All games kick off at 3pm unless stated otherwise.
Wigan v Arsenal (12.45)
TV: Sky Sports 3
(Wenger’s side beat Reading in impressive fashion last week – Nick Potts/PA Wire/Press Association Images)
Injured: Wigan – Adrian Lopez, Gary Caldwell, Antolin Alcaraz and Ivan Ramis. Arsenal – Abou Diaby and Andre Santos.
Doubtful: Wigan – James McCarthy.
Betting: Home (7/2), Draw (11/4), Away (3/4).
Both these sides have experienced changes of fortune lately.
Despite achieving some decent results over the course of the season, last week’s loss to Norwich saw Wigan drop into the relegation zone.
Arsenal, on other hand, have recovered well from the embarrassing League Cup loss to Bradford, and their recent defeat of Reading means they’re now only two points off the top four.
If, as expected, Arsene Wenger sticks with a similar side to the one that hammered the Royals, their recent fine form should continue.
Verdict: Arsenal
Man City v Reading
TV: Setanta Sports Ireland
(Vincent Kompany is a doubt for today’s game – Dave Thompson/PA Wire/Press Association Images)
Injured: Man City – Samir Nasri, Mario Balotelli and Aleksandar Kolarov. Reading – Jason Roberts.
Doubtful: Man City – Vincent Kompany. Reading: Jem Karacan, Jimmy Kebe and Danny Guthrie.
Betting: Home (1/6), Draw (13/2), Away (15/1).
If ever there was a game you could bet your house on, this seems like an obvious candidate.
City have been solid for the most part this term, ruthlessly dispatching inferior teams with ample ease on a regular basis.
Reading, as anyone who saw last week’s defeat against Arsenal will tell you, have been truly dire at times.
So can the Royals shock their hosts and pull off an unlikely victory against all the odds? Stranger things have happened, I suppose.
Verdict: Man City
Newcastle v QPR
(Demba Ba is Newcastle’s top scorer this season – Steve Drew/EMPICS Sport)
Injured: Newcastle – Hatem Ben Arfa, Steven Taylor and Yohan Cabaye. QPR – Julio Cesar, Kieron Dyer, Park Ji-sung, Jose Bosingwa, Andrew Johnson and Bobby Zamora.
Doubtful: Newcastle – James Perch.
Betting: Home (11/10), Draw (12/5), Away (5/2).
The second from bottom team in the league meet the side who are second from bottom on the form table based on the last six matches.
During the week, Alan Pardew blamed the Europa League on Newcastle’s disappointing season, as they currently hover perilously close to the relegation zone.
Harry Redknapp, meanwhile, has had a galvanising effect on QPR, with the club unbeaten since the ex-Spurs boss officially took over.
The outcome of this game depends largely on which Newcastle side turns up, but if the likes of Demba Ba are at their best, expect them to narrowly prevail.
Verdict: Newcastle
Southampton v Sunderland
(Sunderland have been on a poor run of form lately – Martin Rickett/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
Injured: Southampton – Adam Lallana.
Doubtful: Sunderland – Steven Fletcher, Adam Johnson, Danny Rose and Phil Bardsley.
Betting: Home (11/10), Draw (12/5) Away (5/2).
Both these sides sit just above the relegation zone, nonetheless the Saints have the far superior recent form.
Sunderland have only won one of their last 16 Premier League away matches, while their opponents have 11 of a possible 18 points from their last six matches.
Moreover, both will view it as the type of game they must win, if they are to avoid being dragged into a relegation battle during the latter half of the season.
Given the two sides’ records of late, Southampton are the clear favourites, though Martin O’Neill has a habit of overcoming the odds in key fixtures.
Verdict: Southampton
Tottenham v Stoke
(Jermain Defoe will be hoping to add to his goalscoring tally this afternoon – Nick Potts/PA Wire/Press Association Images)
Doubtful: Tottenham – Emmanuel Adebayor.
Compassionate leave: Stoke – Charlie Adam.
Betting: Home (8/13), Draw (14/5), Away (9/2).
Tottenham are likely to be in confident mood today, given their excellent home record and their current fourth-place standing in the league.
However, they have occasionally struggled to break teams down this season, and are going up against the side with the best defensive record in the league.
They unconvincingly beat Swansea last week, and will hoping for more this time around from Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor (provided he passes a late fitness test).
Stoke, on the other hand, will likely adopt a cagey counter-attacking style, as they once again rely on a big defensive effort.
Verdict: Tottenham
West Brom v Norwich
(West Brom have failed to score in over five hours of league football – Owen Humphreys/PA Wire/Press Association Images)
Betting: Home (evens), Draw (12/5), Away (14/5)
Injured: Norwich – Andrew Surman and John Ruddy.
