By Antony Jordan
The end of the 2016/17 EPL season is nearly upon us as this weekend sees the 35th of the 38 rounds of matches play around the UK and the weekend begins with five clashes and ten teams doing battle on Saturday. This first of three days from this round of action sees a focus on the relegation battle at the foot of the table that can still see more than half of the sides in the league dragged into the bottom three places, in a purely mathematically sense at least.
We preview all of these five clashes with online sportsbook Bet365.com to bring you our biggest and best EPL picks from this Saturday’s must win matches.
Sunderland v Bournemouth: 3.00 – 3.40 – 2.30
It’s the last chance saloon for Sunderland this weekend and even victory may not be enough to prevent them from exiting the top flight this Saturday as defeat could leave them 15 points from safety with just four to play. Things could not have gone worse for The Black Cats during the week as one of their games in hand saw them face fellow strugglers Middlesbrough and they were beaten 1-0 to leave them six points adrift at the bottom of the EPL and 12 points behind Hull in 17th. They come into this match having found the net on just one occasion in their last nine games in all competitions and they have failed to score in 12 of their last 15 games, including failing to score in six of their last eight on home soil.
Luckily for the all but no-hopers they face a Bournemouth side that does not travel well and has failed to win in 2017 away from Dean Court. They have lost five and drawn three of their last eight away games, including suffering an embarrassing 3-0 loss at third tier Millwall in the FA Cup at the start of the year, but despite the fact that they are not winning matches on the road they have netted an average of one goal a game in their last seven away from home and will fancy their chances at victory this weekend. Sunderland did win the reverse of this match earlier this season, but things are vastly different and they now know that they are relegated, it is just a question of when it is confirmed. We’re backing Bournemouth to do their part towards relegating Sunderland by taking all three points at The Stadium of Light to end their poor away run.
Our best Sunderland v Bournemouth bet is back the away win @ 2.30 with Bet365.
Southampton v Hull: 1.60 – 3.75 – 5.75
The odds in this match reflect how this game is likely to go as the home side aim to strengthen their position in the top half of the table and Hull aim to add more than two points between them and the relegation zone. Unfortunately for the visitors to St. Mary’s they have one of the worst away records in England as they have suffered defeat in 16 of their last 18 away matches in all competitions since three wins and a draw at the start of the season – and two of those wins came in the cup. Taking only the EPL into consideration, Hull have collected a total of five points on the road this season and just one has come in the last 15 road trips.
Southampton have suffered back to back losses coming into this game as they were beaten 3-0 at home by Man City and 4-2 away at Chelsea but they will be strong enough to win this clash. They do not have the best record at home of late though with four defeats in their last seven and just two clean sheets in the league on home soil in 2017. Hull may not be winning many games on the road but they will battle and we see them getting at least a goal in this match.
We are backing Both Teams to Score – Yes at odds of 1.80 in this Southampton v Hull clash at Bet365.com.
Crystal Palace v Burnley: 1.75 – 3.50 – 4.75
This match at Selhurst Park is another Saturday EPL game that will go the way that the Bet365 match odds predict as Burnley are the only side in the top flight with fewer points away from home than Hull. They have collected a total of four points on the road this season (three of which have come against sides in the bottom four of the division) and have the record of being the only side to fail to register victory away from their home support throughout this campaign.
With Crystal Palace having found their feet under Sam Allardyce to escape the relegation zone thanks to six wins and one draw in their last nine EPL clashes we cannot see this game going any other way that the home win.
Our best Crystal Palace v Burnley bet is back the home win @ 1.75 in the Bet365 Sportsbook!
West Brom v Leicester: 2.40 – 3.50 – 2.75
We feel that Bet365 are right on the money with their match odds this weekend as this West Brom v Leicester game could easily go either way. West Brom have had an excellent season and they start this weekend in eighth place, but they come into this match having drawn one and lost three of their last four having failed to find the net in any of these games. The reason for this is that they are safe and are playing like they have nothing to gain and with them facing a Leicester side with just a single away win in the league this season this game is likely to feature few goals and certainly has no clear winner.
Following the sacking of Claudio Ranieri Leicester raced clear of the relegation zone and into the last eight of the Champions League with six successive victories, but three defeats and two draws in their last five games sees them sliding back towards the bottom three after being narrowly edged out by Atlético Madrid. Six points separates them from the bottom three again and with them failing to find the net in five of their last eight away Premier League clashes could they find themselves losing again?
We feel that the most likely outcome of this clash is a draw, and we can see both sides being happy with this, but both sides are capable of edging the match and we see more value in a lack of goals at The Hawthorns this Saturday.
Our top tip for this West Brom v Leicester clash is back Both Teams to Score – No at odds of 1.95 with Bet365.
Stoke v West Ham: 2.00 – 3.50 – 3.60
This is another match that we believe with have that ‘end of season’ feel about it as the teams begin the weekend in 11th and 14th places, eight and seven points above the drop zone respectively. The teams are one and two points away from the magical safe marker of 40 points, but both will feel confident enough that they will survive the season and this may lead to a flat game between these sides.
Four of the last five meetings between these two sides has ended level and we believe that both of these teams would be happy with another draw this weekend too. Stoke come into the clash with five defeats in their last six, although only Liverpool and Chelsea have beaten them on this ground since November, while The Hammers have drawn their last two matches and are without a win away from The London Stadium in almost three months. We see these two teams cancelling each other out, especially as both sides are missing some key players, and our money is on the draw at The Bet365 Stadium.