Ayr will make the long trip North to face managerless Brechin in what should be a closely contested affair. Former Brechin manager Michael O'Neill left the club for Eircom Premier League side Shamrock Rovers on December 13th. Since O'Neills departure the club has been managed by Kevin McAllister and Grant Johnson. The duo have yet to taste victory after away defeats to Alloa and East Fife. Although Brechin wouldn't have had any complaints about the defeat at East Fife, they were desperately unlucky in the Alloa game.

Ayr find themselves in second place and manager Brian Reid must be pleased at his teams progress in his first full season in charge. The weekend fixture with Queens Park was postponed due to bad weather so the players will have had some respite from a hectic schedule.

Spurs have faltered in recent weeks since Harry Redknapps whirlwind start in charge. Tottenham haven't won in 3 league outings since a convincing win away at West Ham on December 8th. Redknapp has been in charge for 11 league games now, recording 5 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses. I have no doubt that this record would have been better if Spurs hadn't had to deal with the added distraction of the Carling Cup and Uefa Cup competitions.

I don't expect any surprises as these 2 sides meet since the upset in November. Reading lost at home to Southampton last time round and should be determined to make ammends. The promotion challengers were beaten fairly in that game and couldn't have had any complaints. That defeat was the catalyst to a 7 game unbeaten run in the league. Five of the games have been wins which has seen Reading move into second place in the league.

Paulo Sousa breezed into Loftus Road in November and it's pretty much been business as usual for the London side since his appointment. QPR remain strong at home but are failing to improve on a poor away record. Sousa's record is played 8, won 3, drawn 3 and lost 2. Most people will be more familiar with Sousa's playing credentials and his appointment definitely raised a few eyebrows when the announcement was made. However, Sousa has had 5 years of being assistant to the Portuguese national team under his belt.

QPR owner Falvio Briatore has yet to spend big since taking over the club and transfer dealings have been fairly modest so far. This situation should change when the transfer window opens, Sousa has already brought in striker Heidar Helguson from Bolton on loan. The Icelandic hitman has had an immediate impact scoring 3 goals in 4 starts.

I backed PSV on the handicap against Feyenoord last week and they failed to deliver. The bet was void and PSV's performance was very poor. The current champions are having a bad year and although home form remains solid I can't see any reason why the away side should be priced so highly.

Steve McLaren has his team playing some nice football. They are full strength for this game and come into the match on a 5 game winning streak in the league.

Elgin are still managerless and adrift at the bottom of Division 3. The former Highland League side, who have won just 2 games from 16, lost manager Robbie Williamson when he resigned last week. The team will be managed by Director of Football Graham Tatters and coach David McConachie for this game.

Southend have been hit by suspensions for their boxing day clash with Northampton. Defenders Dan Harding and Adam Barrett will both miss out. Both players are very important, Barrett misses his first league game this season whilst Harding has only missed 3 of Southends 21 league games. The club do have replacements lined-up but neither player mentioned has much 'game time' this season.

Northampton have had a horrendous time with injuries of late. Finally the injured list has cleared and even top striker Adebayo Akinfenwa could return for this game. Akinfenwa with 6 goals in 10 starts hasn't played since October.

This could be an away victory considering the changes in Southend's defence. Although I am very wary of backing visiting sides on Boxing Day. Some sides have to travel on Christmas night which isn't an ideal arrangement when they'd rather be with friends and family. In this case Northampton probably aren't affected as it's only 100 miles to Southend. So I'll take 2 bets here, the visitors are averaging 3.4 goals per game on their travels and Southend haven't won in 7 league games.

Peterborough will certainly want an improvement today after receiving a 4-0 thrashing away to Leicester 6 days ago. The good news for Darren Fergusons side is that Tommy Williams should return at left back. This will allow Russell Martin to return to his more familiar right back role and Charlie Lee to return to the midfield. Ferguson still needs to decide who will replace Gabriel Zakuani in the centre of defence. This task fell on the shoulders of Chris Westwood last week. However Westwood was replaced at half time at Leicester with Boro already trailing by 2 goals.

Millwall will also be looking for an improvement after being held to a goalless draw at home to bottom side Crewe. Crewe battled hard for their point and although Millwall should have wrapped the game up before half time they didn't have many opportunities after the break.

This should be a much more open game today as both sides will certainly feel capable of getting a result. Peterborough are averaging 3.4 goals per game at home this season, with 7 of their 10 home games going over 2.5 goals. Millwall are averaging 3.1 goals per game away from home. Like Peterborogh, the visitors have had 7 of their 10 away games go over 2.5 goals.

Both sides are very much relying on away form to keep themselves in their respective table positions. Everton have been especially poor at home this year with only 1 victory from 8 home games. In fact, David Moyes's side have already collected the same amount of home defeats (4) as they did for the entire season last year.

Chelsea will certainly be able to sympathise as Stamford Bridge has not been a happy hunting ground for Scolari's side. However, away from home they've been unstoppable. A win tonight will break the record of consecutive away victories in top-flight football. I doubt Scolari will be overly concerned with the record but he will be interested in leap-frogging Liverpool in first place after they drew against Arsenal yesterday.

Both Victor Anichebe and Loius Saha face late fitness tests for Everton. If the players are unavailable Tim Cahill will again spearhead the attack. With Ayegbeni Yakubu out until the summer and James Vaughan having recently undergone surgery the Toffees will surely strengthen the striking department in the transfer window.

Feyenoord were defeated in midweek by Lech Poznan to round off a truly terrible European campaign. The Dutch side were defeated in all 4 Uefa group games, an embarassing result for a club of Feyenoord's stature.

Gertjan Verbeek is under a huge amount of pressure and it really wouldn't surprise me if he's sacked before the end of the season. Of course the club have suffered a horrendous catalogue of injuries this season. However there are also rumours of a dressing room split and morale is undoubtably at an all-time low.

PSV are no strangers to crisis themselves this season. Huub Stevens side have also had a poor year by their own high standards. Nevertheless, the reigning champions have remained strong at home, experiencing defeat only once in 7 games.

The visitors have the usual lengthy injury list which is well documented in various sources. The midweek result was a new low point and a game against PSV is the last thing Feyenoord need right now. I'll take the handicap here on PSV at reasonable odds.