Suspended: West Brom – Youssouf Mulumbu.
Doubtful: West Brom – Claudio Yacob and Ben Foster. Norwich – Grant Holt.
Two sides who consistently exceed expectations in the Premier League these days come up against one another.
While West Brom’s form has dipped of late, Norwich’s has soared.
Consequently, the visitors are unbeaten in ten games, while the Baggies haven’t scored in more than five hours of league football.
Ultimately though, the fact that Steve Clarke’s men have home advantage should earn them a share of the spoils at least.
Verdict: draw
West Ham v Everton
(Marouane Fellaini’s three-match suspension for headbutting an opponent begins today – Peter Byrne/PA Archive/Press Association Images)
Suspended: Everton – Marouane Fellaini.
Doubtful: West Ham – Yossi Benayoun and Jack Collison. Everton – Phil Neville.
Betting: Home (15/8), Draw (9/4), Away (6/4).
A fascinating encounter whose outcome is tough to predict.
West Ham have a very respectable home record, while Everton have only lost twice all season.
The visitors are missing the banned Marouane Fellaini, which is likely to be a considerable blow.
And David Moyes’ men have gained somewhat of a reputation as being draw specialists, so don’t be surprised if they do so again today.
Verdict: draw
Liverpool v Fulham (5.30pm)
TV: ESPN
(Liverpool are hopeful that Jose Enrique will be fit for today’s game – PA Wire/PA Wire/Press Association Images)
Injured: Liverpool – Oussama Assaidi. Fulham – Neil Etheridge.
Suspended: Fulham – Steve Sidwell.
Doubtful: Liverpool – Jose Enrique.
Betting: Home (4/7), Draw (11/4), Away (11/2).
By Brendan Rodgers’ own admission last week, Liverpool produced a below-par performance as they lost 3-1 to Villa.
Fulham have also been disappointing lately, winning only one of their last nine league matches.
Nonetheless, the London club still boast the fifth most prolific attack in the league, after Spurs, City, United and Arsenal.
However, a close to full-strength Liverpool side should be able to expose the visitors’ leaky defence.
Verdict: Liverpool
Great to see Galway on the rise again.
Great to see a shock!!
Too much mileage on that Mayo team’s clock now. Change all the managers they want but they’re a county of perennial losers and the last 60 years have shown that.
From a disappointed Mayo fan well done Galway. Ye played with hunger and fight. Good luck in the final. As for our lads…given us many great days…don’t write us off just yet tho
Good look against us dubs
We will have a job on to meet da dubs this year…layers need to show character now
Onions have layers
Go home Reese, you’re drunk.
If you manage to get that bracelet off you ankle Alex, we might see you at the Game…
What a win for Galway! About time Mayo were knocked off their perch in Connacht. But this Mayo team is never going to win an all-Ireland. They’re the chokers of GAA
Yeah Mayo are serious chokers, that must be it. It was never down to losing to better teams on the day and Mayo were always favourites in the finals they lost.
Sean would you say that to the face of a Mayo player…our GAA players give us so much entertainment. Your not a real GAA fan with that comment.
They are chokers. They should have 2 all Ireland’s from the last 4 years in the bag by now. They don’t win. What do they do? They sack their manager. They need to keep the same manager and then they might go somewhere. But seriously, give me a team that’s more choker than Mayo. They’ve blown their chance to win an all Ireland.
And surprise surprise you’re from Mayo…
Mayo will bounce back and will have a longer summer than Galway but they’re as far off on AI as they have been in years. They’ve had largely the same group of players for 4 years while other counties have brought in fresh talent. U21s offer hope for the future but it ain’t happening this year.
Mayo’s chance is gone. 2013 was their biggest chance. They threw that away. 2012 Donegal outplayed them. 2014 Kerry beat them fair and square in the replay. But Mayo should’ve won the drawn game. The only teams I can see winning an all Ireland in the next few years is Dublin, Kerry and possibly Tyrone
You are not beating the dubs
Agreed
But I don’t think they’ll get as much as a 5 in a row. They’ll slip up somewhere
Never will meet a better team than this Dublin team will Galway??
Mayo are short a consistent full-back and more clinical forwards of an all-Ireland. Maybe there is too much mileage on the clock now but calling them chokers or bottlers is the lazy option.
“2014 Kerry beat them fair and square in the replay.” Haha and surprise surprise you’re from Kerry.
