Derby Day Sunday Leads Premier League Weekend

With the return of the Tyne-Wear Derby to the Premier League this season after a year without it, all eyes yet again are set on the North East. However, there are the small matters of the Merseyside and Second City derby's taking place on Sunday also.

With the Merseyside derby and the Second City derby taking place on the same day, there seems to be more attention put on those games. In my view this is because Everton and Liverpool are having poor seasons, especially Liverpool, and the same can be said for the two Birmingham teams, Villa and City. Both sets of derby's are languishing in the bottom half of an extremely tight Premier League table, which might explain why both are on TV in the UK and the Wear-Tyne derby isn't as the North East sides are 6th and 9th respectively and the game doesn't have as much meaning as the other two derby's.

However, to the people of Newcastle and Sunderland the game has as much, if not more meaning, than ever before. Sunderland certainly have more reason to want to win this one after being humiliated back in October, as they were beaten 5-1 by the Magpies at St James' Park. As for Newcastle and boss Alan Pardew, after being embarrassed by Stevenage in the FA Cup, will want to bounce back as quickly as possible after a good run of form in the league with three wins in their last five games, including a 5-0 thrashing of West Ham United at St James' in their last fixture.

Sunderland are sweating over the fitness of Danny Welbeck and captain Lee Cattermole who are both rated 50-50 to play, whilst Bolo Zenden and Nedum Onuoha are fit to play for the Black Cats. Front two Darren Bent and Asamoah Gyan are both likely to start, with both men being integral to Sunderland's success so far this campaign.

Newcastle has injury and suspension issues to worry about before this one. Star striker Andy Carroll, who has 11 Premier League goals to his name this term, is ruled out of Sunday's game due to a thigh injury, as well as midfielder Cheik Tiote due to his red card in the FA Cup vs Stevenage. Summer signing Dan Gosling could be in line for his first game for Newcastle at the Stadium of Light after recovering from a long layoff with a knee ligament injury suffered playing for Everton nearly a year ago.

Apart from the absence of players such as Andy Carroll, who would have been intriguing to see in his Wear-Tyne derby at the Stadium of Light, it is shaping up to be one of the closest and most fiercely contested derby's seen in the North East for years.

In many senses all the pressure is on the Sunderland players to get a result after the 5-1 demolition in at St James' in October as well as their FA Cup 3rd Round defeat at home to Notts County, however the Toon Army will be expecting a response from their players after that FA Cup giant-killing against Stevenage. If you put the FA Cup disasters for both teams in the back of your mind, both sides are in very good form in the league and performing above expectations, especially the Magpies and really shouldn't be under the pressure that they find themselves, however, that's modern day football for you and why the players get paid so much, they are paid to perform and have to deal with it.

As well as the importance of the Tyne-Wear derby, the Merseyside and Second City derby's have huge significance for the teams involved. For the first time in a long time, Liverpool and Everton face each other at a time when both sides are in danger of being dragged into a relegation dog fight. This is pretty much un-heard of for a Liverpool fan, but it's the reality they face and this game is very important for reasons which both sides are not accustomed to. Everton have certainly had their fair share of relegation battle's down the years, however under David Moyes, relegation has not been a worry.

As for the Second City derby, Aston Villa go into this one second bottom of the Premier League table, which in recent years is way below expectations after being in contention for a Champions League place last season. However, much like Liverpool, their reality is that they are in a relegation fight and will be sucked deeper into the fight if they cannot register a win over bitter rivals Birmingham City. City are also in a similar position, however their positioning is less of a surprise compared to that of Villa's. A win for either side would be massive, but a loss would leave one of their neighbours in serious trouble, which is one heck of an incentive for both sides, if they needed one.

So, with an intriguing Derby Day ahead, my predictions are:

Birmingham 2-1 Aston Villa

Liverpool 1-0 Everton

Sunderland 2-2 Newcastle