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2nd November- Arsenal (Away)
The fact that we have poor form against Arsenal recently disturbs me. Every year we expect them to drop out of the top 4, with either Spurs or ourselves taking their place. And in the past 1 or 2 seasons they've been teetering on the brink of not making that spot.
You'd think, with Arsenal's poor form at times, we'd be able to capitalize on chances. But that's not the case. It's always us that gets a team out of a bad slump. We did it for Wigan 2 seasons ago and Man United a few times in the past few years.
However, it does give us hope that their team is getting progressively worse, while ours seems to be getting progressively better. (Sanogo just signed for Arsenal, while Mignolet and Aspas were sought after by a few "better" teams around several leagues) So will that play in our favor for once?
9th November- Fulham (Home)
With Mark Schwarzer leaving for Chelsea, it'll be interesting to see who they bring in to replace him. A lot of times, he's been the one to keep them in games. Can they get that kind of service in said replacement?
Besides that, we've gotten some of our best results against Fulham lately, a Maxi Rodriguez hat-trick leading to a 5-2 win when King Kenny was still big boss back in the 2011-12 season, and more recently a 3-1 come back win last year.
We're hoping that can continue, especially with the 1st Merseyside Derby of the season coming up afterward, and you always want to go into rivalries with your tails up.
23rd November- Everton (Away)
Not many people are giving Everton a chance this year. There's thoughts that my wish of them finishing 17th every season might actually come true. With them signing 2 ex Wigan players, there's 2 hashtags bouncing around twitter. #EvertonRelegationParty2014 and #EvertonAtheletic.
But for me, I think Everton may surprise a few. While it doesn't make sense that they signed Arouna Kone for 4 million pounds, while Wigan went and replaced him with a better player in Grant Holt for half the price.
Everton have a decent work ethic about them, and if they are stuck down the bottom of the table by April, I expect the usual Rob Martinez Hoodini act. It's always there, however annoying it is.
30th November- Hull (Home)
One team I'm not giving a chance to is Hull. Most teams like to improve when they come up into the Premier League, but I don't think Hull do that, and if they did, they don't seem to have the money to.
For instance, they signed Paul McShane to an extension yesterday. Paul McShane for me, when Hull were up before, was lax and slow at times, to which I'm hoping we can exploit in that match.
Our recent results against Hull include a 6-0 drubbing and a 0-0 draw. This indicates our hit-and-miss form of recent seasons, but we're a more clinical side than we were back then. Hopefully that continues this year and in this game especially