, Birmingham and Hull at St Andrews. Birmingham will be hoping they can continue their unbeaten home record going however Hull will take heart from their 3-0 thrashing of relegation threatened Bristol City on Saturday. Both sides have hit great form recently so it should be a close encounter with the Blues possibly winning it by a goal or two.
4th place Cardiff take on posh at the Cardiff City Stadium and they will want to get their February back on track after losing 2 games in a row to Blackpool and Leicester. However Posh, refreshed from their break at the weekend following their game with West Ham being called for a frozen pitch will be hoping they can finally put 3 points on the board in 2012 after only gaining 2 points in 2012. The game should be an easy win for Cardiff, although there is never an easy game in the Championship but Peterborough will have a tough job on their hands if they are to challenge Cardiff.
 Blackpool head to the Keepmoat hoping they can keep their automatic promotion hunt on track after it took a slight knock in a 1-1 draw with Portsmouth at Bloomfield road on Saturday. Ian Holloway will be keen to gain the win at the Keepmoat following a good start to February beating Cardiff 3-1 and drawing 1-1 with Pompey on Saturday. And Doncaster will pose not much of a threat with their prolific forward, Billy Sharp going to Saints. If Blackpool can attack like they have been doing recently then the Doncaster defense will be in for a long night, resulting in a convincing win for the Tangerines.
 Brighton will be need of points to mount a playoff challenge when they welcome strugglers Millwall to the Amex tonight, they will be keen to keep their winning run at home going in which they won every home game of 2012. Millwall on the other hand are slipping away fast and will be hoping they can claw back to safety after letting a great chance to the clear the gap with the bottom 3 further after only drawing 0-0 at home to Derby on Saturday.
 Middlesbrough and Forest will be in desperate need for the points but for completely different reason, Middlesbrough will need to gain their first win of 2012 after slipping away from the playoffs in January after they were secure and looking at the automatics on Boxing Day. Forest will be hoping they can pull themselves closer to safety after having a poor season under the guidance of both Steve McClaren and now Steve Cotteril. It has been an unusual season for Forest who are regularly contesting the playoff spots. But it's in no doubt it will be a fierce encounter at the Riverside tonight.

Ipswich v Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough are in search of their first Championship win since 2011 however Ipswich will look to stop them when the two sides meet at Portman Road.

It's back to league business with Middlesbrough following their 2-1 dramatic cup exit to local rivals, Sunderland on Wednesday night. Middlesbrough will be hope they can take their fighting spirit that took them so far in the Sunderland game to Portman Road however Ipswich will be hoping they can repeat a similar performance to what they produced last time they were at home, defeating league leaders, West Ham 5-1. Ipswich will be also looking to extend their gap from the bottom 3 after winning 2 games on the bounce has steered them 10 points clear. But, Tony Mowbray will be clear to his Boro players that no less than victory will be good enough to stay in the playoff hunt. With the Hull chasing Boro's tails it could be a difficult rest of the season in which results will be vital.

Goals may also not be on the cards, as last time the sides met in September at the Riverside, it took fine goalkeeping from on-loan goalkeepers, Carl Ikeme and David Stockdale to keep the scores tied at 0-0.
With Carl Ikeme producing the only real action in the game, reacting to a Michael Chopra with a fine save.

Ipswich will be without, Lee Bowyer who has returned to training but will still miss the fixture.. Boro may be without Faris Haroun (hamstring) and Barry Robson (dislocated finger.)