I speak often on the website about the clubgowi newsletter which is sent out daily and you can see a full issue below, covering yesterday's sporting action, it ran to almost 6,000 words and contains a lot of unique content.
I have just sent out the Sunday edition, covering two sports with suggested bets at odds of up to 26-1 and very solid selections at 3.25 and 2.50 .
Six month subscriber packages have been re-opened today at competitive rates, not sure how low these will last, so act fast if interested.
Good luck !
Saturday February 9th
Next newsletter will be sent @ 10.00 UK time on Sunday.
Premier League:
Crystal Palace- West Ham United
Really odd season for United who have flattered at times, but been on two dire runs , they showed on Monday against Liverpool what they are capable of at times and will have Marko Arnautovic back today for the short trip to South London to face a favoured opponent. The Hammers are unbeaten in seven h2h meetings and also won their last three top flight derby games. Palace have won only 3/12 at home and scored just 8 goals here at Selhurst Park failing to score in 7, I spoke recently about them being far better suited to playing away from home ................
Crystal Palace average 1.4 goals pg away from home in the Premier League, compared to just 0.6 at home . The Eagles have scored 10 goals in their last four league games on the road and seem better able to play to their strengths when the onus is less on them to make the running.
I still think that United have top 10 + potential( see those mid season PL notes) and that they are the better of these two teams, they have been terribly unlucky with injuries, but can build on the draw against Liverpool and the loss of Palace CB James Tomkins is big, he has sat out 15 games since the start of last season and the Eagles have won just two , losing 11 .
2 units West Ham United +0.25 ball 2.16 asian line/Sportmarket.
Huddersfield Town - Arsenal
Every single thing about Town's start to the New Year, especially their transfer window "dealings" screams that they have accepted their fate and are already planning for a big Championship push next season, time will tell about the latter, I have my doubts, but that is for August. I have made my thoughts on the Terriers and former boss David Wagner clear and for a very long time, they were far too negative for my liking, were fortunate to stay up last season and have paid the price this, but I guess the bank manager and club Finance Director are pleased with the last two campaigns. Not sure how much new head coach Jan Siewert will change things in the short term, probably not much until he can bring one or two of his own players in, nothing has really changed, at least in terms of approach that I have seen so far and they look way below the required top flight level and that goes double against any top 6 team.
This is a big game for the Gunners, out of the FA Cup, they have to stay in top 4 contention and already trail the other Big 6 teams, but three very win-able games up next , two at the Emirates before they play Tottenham and Manchester United early next month. They are struggling defensively, but are not going to be put under the same kind of pressure today that they have been recently and have too much firepower not to win this. Just one clean sheet in 22 Premier League starts on the road for Arsenal, but that came in this fixture back in May. Town have not scored in six home games versus Big 6 teams and have conceded 23 in the 10 PL games against them here, add in 15 in the four on the road to top 6 this season and it makes very sorry reading.
2 units Arsenal -1 ball 2.20 asian line/Sportmarket.
Liverpool- Bournemouth
I have discussed the title race twice this week in Manchester City's games versus Arsenal and Everton, they have gone top now and in some ways the pressure is slightly lifted off Liverpool, they played at West Ham United on Monday (see Palace notes above). I spoke about Bournemouth's awful record against Big 6 teams 10 days ago..........
Bournemouth had a great start to their season which is just as well as they have lost 8 of 11 in all competitions and are struggling right now. We know they are much better than that and they are an entertaining side with goals in them and head coach Eddie Howe always sets them up to play offensively. He has been accused of a little naivety at times in that regard, but I feel it is the correct approach and plays to their strengths. It got them out of the Championship and established them as a top flight team and with the quality of player at the club constantly being upgraded, this style gives them more chance of beating the bigger clubs, some time down the line. That has not quite kicked in yet and they have lost 11 in a row against Big 6 opponents ! All 10 in the league saw the opposition score 2+ goals at an average of 3.1 per game, with 8 wins by 2 + goals . Chelsea have won on their last three, their only three, visits to the Vitality Stadium, scoring 8 goals and with the signing of Gonzalo Higuain, will be able to use N'Golo Kante and especially Eden Hazard , both of whom were rested in the 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday, in more natural positions. The Cherries have the pace on the break to trouble the Blues, but the loss of right back Simon Francis and Lewis Cook with season ending injuries has hurt them defensively.
