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Sunderland v Blackburn – Kick-Off (GMT) 13:30
The day begins at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light where two underachieving Premier League clubs, Sunderland and Blackburn, meet to decide which of them can pull away from the bottom three. Both Sunderland and Blackburn find themselves in the relegation places, just one point apart, with Sunderland the higher of the two in 18th to Blackburn’s 19th.
Both sides are better than that, though, with home advantage and the newly installed expert manager, Martin O’Neill, at Sunderland, it is the Black Cats who are expected to take away the victory today. Blackburn’s under fire manager Steve Kean will, however, be hoping to gain at least a point from this fixture to remain in touch with the safe places.
Stoke v Tottenham – Kick-Off (GMT) 16:00
The second game of the day sees two sides who have had changing fortunes this year: Stoke started brightly, with some great performances against respected clubs, before seeming to halter slightly a few weeks into the season. Tottenham had a dreadful start, missing the first match of the season, before getting thumped by Manchester City, but have won six matches on the bounce going into this match in as impressive a run as Harry Redknapp’s men have ever produced. Those results see Spurs firmly in third place, and looking for another three points to maintain the pressure on the Manchester clubs above them.
The result today will depend a great deal on which Stoke City we see at the Britannia Stadium.
The story of the match is certainly the re-joining of old friends and colleagues Tony Pulis and Harry Redknapp and the players who have moved from the latter to the former in recent seasons, including Peter Crouch , Matthew Etherington, Wilson Palacios and Jonathan Woodgate. There are plenty of friendly rivalries on the line, here, though Spurs have retained the bulk of the quality in their impressive squad. The worry for Tottenham must be the likely lack of Ledley King and the ongoing injury to Michael Dawson which, coupled with the returning long range throws of Rory Delap and the height of Crouch could pose them more than one or two problems.
This match will see two direct – albeit differently styled – sides playing out what is likely to be a free-flowing encounter.
Barclays Premier League 2011/12 Fixtures, Sunday 11th December 2011
- Sunderland v Blackburn – Kick-Off (GMT) 13:30
- Stoke v Tottenham – Kick-Off (GMT) 16:00
