The madness begins, we’ve got mid-week Premier League football action.
Now that we’ve hit December it’s all go. If you’re a fantasy manager you better make sure you’re strapped in because it’s going to be a wild 12 weeks.
Liverpool and now NINE points clear at the top of the table, only two other teams have had a lead of nine or more points after 13 matches, and both of them went on to win the title.
Futures bettors, there’s great value elsewhere if you think Liverpool don’t have the minerals to see this thing through.
Although, they just knocked off Man City (who are in a slump) 2-0 at home but it quite easily could’ve been 4 or 5 nil.
Action starts Wednesday morning between Ipswich and Crystal Palace so we’ll start there and work our way through to Bournemouth hosting Spurs on Friday.
We’re over a third of the way through the season and both of these teams just have nine points on the board each.
For both teams fighting relegation it becomes even more crucial for either side to scrape three points here.
Ipswich fans haven’t seen a home win in the top-flight since 2002 but I like their chances against a Crystal Palace side who will be gearing up for a tough December.
New Leicester boss, Ruud van Nistelrooy might have a tougher task on his hands than he thought. Seeing his side get battered 4-1 by Brentford would have put it into perspective for the Dutchmen.
After a successful campaign as interim manager for United he’ll be hoping to replicate his success with the Foxes.
Leicester have just one point from their last five games and I’m not sure they’ll get any here either. It’ll take time for Ruud to implement his style of play.
Yes the Hammers just got thumped at home by the Gunners but that’s not too much of a surprise. The beat Newcastle the week before and I’d back them to beat Leicester this week.
I don’t like Everton at all here, yes they’re at home but they’ve not beaten Wolves for nearly two years.
It feels like a must-win for both sides. Sean Dyche might not have too much longer in charge after a 4-0 pantsing at Old Trafford.
Wolves have struggled defensively but Everton have struggled right across the park. I think Wolves attacking quality should be able to get them over the line at Goodison Park.
This would’ve been seen as great chance for City to get back on track but Nottingham Forest are no push over.
They’ve firmly cemented themselves in the top half of the Premier league and Chris Wood is scoring goals for fun.
However City are at home this week much to their relief. Their winless streak has got to end at some point but after seeing Pep Guardiola looking clueless on the sideline at Anfield, I don’t mind putting some faith in Nottingham.
Arne Slot has taken last year’s Liverpool squad and elevated them to another level. The could have quite easily put 4+ goals over City on the weekend while only giving up one clear cut chance.
No need to overthink this one, the league leaders should be able to get the job done then turn their eyes to Everton on Sunday morning.
Southampton did the double over Chelsea last year winning 2-1 at home and 1-0 away. Though they’ve got a decent record in recent times their form heading into this fixture is far less impressive.
With just one win in their last five they’ve struggled to find some consistency.
Chelsea on the other hand haven’t lost in their last five fixtures and are coming off an impressive 3-0 win over Aston Villa.
Chelsea are averaging two goals a game and have recorded three clean sheets so far.
Cheslea by two or more.
Ruben Amorim’s unbeaten start comes under serious threat when they head to the Emirates. Both of these teams come off huge wins in week 13.
Martin Odegaard has played a huge part in Arsenals quick turnaround after a poor run of form. With him in the side they almost look unbeatable.
They’ve leaked a few at the back which will frustrate Arteta but for Amorim, he’ll be thinking he can make the most of those cracks.
Tough to beat Arsenal at home but I think Man United will put up a fight.
Brentford have now leapfrogged their hosts moving into 8th, while Villa after their 3-0 loss drop down to 12th.
Villa haven’t tasted victory in eight games across all competitions and Unai Emery is in the midst of his worst stretch of his tenure at Villa Park.
Brentford have been up and down this season which is why I’m not trusting them in the head-to-head market.
Neither of these teams have been defending well as of late which means we should see some good opportunities to score come both sides way.
Both of these teams saw 1-1 draws over the weekend. Brighton scored first but couldn’t hold onto their lead over Southampton and Fulham were able to equalise away from home against Spurs.
Two of the more entertaining teams in the mid-table battle yet this fixture has not seen a influx of goals. In fact Brighton have only managed to score a combined two goals in their last five games against Fulham.
It feels like I should be picking Brighton because they just are the better side. I’m going to take some insurance paired with a low scoring affair.
Can I keep saying it? Yeah, I guess so. Spurs are way too unpredictable to back in any sort of market it seems. Putting 4 past the champs in their house and then backing that up with only being able to score 1 at home against Fulham, I mean come on.
They beat teams they shouldn’t and lose to teams they should be beating.
I don’t want anything near the head-to-head market in this so I’ve taken a look at the goal markets instead.
This fixture does tend to produce goals so I’m just backing both teams to score and over 3.5.