Such is the way of these things that they won that 4-0 ! It was an odd game, 0-0 at half time following an opening 45 minutes in which Chelsea dominated , but they were denied by five big saves from Artur Boruc and could not make use of over 70% of first half possession. The Cherries were great on the break in the second half and seemed to catch the Blues out every time they ventured forward. It was a very different tale next time out for them in a 2-0 loss at lowly Cardiff City, where Howe's men were a no show. Now they travel to Anfield without not just the long term defensive injuries, but minus front men Callum Wilson (10 goals- 6 assists) and David Brooks ( 6 goals -4 assists). Brooks had a hand in two goals against the Blues, Bournemouth have lost all three games he has missed by 2 goals and have won only once since September without a contribution from him and that came against woeful Huddersfield where Wilson had a goal and assist in a 2-1 win ! If that was not all bad enough, defensive midfielder Jefferson Lerma is a major doubt ( conceded 9 goals in the last three away starts he has missed).
Liverpool trio Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum and Trent Alexander-Arnold have all returned to training this week and could be involved, next games for the Reds are Bayern Munich and Manchester United and they have to find a performance and convincing win before then and this is their last chance.
1.75 units Liverpool -2.5 ball 2.41 asian line/Sportmarket.
Championship: Nottingham Forest - Brentford
18 goals in five starts for Brentford and they are building up some real momentum and Forest long thought of as promotion candidates are just five points ahead of the Bees who have a game in hand. Ahead of the last road Championship game of the West London "giants " I wrote .............
Last weekend the Bees hosted Stoke City and my notes on that are reproduced below the "good luck " sign off (edit: see January 19th newsletter). Brentford won 3-1, it was their best performance of the season and if they replicate it today, they will win comfortably. In 90 +minutes play, City had one touch of the ball inside the Bees area, the home side dominated and might have scored five or six. Comments on the main Stoke forum afterwards were fulsome in praise of Brentford and this was fairly typical .....
"Brentford were everything we were not. Pace, energy, movement, options, pressing, togetherness, tenacity, menace, aggression, shape. You name it. I seriously doubt, on the evidence of yesterday's performance, that a single Stoke player would get into the Brentford team. And that also goes for Butland. That is shocking for a team on our wages.A complete horrow show. In fact a humiliation when they strung together about 40 passes in the second half, and had the crowd ole-ing.
Could and should have been 5 at least."
Rotherham is not an easy place to go, but Brentford know the New York Stadium well and beat United 5-1 in early season, my very lengthy preview on that is on the clubgowi forum on this page. Millers boss Paul Warne, said numerous times in his post match interview just how "amazing" Brentford were that day.After losing their way, the Bees look back to their best now and United are unfortunate with the timing of their games with the West London team. Goals are in short suply for united, they have failed to score in 4 of 6 starts and managed just 25 and five wins all season. They are well organised and work hard and have some talent out wide which I have talked about a couple of times this season, but with Bees playing three at the back and with huge options on the flanks now, Rico Henry is fully fit and showing what all the fuss was about and he must be one of the quickest players in the Championship, that is largely nullified. Away win .
They won that 4-2 and last weekend put five past 8th placed Blackburn Rovers about which I added ............
A sluggish start from the Bees and they were 2 down early, before the five without reply, four of which were as good as you will see anywhere and you can view them all on this link. My personal favourite is the Maupay goal on 1:48 is it a thing of beauty and I love the way Swayers raises his arm in celebration before the ball even reaches Maupay, as he knows the diminutive striker doesn't miss ! Some of the build up play was sensational and there was also a 4-5 minute period in the second half where Rovers did not touch the ball and when they play like this, the Bees are the best team in the Championship. Players have refound their mojo, Ollie Watkins has a smile on his face once more, Sergi Canos is scoring again, Said Benrahma is terrorising defences and just ghosts past players, Romaine Sawyers is probably the best central midfielder in the second tier and I have not even mentioned Maupay, Konsa, Mokotjo, Henry etc, or , that Brentford banked another £18m + huge add ons in the January window , did not sign anyone and only look stronger !
The Bees are looking to win at the City Ground for the 5th time in a row and they have totally dominated the series with Forest since promotion to the Championship. Home fans have spoken a lot recentltly about poor investment and lack of pace in midfield and that is likely to hurt them badly today. Back in October I wrote .......
