Premiership - 7th October 2012

Southampton (17/10) v Fulham (17/10)

Southampton have been one of the joys of the season thanks to some enterprising football and atrocious defending but they can feel genuinely unlucky not to have won more than one game. Away from home their defending has been truly awful but at St Mary’s they’re a very difficult outfit to deal with, as shown by their 4-1 victory over Aston Villa and their 3-2 defeat to Manchester United (where they really should have won). On talent the two teams are difficult to spilt but with Fulham being such poor travellers we’d give the edge to Sothampton, who look like a fairly decent bet to win while conceding at 10/3 with Coral. The real bet of the game is over 2.5 goals - All but one of Southampton's league games this season have gone over 3.5 goals while all six of Fulham's league games this season have gone over 2.5 goals.

Advice: 4 pts over 2.5 goals (4/5 Stan James), 1 pt Southampton to win while conceding (10/3 Coral)

Liverpool (8/15) v Stoke (13/2)

With excellent youth based performances at West Brom in the League Cup and Norwich last week, Liverpool seemed to be finally finding their feet infront of goal and gaining some momentum and to be fair even in their 3-2 defeat to Udinese in midweek they did manage to score twice. However that defeat could be viewed as a step back and there’s no rush to take 8/15 quotes at all here, especially when you consider how Liverpool have still won just once at Anfield all season, against FC Gomel. They deserve to have won at least 3 more games here but if Stoke can produce a similar performance to the one they pulled off at Chelsea then Liverpool will be in trouble.

Advice: 1 pt Stoke +1.25 on Asian H’Cap (4/5 general)

Tottenham (1/2) v Aston Villa (7)

Andre Villas Boas had made a poor start to his season with Spurs but they’ve quickly found their feet and their 3-2 win against Manchester United was one of the best performances of the season. A similar performances should see them brush aside Aston Villa, who should have gained confidence from their 1-1 draw against West Brom bit have been far weaker on the road than at home and might still be finding their feet under their new boss.

Advice: 1 pt Tottenham/Tottenham (5/4 Stan James)

Newcastle (10/3) v Manchester United (20/21)

Manchester United were finally exposed when beaten at Old Trafford by Tottenham and they’re in for a very tough time at St James’s Park, where Newcastle haven’t lost this season (two wins from three games). There’s a general feeling that Newcastle aren’t as good as last year but they still pack a fair punch and United have kept just one clean sheet this season, although their forward powers remain as sharp as ever. Get suck into the last of the 8/11 on Both teams to score with Stan James.

Advice: 3 pts Both teams to score (8/11 Stan James)