OddsPreview.com Everton to hold off Aston Villa in the minor scraps @ Sunday 11 May 2008, 01:06 PM

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BY JOE ASHDOWN
joe.ashdown@oddspreview.com

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The other half of Sunday’s Premier League programme pales into insignificance by comparison with only relatively minor issues to be resolved. Everton need only a point against Newcastle to be assured of fifth place and with it a UEFA Cup place for another season.

Despite the absence of one or two key players, I expect Everton to record a tight victory against a Newcastle side missing Mark Viduka, who has been an important player in seeing Newcastle safe from relegation in the last two months of the season.

An Everton victory or draw will render the match at Upton Park as nothing more than a dead rubber. West Ham take on Aston Villa in a battle for claret and blue supremacy and despite Villa having not recorded a league win in East London since 1996, I expect the pace of their front three to be too quicksilver for West Ham’s ailing back line to deal with.

When manager of Charlton, Alan Curbishley was famed for seeing his team’s form dip badly in the final three months of the season and he appears to have afflicted West Ham with this disease too. I expect Villa to romp to victory but to no avail.

Elsewhere, it is difficult to recall a match between Tottenham and Liverpool attracting so little fanfare or being so unimportant.

I expect Liverpool to edge this match at White Hart Lane but both Rafael Benitez and Juande Ramos will be carrying out surgery on their squads after what have generally been indifferent seasons for these two teams.

Tottenham should at least be able to cash in on the talented but stroppy Dimitar Berbatov to finance this rebuilding.

Not so long ago, Arsene Wenger would have expected their final match at Sunderland to have plenty riding on it. But the final two months of the season have unravelled badly for Wenger and his team and he will have much to reflect upon and plenty of baggage to remove ahead of the new season, with Mathieu Flamini having already left for the red part of the San Siro and Alexsandr Hleb reputedly considering a move to the blue part.

Nonetheless, I expect Arsenal’s superior class to a hand them a hollow victory at the Stadium of Light, although they must beware the wounded animal as Sunderland’s players will be playing for their futures after manager Roy Keane’s scathing comments this week.

Lastly, and being frank, least of all too, Middlesbrough play Manchester City at the Riverside with nothing to play for. Manchester City have a good record on Teesside and I expect a few of their players will be eager to prove a point to Thaksin Shinawatra after his ill advised treatment of Sven Goran Eriksson, who has pushed City in the right direction this season.

City will win this match and assuming they do not accumulate too many yellow cards today, will go into the UEFA Cup next season courtesy of UEFA’s perplexing Fair Play Award. Given Mr Shinawatra’s lack of fair play towards his manager, this does have a rather large hint of irony about it.

So, come back in from the garden and pour yourself a suitable drink of choice. The conclusion of the Premier League season is not worth missing, even if it does mean missing out on soaking up the rays. That is what the cricket season was designed for.

Final day predictions
Birmingham 1-1 Blackburn
Chelsea 2-0 Bolton
Derby 1-3 Reading
Everton 2-1 Newcastle
Middlesbrough 0-2 Manchester City
Portsmouth 0-1 Fulham
Sunderland 1-2 Arsenal
Tottenham 0-1 Liverpool
West Ham 0-3 Aston Villa
Wigan 1-2 Manchester United

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