My own personal thinking is that Forest are not as good as they, or most Championship pundits think and that Millwall have to be better than 22nd place implies, doubly so at the New Den when they really put teams under pressure especially, but not exclusively, early in games. That thought process did not look too good on Wednesday night when Forest hosted the Lions and moved into a 2-0 lead early in the second half, but Millwall salavaged a point with two goals in the last 15 minutes. The Lions "won" attempts 19-7, on target 9-2, inside box 13-2 , big chances 4-0, saves 0-8, hit woodwork 1-0 and a point was the least they deserved and I see them as a potential improver in the coming weeks, maybe a big one. Today they host Villa who have won once in ten and parted company with head coach Steve Bruce and all his staff in midweek ( search cabbagegate !) , so have a stand in today, while the search for a replacement gets underway. It is not usual for improvement to come when the temporary head coach has none of the former staff under him, or any chance of the job on a permament basis and I like the host today.
I spoke about what I see as the Forest issues in early season..........
You see it often in football that after one team has success, others try to replicate what they have done, but it is often harder to reproduce than to innovate and that goes double when you do not have the same tools, or fully understand the concept. I have heard it so many times in the last year that teams are "going to do what Brentford do", for example, sign youngsters, buy low, sell high, play attractive football, if it was that easy everyone would do it and the truth is that the Bees have access to a 100 + strong analytics team and people who fully understand the information generated and who can also incorporate that into more traditional methods. Now we have teams "doing a Wolves" and Forest have looked to Jorge Mendes (see above) to make the same impact. I understand he tried before at Forest on a smaller level before he was involved at Wolves, it was ill fated , but now he has the blueprint, however, I am not sure it is as easy as that and theer have been many false dawns at the City Ground in the last two decades. Anyway, the local newspaper (Nottingham Post) spoke about the arrangement this summer .................
There’s few men in football who are perceived to yield quite so much power as Jorge Mendes, agent to some of the biggest and most famous footballers on the planet.
His Gestifute agency is home to the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez, Diego Costa and Manchester City stopper Ederson. He also has Manchester United chief Jose Mourinho on his books.
Mendes worked closely with Wolverhampton Wanderers last season, helping bring players of the calibre of Ruben Neves, Diogo Jota, Helder Costa and Ivan Cavaleiro to Molineux to aid their promotion success, and now it appears he’s having an impact at Nottingham Forest.
A former agent of manager Aitor Karanka, Mendes has helped the Reds clinch the impressive signings of Benfica duo Joao Carvalho and Diogo Goncalves along with Saturday night's arrival of Portuguese winger Gil Dias from French outfit AS Monaco.
Portuguese football expert Alex Goncalves admits that Mendes’ involvement will remain a bone of contention for those clubs and supporters not benefiting from his incredible stable of talent, but to those, like Wolves, who benefit, are pleased to have his influence.
“With regards to Jorge Mendes and his involvement in the club, there’s no denying that he has a very good relationship with Aitor Karanka and is, with minimal exaggeration, arguably the most powerful man in football in the modern day,” he told the Post.
Diogo Goncalves and Joao Carvalho joined from Benfica
“Some will love him for his ability to attract players to their club that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to obtain – Wolves fans can be used as a reference for this - while many fans – particularly of rival clubs - will absolutely hate him and his influence on football.”
Mendes was present on occasion at Wolves games last season, as manager and client to Portuguese manager Nuno Espirito Santo, who guided the Black Country outfit back to the Premier League. Goncalves believes that, just as it was with Santo, it’s his relationship with Aitor Karanka that is yielding such results at the City Ground during the course of this summer.
“He’s bound to be a controversial figure as a result. But the power he has is unquestionable, and his relationship with Karanka is a crucial component in enabling Forest to be signing players as high-profile as Gil Dias.”
Dias, a 21-year winger who spent last season away from the Stade Louis II, at Italian Serie A side Fiorentina, is valued at £17m and will spend the season in Nottingham. The Reds do have a clause in the deal which would enable them, like Goncalves before him, to make the move permanent in a year’s time.
Goncalves added: "Indeed, after this deal is completed, which itself follows that equally impressive double transfer swoop of Diogo Goncalves and João Carvalho from Benfica last week, Forest fans may well begin to be grateful for Jorge Mendes in a similar manner to that of Wolves fans, with the prospect of seeing such exciting players join their beloved club a remarkable sign of intent which is allowing Forest fans to head in to the new season with heightened anticipation and optimism.”
Maybe not as simple second time around and I have my doubts that Karanka is capable of letting go of his defensive first mindset and allowing any of his teams to fully express themselves .
