By Barry Robson

After a break for the internationals it’s back to Premier League action this weekend. It promises to be an exciting one and our man has cast his eye over the teams. Barry Robson is back with his football betting tips for Saturday and Sunday. Barry is looking at four draws, half the pools done for you is he Derren Brown?  We will see….

Birmingham v Aston Villa (Sunday)

Franck Queudrue has admitted that Sunday’s Midlands derby is Birmingham’s biggest game of the season. Alex McLeish’s side missed out on a match against Aston Villa last term as they were battling to win promotion from the Championship.

But the two teams will lock horns at St Andrews on Sunday and ex Boro and Fulham player Queudrue is predicting a very competitive clash. The French defender does not want anything to get out of control but feels referee Howard Webb may find it difficult to keep everyone on the pitch. Queudrue told the Birmingham Mail;

“We all know exactly how the fans feel about this, they are on at us all the time about beating Villa, and it is certainly our biggest game of the season. You can talk about Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool coming to St Andrews but no, this game is more important. The fans have passion for it, and as players you must have that passion too, and we have. It’s about who wins the duels, the single battles, without being silly of course, in a good way. That’s who will get the game. But the referee is going to have a tough job, he could have a problem keeping 11 on the pitch from us and them!”

Queudrue had to watch from the sidelines as Blues lost 5-1 to Aston Villa in April 2008 but he is confident there will be a different outcome on this occasion.

Result : Score Draw  Man To Watch : Ashley Young on his return from injury  FirstGoal Scorer : Emile Heskey

Best Odds: Birmingham 12/5, Draw 9/4 (Boylesports), Villa 13/10

Wigan v West Ham

Alessandro Diamanti is looking forward to making his West Ham debut after joining from Livorno. The Italian striker did not complete his transfer in time to be available for the goalless draw with Blackburn on 29th August and has been settling into his new surroundings for the past fortnight during the international break. He scored two stunning free-kicks in a reserve match at Upton Park on Tuesday and hopes he can keep his form going. Diamanti told the club’s official website.

“To play here was an excellent feeling. I was very excited and couldn’t wait to show my qualities, the team did well and played a good game, which I’m very happy about.”

Diamanti admits he has been an admirer of English football for some time and he is relishing the prospect of playing with and against some of the best players on the planet.

“I came to England because the Premier League is the most beautiful championship in the world and I cannot wait to start the season with the first team, I am very excited about that and want to have this challenge.”

Result : Score Draw  Man To Watch : Alessandro Diamanti on debut for Hammers  First Scorer : Allesandro Diamanti

Best Odds: Wigan 13/10, Draw 23/10 (Ladbrokes), West Ham 9/4

Blackburn v Wolverhampton Wanderers

Blackburn Rovers boss Sam Allardyce feels a weekend meeting with Wolves has become a must-win contest for his side. The Ewood Park outfit have made a slow start to the 2009/10 campaign, taking just one point from their opening three fixtures.

They have also struggled in front of goal, with only a Gael Givet effort in a 2-1 defeat at Sunderland to show for their efforts so far. While results have been poor, Allardyce still feels that his side have displayed enough potential to suggest they can pull clear of a relegation scrap this term.

The experienced coach does, however, accept that points on the board are vital at this stage of the season and has called on his players to grind out a result against Wolves on Saturday. Allardyce said

“It’s more important than anything else now, we’ve had performances with no results, apart from the draw against West Ham. What we must do is get the performance with the result, and that needs to be the win – and if we can’t get the performance, just win, get three points on the board, which will settle us all down. It’s going into game four for us and we’ve been excited about what we’ve done and how much we have created in those games. But at the end of the day, the bottom line is that out of all the chances we have created, out of all opportunities to score goals, we’ve only scored one. There have been one or two cruel blows in terms of wrong refereeing decisions at certain times during the games and that has played its part as well, but the big part is about us needing to improve on our finishing for Saturday.”

Result : Score Draw  Man To Watch : Gamst Pedersen  First Scorer: Beni McCarthy

Best odds: Blackburn 11/8, Draw 5/2 (Bet365), Wolves 4/1

Spurs host the Champions

Tottenham v Manchester United (5.15pm)

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp is delighted with his summer transfer dealings, believing the squad is now in a stronger state. The Spurs boss brought in six players in the window, while letting seven leave White Hart Lane. But he believes his squad is now in a better position to deal with the challenges ahead as his unbeaten side prepare to face Manchester United on Saturday in the first game after the international break. Redknapp told the club’s official website:

“I never felt that we needed to make a lot of changes this summer because we already had a lot of quality within our squad. Sometimes I think that you can have too many players and it does nothing but give you problems. The squad is stronger, I think we have bought well and it is a well-balanced squad now in all parts of the field.”

Meanwhile, Spurs are hopeful that one of their summer signings Sebastien Bassong will be fit for Saturday’s clash, while fellow centre-back Ledley King is also confident of playing after recovering from a groin injury he suffered during the last-gasp win over Birmingham.

Result : Score Draw  Man To Watch; Niko Kranjcar on his Spurs Debut  First Scorer  : Niko Kranjcar (freekick, top left)

Best odds: Spurs 23/10, Draw 12/5 (Bet365), Man Utd 13/10