Read up the reports on the replay : “Kerry deservedly see off Mayo in thriller” . For drawn game : “O’Leary the hero as Kerry get out of jail”. I rest my case
Ha you’re gas. Just to humour you I googled your first “report” with quotes and no results were found. The first result without the quotes was an rte article in which the majority of the top comments are about Mayo getting rode by the ref. But at least I realise you’re just trolling now so it’s grand
Sean we choke to in hurling finals so wouldn’t be roaring that too loud, let’s just bask in the win, bragging rights are ours for a year but still lot of games to be played this year
Yeah Mayo lads are just in a thick mood. Leave them. They lost!
It was in the Kerry and cork papers you dope. But I forgot they probably wouldn’t be online. So my fault I guess..,
I’m in quite a good position here. Kerry have 37 all-Ireland’s. How much do Mayo have? 0 in the 67 years or something to that effect!
You do know you were watching football, not hurling don’t you?
How much do Galway have? 7. They’re the 3rd most successful team. So Mayo go home
I think you might have the best name in any of these comment sections I’ve seen. Congratulations, father
Are you a jack in the box Sean? It’s impossible for you to keep quiet.
And surprise surprise you’re a dirty manc! Stick to your foreign sports good lad
Well done Galway. Was there and support was minimal but fantastic to beat mayo after 8 years. Mayo will be a tough team in qualifiers .
Mayo and cork in round 2 qualifiers. Didn’t see that coming!
Hang on finster could still bow out like damp squid!
At least its not Tipp ?? An easy one for Mayo Well done Galway what a 20minute spell
How can you say minimal?? I was there and thought there was good support for galway. Did you not see the crowd on the field after
It’s squib you idiot… Not damp squid??? Delighted for Galway… The team of chokers does it again!!! Filled the togs. This team won’t win anything either. The wait goes on for another 5 years!
For anyone wondering, a squib is a firework, so a damp squib is useless/pointless. A damp squid on the other hand, well, squids live in the sea, so aren’t they always damp? https://youtu.be/MUQNUwwIEFo
That just saved what had been a terrible day in sport HON GAILLIMH, poor game of football but fantastic win, it’s not an all Ireland win, but at least we know what that like this millenium
Well done Galway from a very wet and weary Mayo fan, deserved to win today
Plan was to sneak through the back door and surprise everyone you never know
Mayo are backdoor sneakers you say.
Enda syndrome spreading to his flock?
21000! Fantastic crowd for a Saturday evening game
Very poor turnout from Galway. Not even their own fans gave them a hope, anybody saying that here lying. Mirrors our game 2011 vs Cork and the beginning of out All Ireland journey.
*our.
I was there and thought the galway crowd could have been bigger but was still good. The crowd on the pitch after showed that
I wouldn’t even bother relying to such a rubbish comment!
A crowd of 21,000 Brown Boots, Galway GAA said roughly 5000 of their allotment was sold according to the Connacht telegraph. 5000. But go on tell me more about how I’m talking rubbish. Ray Silke and Brehany (Galway ex-players) predicted a Mayo landslide. Nobody expected the result yesterday.
I bought at the gate and am a Galway supporter so I’d imagine I’d be under the mayo ticket allocation. I’m sure a lot did the same so 5000 isn’t an accurate number. I actually thought there wasn’t such a huge number from Galway until I seen the pitch invasion at the end of the match. Gaillimh abú
Hon Galway
Is that what it is like to win an all Ireland??
Galway deserved the win, too many of the Mayo lads weren’t at the races. Maybe all the talk in the media writing off Galway got into their heads. Hopefully a shock like today could benefit them for the rest of the year.
However, I think it’s a bit lazy to say the Mayo team have to many miles on the clock. Boyle and Higgins were probably our only players to play to their potential and they were the 2 oldest guys in the starting 15.
Not a shock to Galway
Mayo for Sam
Dubs will take them out
Baby get out of town!!!!
Mayo still in with a shout of 3rd place in Connaught.
Gutted. What a kick in the gut for the people of Mayo, but especially the players. Ironically, when the ambush was laid in the Hyde last year and we needed leaders Holmes and Connelly brought on Andy and Alan to calm the heads with 15 mins left; too little too late today. Awful call. Amazing how a team of our calibre can be so devoid of leaders when needed.
Hats off to Galway, utterly deserved. But will need more again to stop the Rossies I fear. Mayo and Galway is a derby; Ros will not fear you on that performance.
Luckily for Galway they have zero fear of Roscommon either.
The smart money will still be on them Sean, they aimed to peak for the league and Connacht and have well beaten Div 1 teams.
The standard of Refereeing left a lot to be desired here. A mayo man hauled down a Galway-man heading for goal at one stage and got no card at all. Flynn got a black late on for very little. A lot of fouls not punished and a little tug on a jersey punished every time. A poor show from the Cork man.