They are 3-7-1 through 11 starts, which is not many wins per million spent and being tough to beat, is not good enough to be competitive in the Championship. I thought they were awful at Griffin Park, lacking in ambition or ability, very happy to time waste from the kick off ,overly physical and it was impossible to see where any money was spent .
Nottingham Forest are without suspended duo Yohan Benalouane and Jack Colback.Away win.
1.75 units Brentford -0.5 ball 2.53 asian line/Sportmarket .
League 1:
Scunthorpe United- Accrington Stanley
Bradford City- Fleetwood Town
On January 26th I previewed Fleetwood- Scunthorpe ..............
I was big on Fleetwood early season, feeling their could kick on under Joey Barton, they have not quite fully lived up to that level of expectation and have struggled for consistency. They are 8th which sounds good, but have played a game or two more than some, are 7 points behind the team in 7th and only 5 ahead of the visitors, who are in 16th. I think from here on in, it will be mainly consolidation and building for next season for them. It is a little different for United who are on a roll , building some momentum with a whole rash of new signing and ahead of a very recent trip to Walsall I wrote ........
Walsall have continued to struggle, they had 18 points from nine games (2.0 pg) when I wrote the original notes, just 14 from 17 subsequent starts (0.82 pg), they are down to 15th just 5 points above the drop zone and two above Scunthorpe. However, United seem to be on the up and heading in the other direction, they have won their last three, two coming against top 8 teams and head coach Stuart McCall who knows this division very well, has been given funds to strengthen and he has bought in five players this window (McCall's first at the club) who are mainly already known to him or the club.Kevin Van Veen returns from Northampton, Adam Hammill makes the switch from St. Mirren, there is a reunion for McCall with Tony McMahon, who is on-loan from Oxford and defenders Harrison McGahey (Rochdale)and Byron Webster (Millwall) also make the permanent switch, both have a lot of experience at this level and above, actually all five do and the quintet should all be able to slot in easily to the starting 11 and will give the club massively increased options. United finished 7-3-5 in League 1 last three seasons, obviously have potential and now they have turned the corner and strengthened we should be keeping them on our side.
The Iron won that 2-1, Walsall franked the form by winning 3-0 away to Gillingham next time out and United by drawing with 3rd placed Sunderland, who are the biggest and might be the best team in League 1.United bossed that with 9 attempts on target to just 2 for the Black Cats and visiting goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin was forced to make a string of vital stops to deny Scunny. McCall has continued to look to upgrade his squad and signed midfielder Jordan Hallam from Championship highfliers Sheffield United this week, his 6th addition this window.
United won that 1-0, they lost their only subsequent start, away to second placed Barnsley ( see below) but no shame in that and the Tykes might be the best team in the division. Now United host Accrington Stanley who have done us a lot of favours in recent campaigns and who I was very keen on in early season, but they are struggling now and we have seen long poor runs (and the reverse ) from them in the past. They have won just once since Boxing Day ( 8 starts in all competitions) and have failed to score in six of those, including their last four and I dont really understand the odds on this game.
2.5 units Scunthorpe United -0.25 ball 2.15 asian line/Sportmarket.
Bradford were spoken of as having turned the corner in a number of my previews through December/January, but suffered an horrendous defeat to Southend United the last time I discussed and those are reproduced below the "good luck" sign off in full and have additional value as they include notes on Accrington and Barnsley, two other teams I am featuring today. City have gone three starts subsequently unbeaten, two good road draws and a 4-3 win over Shrewsbury, they remain in the drop zone but only on goal difference and made a further three eyecatching signings in terms of experience, most at a higher level, with Jacob Butterfield ( Derby) , Billy Clarke ( Charlton) and Callum woods (Preston) all joining and a lot of players deemed surplus to requirements moved on loan or out. City are actually only six points adrift of 12th, they will survive comfortably IMO, but how well they do and finally finish, should have a big say in how much support they will receive in the next transfer window. City's heavily sponsored and advertised season tickets for 19-20 went on sale this week (£150......bargain !) and they will want the three points to help market those. Home win.
1.75 units Bradford City -0.5 ball 2.55 asian line/Sportmarket.
Gillingham - Barnsley
Quite a bit on Barnsley within these notes and they comfortably beat two "improvers", they are up to second and have their eyes on top spot and are 100% committed to promotion this season and a return to the Championship at the first attempt.In late November I wrote .............
