I know the matter has been done to death in the media, so I'll try to keep this brief, but I can't say I'm that bothered that England won't be hosting the 2018 World Cup. I'm not bothered that it will be held in Russia, either, as that is a country that plays football at a relatively high level and has regularly qualified for major tournaments over recent years. I'm not even that bothered by the FIFA executive and the murky way in which they conduct the business of choosing the venues for their month long gold-plated gravy train, as that is an issue that needs to be dealt with at a far higher level than us mere fans. But Qatar!!! Qatar bothers me. It bothers me greatly. It's all very well trying to expand the tournament into areas of the world that have not hosted it before. Nobody batted an eyelid when it was held in Japan, South Korea or South Africa as all of those nations had proved in the past that they could compete at a high level and qualify for the World Cup by rights without having to be given the free pass that being appointed as hosts bestowed upon them. Qatar, on the other hand, can list their last two results as a defeat to Iraq and a draw with Oman. During their last qualifying campaign, they lost 4-0 to Uzbekistan. Those performances should not give them the right to deprive a more deserving nation of a place at the World Cup finals, but money talks, and few countries have more of it than the Gulf states. No doubt, by the time 2022 comes round, they will have enticed with exceedingly lucrative packages several players who cannot get into the Brazil, Spain or Argentina squads to become citizens of their country and turn international football into even more of a laughing stock, just as they have done in the world of athletics, where numerous Ethiopian and Kenyan runners now turn out for Gulf states having had their heads turned by extremely persuasive sums of cash. It would have been wrong had Mikel Arteta been chosen to play for England via FIFA's ludicrous residency rules, and it will be wrong for Qatar to be represented by mercenaries from other countries. It will still happen though, and as ordinary fans, there will be nothing we can do about it.

Back to a Premier League season that gets more interesting by the week, we kick off this week with another West Midlands derby:

1) Aston Villa v West Brom: Monday's tame performance at Anfield extended Villa's losing run in all competitions to four, and they have won just one of their last ten League matches, leaving them perilously close to the bottom three. So, this is not a good time for Villa's underperforming side to face a local derby against a team who have shown themselves more than capable of regularly breaching the defences of the top sides in the division. The plus points for Villa are that West Brom have not managed a League win at Villa Park since 1979, and that only Arsenal have actually taken maximum points at Villa's home ground this season, but I fear that those statistics may be just clutching at straws and that the Baggies may secure a convincing victory on Saturday.

2) Everton v Wigan: Everton's now customary draw at Stamford Bridge keeps them hovering just above the danger zone, but this fixture gives them the ideal platform to pull away from trouble. Wigan have still scored just five times away from home and have lost on their last three visits to Goodison Park, so I find it difficult to imagine that they will leave with any reward on Saturday.

3) Fulham v Sunderland: Goal difference is all that is keeping Fulham out of the relegation zone, and they are without a win in their last six matches, but this remains a tough fixture to call due to the inconsistency of their visitors. A side that can win at Chelsea and then lose at Wolves in consecutive away matches should be left out of calculations when it comes to placing your bets, and looking at previous meetings for these two at Craven Cottage is just as confusing, as in the last three encounters, the sides have one win each with the other match having been drawn. I would suggest that the safest option may therefore be to go for a low scoring draw without any confidence or hard evidence whatsoever.

4) Stoke v Blackpool: Five matches unbeaten now for Stoke, and under normal circumstances, you would have to fancy them to record another victory here, but a visit from Blackpool represents nothing like normal circumstances this season. The Tangerines have continued to take points from unlikely sources and have themselves put together a run of just one defeat in their last six matches. Perhaps the most confident prediction for this match is that both sides should score as neither has shown much reliability in defence recently, while both managers will surely set their sides up to get at the opposition right from the kick-off. 2-2 is a scoreline that would usually pay out at odds of around 16/1, and as Stoke's last match and two of Blackpool's last five have ended that way, taking those odds at either Stan James or boylesports.com may be a profitable way to go here.

