By Antony Jordan
This weekend sees a reduced number of Premier League matches being played due to Sunday’s EFL Cup Final between Manchester United and Southampton at Wembley seeing the Manchester Derby and The Saints game with Arsenal postponed, but we still have eight league games being played between Saturday and Monday night.
We take a look at the six clashes from the top flight playing this Saturday, including the matches featuring four of the bottom five sides – one of whom faces league leaders Chelsea – with online sportsbook Bet365.com to provide our top EPL picks.
Chelsea v Swansea: 1.25 – 5.50 – 12.00
While the home team and table toppers will be confident of taking all three points, just the match odds from Bet365.com suggest they’ll do at Stamford Bridge this Saturday, this game would have been a lot easier for them six weeks ago. Since Bob Bradley was replaced by Paul Clement at The Liberty Stadium things have turned around for The Swans and nine points from their last three matches has seen them move out of the relegation zone. They are unbeaten in three against Chelsea, but can Clement guide the Welsh side to four in a row?
He will find it difficult as the league leaders have won all of their last 11 home matches in all competitions since losing Liverpool in September and they have kept seven clean sheets in these clashes. Swansea have lost only to big names Arsenal and Man City since the former Derby County boss took over and while he has gotten his team scoring against the fact that they have kept just one shutout means that we see this game being too much for them and we believe they’ll fall to another defeat. Do not expect them to make it easy for the home team and we see them creating chances and perhaps even goals from both teams so we are combining the home win with goals for this weekend’s clash.
Our best Chelsea v Swansea bet is back the home win AND Over 2.5 goals to be scored @ 1.72 with Bet365.com.
Crystal Palace v Middlesbrough: 2.05 – 3.20 – 3.80
Although Crystal Palace sit second bottom of the league having won just one of the eight matches that former England boss Sam Allardyce has been in charge for, including losing six of the last seven, they know that victory in this game will put them level on points with their guests and may take them out of the bottom three. They are favoured to win this match despite their awful recent record thanks to Middlesbrough appalling away form that has seen no win in 11 road trips, including losing four of the last five and scoring just a single goal in that run.
Both sides are in the form to lose this match, but clearly that cannot happen, but with Middlesbrough not scoring on the road and Palace having netted just once in their three home clashes under Allardyce and missing a number of key players for this match we cannot see many goals in this match at all. We would not be surprised to see this game end 0-0 but as anything can happen in football we are not backing anything over the full 90 minutes and instead are backing both sides to cancel each other out for the first 45 minutes as they aim to steady their ships before trying to return to winning ways late on.
We are backing Crystal Palace v Middlesbrough to be level at half time at odds of 1.95 in the Bet365 Sportsbook!
Hull v Burnley: 2.05 – 3.25 – 3.75
This clash at The KCOM Stadium takes aspects of the last two matches we’ve looked at and combines them as Hull have replaced manager Mike Phelan with Marco Silva and seen an upturn in form to put them within a point of safety while Burnley’s away form this season has been dreadful. The visitors to Hull this weekend have managed just one point in 11 away games and have a total of five goals on their travels from Turf Moor.
Sean Dyche’s me are the deserved outsiders for this match thanks to these appalling performances away from home and the fact that Hull have triumphed in all four home matches in all competitions since Silva became boss. With so much at stake for the relegation threatened Tigers we cannot see anything but a home win in this one.
Our money is on Hull to beat Burnley this weekend @ 2.05 at Bet365.
Everton v Sunderland: 1.36 – 5.00 – 7.50
The last three meetings between these two sides have produced 14 goals, with the last clash at Goodison Park providing eight of them as Everton triumphed 6-2, and with their guests this Saturday having suffered six losses in their last seven away games The Toffees will be confident about another victory with plenty of goals.
Everton have lost only to local rivals Liverpool on home soil this season and they come into this match having won all of the other four clashes at Goodison Park in their last five games. Arsenal and Man City are two of the sides that have been defeated on the blue half of Merseyside in these games and these four wins have seen them net 15 goals, with four put past Man City. Sunderland did triumph 4-0 at Crystal Palace in their last away match but with just two goals in the previous six away trips we cannot see them getting anything from a side that is very strong in front of their own fans.
Our top Everton v Sunderland tip is back Everton to win AND Over 2.5 goals to be scored at odds of 1.95.
Watford v West Ham: 2.50 – 3.20 – 2.80
The first meeting of these two sides this season saw The Hornets leave The London Stadium after defeating their hosts 4-2 in their first match at West Ham’s new home and they know that another win will see them return to the top half of the table they occupied earlier in this campaign. They have impressed on home soil this season too with just two losses – to Stoke and Tottenham – since August and with Troy Deeney having rediscovered his scoring boots with three goals in his last four EPL matches they’ll believe that they can avoid a third defeat at home in the last six months this weekend.
However, with The Hammers have rediscovered their own form in recent times this match will not be as easy for the home team as the first meeting of the season. The away team have won three and drawn one of their last five matches and they have scored six goals in their last two away wins at Middlesbrough and Southampton. They will certainly be able to challenge for all three points at Vicarage Road but with no clean sheets in their last nine away games they are leaking goals and we feel that goals from both of these sides offers the greatest value this Saturday.
Back Both Teams to Score – Yes in this Watford v West Ham clash @ 1.75 with Bet365.com.
West Brom v Bournemouth: 2.05 – 3.30 – 3.60
Despite the fact that they have won two and drawn one of their three EPL clashes with West Brom, Bournemouth arrive at The Hawthorns as the outsiders to triumph this Saturday. The reason for this is that they are out of form right now with five defeats and two draws in their seven matches in 2017, and now with them facing a West Brom side that has won six of their last seven home games they will believe that this weekend may not see them turn this form around.
Only the two Manchester based clubs have won at The Hawthorns since Everton’s 2-1 triumph here in August and with the away side having lost six of their last seven away games we feel that the home win at better than evens offers excellent value.