A lot of the time we Mayo people see people with class but when our county loses a match we seem to meet some people with no class
Because as a dub I have met some horrible mayo fans shouting at my family so I have no respect for any mayo fan as I just dislike them
Alex, I’m a Mayo supporter and I can assure you I’ve known many people who have had serious abuse on the hilll while playing Dublin (and I’m not talking banter!). Most people from Mayo (and anywhere else) would be desperate to swap tickets for the hill because they know hastle will be likely. BUT… I have also in the past gotten tickets from Dublin fans,and during last years semi final I sat beside Dublin people who I had gotten tickets from, and afterwards I went drinking with a totally different group of Dublin fans! The idea that you think all Mayo fans or people from Mayo are ‘horrible’ is absolutely fu*cking pathetic!
What a ridiculous comment Alex. Have you seen how some of the Dublin supporters behave?
I’m a Roscommon supporter. In 2001 after the Connacht final not a single mayo supporter I encountered had anything nice to say. One was even singing (a term I’d use loosely!) in the pub about how she’d rather be a Ni##er than a Rossie! They couldn’t handle the fact that their lowly lowly little neighbours got their number on the day. Worst losers ever
What kind of abuse
I think the Dublin supporters are fine Jesse
Ah Alex. You’re talking rubbish now. We (Dublin) have our fair share of a*shole supporters. Every county does. To say you’ve no respect for a county as a hole because of a small % of their fans is ridiculous.
Dublin GAA supporters are amongst the best in the country. Any issues within croke park regarding Dublin fans inevitably come from other county’s fans who have a rake of drink and go on the Hill to try wind up the Dubs. Take kilkenny a couple of weeks back when Dublin played laois. An all round great day out with no trouble whatsoever. As for Mayo,their fans give it but cannot take it it would seem,yoid think they’d have learned after failure year on year. Other counties who go out in Finals and semis,Kerry,Dublin,Donegal etc are much more gracious on defeat.
I definitely wouldn’t say Dublin fans are the best. After the 2011 semi final (Donegal) a lot of abuse was thrown towards my family leaving Croke Park. In the 2014 semi final we had a group of Dubs in front of us mocking us for the first 15 or so minutes of the game telling us to go back up North. No county has perfect fans though. I’ve met some absolutely lovely Dunlin fans and I’ve met plenty of horrible Donegal and Mayo fans too.
“I’m from county A , all our fans are glorious angels , not like those fans from county B , they’re all disgraceful” <– Such a suspicious mentality
John James I’ll never forget that day we were robbed a goal in the sixth minute of added the ref kept playing till roscommon got their winner besides that we were rubbish on the day!
See Barry your my case and point a few people following Mayo that don’t act with grace but you and a few others on here have to tarnish all our people with the same brush. We are constantly accused at being chokers and bad losers we have to read it here and on hoganstand forum and in the pubs and in the wider world when we talk about football and our footballers. Then when we are beaten those accusers go on their high horses when in fact they haven’t shown any grace themselves. When Mayo lose I try to be graceful to the victors because on those days we come up short. That day i see a Mayo team climb the hogan to collect same I shall not act with grace and I will see that day!
Only if you’re immortal. Hope the qualifiers treat yous well and we may meet in HQ later this summer!
At least some good out of a bad sports day, mayo or Galway won’t be bringing Sam west this year but if Galway are good enough over the Next couple of years they probably won’t choke…
Galway well done
Backdoor will suit Mayo they will learn from today there not the dubs
Could turn out to be a good thing – the small number of poor standard games in Connaught hasn’t really helped Mayo in the biggest games
Gap between Connacht rivals increasing – James Horan http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/gap-between-connacht-rivals-increasing-james-horan-34809138.html How does that humble pie taste James Horan? ‘Hon the tribes!!!
Haha.well done Galway!
In the back door and out the front
Neither team could kick snow off a rope in that first half
Ah jasus, poor Mayo!
Ah thanks Suzy! We’re used to making it through Connaught and having a good shot at the semis or the final…but never quite making it! I’m severely disappointed and though I didn’t get to see the match today (because of the Sky thing) from the comments above it sounds like Galway deserved their win so good luck to them. The back door!
If you don’t score for over 20 minutes of the second half you can have no excuses. Well done Galway!
Well done the Mayo lads, maybe its time now to get rid of the medical staff and the groundsmen…it’s a long road with no turn…
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Congrats Galway, no team can afford to be complacent against any other team. Ros, Cork, Mayo & Tyrone today have learned that the hard way this year. Mayo should get a good winning run through the qualifiers. I’m hoping The Rossies will have enough to overcome Galway in the final
Fair play
Just a thought…..The Mayo players should have a meeting asap and try to poach Kevin Walsh for the remainder of the season