5) West Ham v Man.City: The suspension of Carlos Tevez for this match will be a major boost for West Ham, and it is worth remembering that he only appeared for the last quarter of an hour in this fixture last season, and his side could only manage a draw in the end. He was also missing the last time City lost an away match (at Wolves), so given Tevez's absence and the fact that neither side has been scoring anywhere near the number of goals expected of them so far, the run of low scoring matches between these two at Upton Park may well be extended. Only once in the last seven renewals of this fixture has one of the sides scored more than one goal, and it is hard to imagine either side running riot on Saturday either, but if I had to nominate a side to outscore the other, I would have to plump for City even though they are struggling to finish their opponents off at present when finding themselves in winning positions.

6) Newcastle v Liverpool: Some managers simply have the air of "dead man walking" about them as soon as they are apppinted or new owners take charge, so that no matter what results they achieve with their clubs, everyone knows that their time at the helm will be curtailed sooner rather than later. Just as Mark Hughes experienced last season at Man.City, it didn't really matter how impressive or otherwise Chris Hughton's regime was, his hold on his job was always rather tenuous and he now finds himself out of work despite having inspired an impressive promotion campaign in his first season as manager of Newcastle. At the time of writing, Martin Jol has become the favourite to take Hughton's place, and you may remember that he also suffered a similar fate at Tottenham when the club's hierarchy were looking for any excuse to depose him, so he will be well aware of the potential pitfalls. A major potential pitfall for Newcastle regarding this match is Liverpool's form at St.James's Park, where they have won their last two visits scoring eight times in the process. Despite having notched just five away goals in the League all season, I think the Reds will be more than capable of securing another victory here.

7) Bolton v Blackburn: For a side that usually struggles to win too many matches away from home, Blackburn have a fine recent record to uphold here. Eleven times since February 2000, Bolton have tried and failed to beat their neighbours at the Reebok in League and Cup, which is quite astonishing given how closely their form has been matched in recent seasons. The one added ingredient here, though, is the more adventurous spirit that Owen Coyle has instilled in his side this season, and it is notable that only unbeaten Man.United have lost fewer Premier League games than the Trotters so far. I expect goals from both sides, but it is hard to make a strong case for either side to come out on top, so I would expect a score draw to be the outcome.

8) Wolves v Birmingham: It's hardly an earth-shattering prediction, but I fully expect Wolves to be relegated this season, and I can only wonder at how they are not already bottom of the table having lost five of their last six matches. They will certainly not find it easy to break down a Birmingham side who, despite not having won away, have drawn five of their eight road trips, and who haven't lost at Molineux since 2001. Expect a low-scoring affair and one that could well end all square.

9) Tottenham v Chelsea: What a cracker this should be with attractive, cosmopolitan, free-scoring title contenders facing a visit from Chelsea. As if things weren't bad enough for the Blues, with just two points from their last four League games, their recent record at Tottenham reads rather poorly as well, with three defeats and a draw in their last four visits. Even the return of John Terry failed to improve matters last weekend, and it was his positional error that allowed Jermaine Beckford to equalise for Everton from an unmarked position. In the current circumstances, I can only imagine that Spurs will be able to turn the screw even more tightly on their West London rivals and close the gap between them to just a single point.

10) Man.United v Arsenal: Second against top, and with neither side looking particularly secure at the back, this could be another exciting and entertaining encounter. This is never an easy fixture to predict, as it often goes against current form, but I am nevertheless surprised that only one of the last nine meetings at Old Trafford in League and Cup has ended all square. Both sides boast players who are at the top of their game, and can turn a match with a moment of utter brilliance, while defensively, calamities are never too far away either, so as United remain unbeaten while Arsenal's only away defeat came at Chelsea, I'll take the coward's way out and predict that it may well be time for a long overdue draw to take place here.

I'm desperately trying to stick to my own self-imposed rule of including no more than three teams in my weekly accumulator, but it's not easy, and I've had to reject Everton at the last minute in order to restrict myself to a treble for the coming weekend. The weather may also intervene, but a successful £10 treble on Bournemouth, Carlisle and Charlton would return exactly £42 with Coral.

Good luck!