No matter how you look at the numbers in League 1 in terms of chances created /allowed and overall performances levels, one team comes out well ahead of the pack and that is Barnsley. I think they were a little unlucky to be relegated from the Championship last season with 41 points, they were probably better than two teams who finished above them, but 46 games is a true test and they had plenty of chances to get themselves out of trouble. Anyway last Christmas there were some major changes at the club ..............
The Tykes were taken over last week by a consortium including Chinese billionaire Chien Lee and "moneyball" pioneer Billy Beane. The asian group are the same one which approached Brentford earlier in the year and they have long been looking for a second tier team to invest in, they have had great success with Nice in France, the Beane addition is new and offers great interest into the project.
I was expecting a big upgrade in the window just to ensure they stayed up and them a Championship push this season, it never came, at least not at the level expected, which was odd and now that push is on, but in League 1. It all looks and feels better organised now, head coach Daniel Stendel (sacked by Hannover with a 17-9-8 record) was bought in from Germany and looks a good fit. They are coming off a 2-0 win at an Accrington Stanley side "we" like and home head coach John Coleman made no secret afterwards that he considered Barnsley the best team in League 1.
There have been some changes at the club recently, Barnsley chief executive Gauthier Ganaye has left to take up a position at French side OGC Nice. Paul Conway will take over from Ganaye, who has been chief executive at the club since the summer of 2017 .Nice are also owned by a consortium led by Conway and Chien Lee. Barnsley assistant head coach Andreas Winkler also left to join the new German set up at Huddersfield, Dale Tonge will replace him and "another German coach" added by Stendel at some stage. This doesn't sound good, but I am not sure it changes much, Ganaye's work was probably done for this season anyway and I suspect within the same group, they could call on him for advice if needed and he is still on the board at the club. Barnsley have just carried on winning. What I really like is that they are super ambitious, are already making signings for next season and they turned down huge offers for two players in the window, Brentford bid over £3m for CB Ethan Pinnock and that was dismissed out of hand, a lot of money for a L1 central defender.
I expect they to be very focussed on the three points today, with a visit from the two teams immediately below them in the table, Portsmouth and Sunderland, in the next month . Stats (see above) have long pointed to Barnsley being the best third tier team and now the table is starting to reflect that. Conway gave a lengthy interview this week and spoke about the "great success" of the transfer window and that they believe in long tem stability and growth, with Nice the model and commitment to the academy and FFP, they feel the club is already Championship level and this is a very interesting project with a commitment to youth. There is "no limit on what they will spend on long term growth projects", such as training ground, stadium etc, but will not throw money at the playing side, prefering to build rather than buy.
1.75 units Barnsley -1.25 ball 2.34 asian line/Sportmarket.
Good Luck.
League 1 : Bradford City- Southend United
United are 8 points better off than City and in relative midtable safety, however, there is little doubt who is playing better right now and the home side have lost just 3 from 10 starts, all on the road and each to top 5 teams, they might even be the best three teams in League 1. United have lost 8 from their last 12 and are in real danger of getting sucked into the relegation battle. City remain in the drop zone, but are really on the up after a disasterous 2018 (until very late) and have won their last four at home and by a combined 11-0, ahead of the most recent, a 3-0 defeat of Accrington Stanley on New Year's Day I wrote .......
==============================================================
Five of the City players made the fantasy squad of the 15 best December League 1 players, 3 goals and two assists from Jack Payne saw the Huddersfield loanee as the top ranked individual in the division. That highlights just how well they are playing and full of confidence City are right now and, they rode roughshod over a decent Rochdale team last weekend , winning 4-0 at Spotland , ahead of which I wrote .............
City did not land that big odds bet at Sunderland on Boxing Day, with the home side easing to a 1-0 win...........
Just three games for me this round, going to start with the biggest priced one and that is lowly Bradford City away to Sunderland in League 1, they are two big clubs at this level and this match is set to be played before the biggest third tier crowd for over 40 years, with an incredible 45,000 fans expected to attend. It is clear what this could mean to the Sunderland faithful, but they are coming off only their second defeat of the season away to league leaders Portsmouth on Saurday which was a bit of a shock, they need to bounce back from and they had to play 45 minutes with 10 men, which means defender Glenn Loovens will be suspended today.
I spoke ahead of a 2-0 win over Scunthorpe United on Saturday about how City had turned a corner for their new boss and were suddenly scoring for fun .............
