European football roundup: A preview of this weekend's games

Aston Villa v Newcastle United, Saturday 1500

Villa were very close to relegation last season and with no ‘names’ signed this summer, the bookmakers had them down as outside bets for relegation. I personally think they have a decent shot at a top half finish, if they can avoid too many injuries. I’m a big fan of their manager, Paul Lambert, and think now he has had a season to get the players used to his style of play and add a few more to the squad, they should kick on.

Getting rid of some players who were very unhappy and on big salaries will also lift the mood (Darren Bent, Stephen Ireland) and getting Christian Benteke to stay on for the season is huge. I have the big Belgian down as a future leading man at a Champions League club, and a possible star of next summer’s World Cup in Brazil for Belgium, now that he has cemented his place as first choice striker for them too. They’ve had a decent start to the season and I’d expect them to be winning matches like this.

Newcastle look like a side in a mess. To say they over-achieved in Alan Pardew’s first season in finishing fifth is a huge understatement. There’s definitely some excellent players at the club, but Pardew doesn’t seem to know how to utilise them at all. With intelligent footballers like Yohan Cabaye and flair like Hatem Ben Arfa, they should be a threat to most sides, but Pardew has reduced them to a long ball outfit.

He seems to have set them up to simply try and grind points out with Ben Arfa occasionally chucked in to mix things up with no clear instructions. This might well work on rare occasions, but it won’t keep them out of trouble. I think they’ll again get dangerously close to relegation unless something changes drastically. I don’t think the odds are miles out at all, but I think there’s a little bit of value left in backing Villa.

Southampton v West Ham, Sunday 1600

The Saints have certainly made some interesting signings. The likes of Dejan Lovren and Victor Wanyama have been linked with much bigger sides and in that sense, are a real coup for Southampton. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll fit in or excel. The signing of Wanyama, in particular, seems strange, given that in Morgan Schneiderlin, they already had one of the Premier League’s best defensive midfielders of last season at the club. I’m still not certain that Mauricio Pochettino is going to take them anywhere fast.

West Ham are rapidly turning into exactly what everyone expects of a Sam Allardyce side. They are full of big, strong players in most positions, with the odd flair player chucked in to give them another option. This approach saw them steering well clear of relegation last season after promotion and it’s easy to understand why the board are backing Allardyce. Whilst I’d be loathe to pay to watch an Allardyce side as a neutral, I’d be very happy to have him in charge of my side if I wanted some security.

He’ll make the team hard to beat first of all, before adding players that may well be undervalued at other clubs like Kevin Nolan or Stewart Downing. Nolan is an excellent player at chasing knock downs and second balls and has a great scoring record. Downing may never have been a £20 million player for Liverpool, but could turn out to be an excellent £6 million signing for West Ham. No team will get an easy match against West Ham.