They beat Oxford who were and have subsequently been in good form, then lost heavily to highflying Luton, but something had changed and in four subsequent starts they have gone unbeaten and scored 13 goals, four without reply at home to Walsall last weekend, remember, this is a team who had scored 15 in 20 league games prior to that. City look to have turned a corner and have something to build upon now, they also have a massive Christmas period ahead and on Boxing Day, at Sunderland, will play in front of the biggest third tier crowd in almost 40 years with over 39,000 tickets already having been sold for the away game at Sunderland and they should be close to 20,000 for today's games where a win would take City above United and possibly, out of the relegation zone . There have been some positive off pitch moves at the club too and it all and suddenly, feels much brighter at Valley Parade.United have lost five straight, have not scored in four and conceded a League 1 high 47 goals and arrive with a handful of injuries, the latest to playmaker Josh Morris who has 4 goals and 4 assists this season (lost 4 of 6 that he has sat out, conceding 14 goals) and the Iron are 1-1-9 in the 11 games since his last scoring contribution.
They might not have beaten much, but it was another step up the ladder and things look so much brighter at VP, they won 2-0, in truth it could/should have been 4-5. They need to improve again today, but are under no real pressure and in recent years have proved themselves a big cup team and this ha very much that feel, of a massive one off game. It all boils down to odds and north of 6.0 for the away win feels too good to let pass.
It was probably a fair result but City were denied what looked a "goal" with the ball having seemingly crossed the goal line, but was not given, the Bantams felt hard done by and that they deserved a point and not just from the big incident. Their confidence has not been dented and they said that dropping back into the bottom four is just an incentive for today. The mood at the club is in stark contrast to a couple of months ago and fitness levels are said to be sky high now, with the appointment of Anton McElhone as assistant to David Hopkin being said to have helped greatly, he is a fitness expert and was previously at Tottenham and New England Revolution (MLS players tend to have very high fitness levels), they have been ending games strongly and they should have an edge with the quick turnaround in games. Rochdale are a team I like and with a head coach in Keith Hill who likes to play good footall, but I am keen to stick with City and Dale have conceded 10 of 19 home goals in the final 15 minutes of each half and it is easy to see the visitors coming on strong late in both halves. City should have 1,500 supporters in a crowd which is unlikely to number more than 4,000-5,000.
City dominated from first kick off until the final whistle and allowed Dale just 4 attempts of any description and home boss Keith Hill said afterwards: "The best player on the pitch was Jack Payne – he shouldn’t be playing League One football. "I thought Bradford were excellent today and sometimes you’ve got to take it on the chin and accept that the opposition were better and learn from it." Not sure how long City can keep Payne, if he will be recalled by struggling Huddersfield to either help their cause (but the PL is a big step up) , or to go on a second half of the season loan to a Championship team (which happened last season, but without great success). Either way, no word on that ahead of today and the Bantams are doing all that is possible to keep him for the full season.
Stanley are one of "our" teams and a LOT of notes on them in 2018, however, it does feel like they are no longer the surprise League 1 package and they have settled into mid table and are coming off a 4-0 home defeat to Peterborough, whom City performed well against in three recent league and cup games (two on the road), not losing inside 90 minutes and scoring 7 goals. Right now I am not sure that the Bantams should be these kind of odds at home to anyone.
===================================================================================
They won that 3-0, City did lose by the same scoreline at neighbours and highflying Barnsley subsequently, that game was very even early, but was always likely to be decided with the first goal and the Tykes were comfortable winners in the end. Bigger news came this week when City announced that loanees Jack Payne and Lewis O’Brien will remain at the Northern Commercials Stadium until at least the end of the season.This comes after City thrashed out a revised contract with Premier League parent club Huddersfield Town to retain Payne, while O’Brien will now see out the remainder of his Bantams agreement.The on-loan duo have made more than 60 City appearances between them since the season started.This is the news that City and their supporters have been waiting for and whilst they are expecting an "intense battle" today ( words of David Hopkin), they want to celebrate with the three points which they hope will take them out of the bottom three. New signing 22 yo midfielder Jermaine Anderson (over 100 appearances for Peterborough) is available for selection, as is Hope Akpan ,who returned to action last weekend, he is a Nigerian international and has played approaching 150 games at Championship level.I understand that City broke the wage structure at the club to keep Payne, doubling their share of his wage bill, which is a massive statement of intent. United are sorely missing goalkeeper Mark Oxley (lost 7/10 in his absence) and regular right back Jason Demetriou , who both remain sidelined today.
