By Antony Jordan
Due to commitments in other competitions, such as the FA and EFL Cups, there are still five matches yet to be played in order to see every side in the Premier League go into the weekend’s final round of matches on the same page. These games will be played between Monday and Thursday this week and with the title and sides to be relegated already settled the biggest thing still left to be settled is for the top four places.
One of Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal will miss out on Champions League football next season but who will it be? Should Arsenal win their game in hand and Man City lose theirs then just a single point will separate the sides going into the final 90 minute shootout of the season. We preview these two clashes as well as all of the other games in hand to be played this week with online sportsbook Bet365.com to provide our best EPL picks.
Arsenal v Sunderland: 1.11 – 11.00 – 27.00
Victory for the away side in this Tuesday evening clash would give them the chance to move off the bottom of the league on the final day of the season, but there is nothing else but pride left for the guests at The Emirates to play for this season. They have failed to win away at Arsenal since 1983 and have lost seven of the ten meetings with the North London side since their 2-0 home FA Cup win five years ago.
The odds from Bet365 reflect how we see this match going, especially considering how much is at stake for Arsenal in this game as failure to take all three points will see them miss out on the Champions League next season. Since losing the North London Derby 2-0 to Tottenham Arsenal have recorded three successive wins and have netted eight times in this trio of clashes so are firing on all cylinders coming into this vital stage of the season now so we see them taking another easy three point haul on home soil this midweek.
Our best Arsenal v Sunderland bet is back the home win AND Over 3.5 goals to be scored @ 1.80 with Bet365.
Man City v West Brom: 1.16 – 8.00 – 21.00
Pep Guardiola’s side spent some of the weekend ahead of Liverpool thanks to their 2-1 win over Leicester on Saturday before Jurgen Klopp’s men put down their own marker for a place in the top four on Sunday by thumping West Ham 4-0. City can go back into third place in the league this Tuesday night with all three points and with West Brom struggling for goals and motivation at the end of the season we are likely to see City secure their place in the top four.
West Brom have failed to find the net in eight of their last ten matches and are without a win in seven games, losing five of the last six. City have overcome a run of three draws in four matches on home soil to defeat Crystal Palace 5-0 before beating Leicester 2-1 in their last two matches and with West Brom in such poor form as well as a chance to ending any doubt at making the top four with all three points we cannot see this match going anyway but a straightforward home win in this one.
Leicester v Tottenham: 4.33 – 3.60 – 1.80
Both of these sides had 2-1 results at the weekend as Leicester were defeated at Man City and Tottenham triumphed by the same scoreline at home to Manchester United to ensure that second place in the league is theirs. With them unable to catch Chelsea at the top of the table and clear of everyone else the pressure is off the Londoners for this match, but will this see them continue to play well or will their minds have wandered to the beach with the last game of the season coming only three games after this Thursday night clash?
The Foxes have impressed at home in the second half of this season as only Atlético Madrid have prevented them from taking victory on home soil since February in a run that has seen them unbeaten at the King Power Stadium in eight games in all competitions. Tottenham have had some slip ups on the road, with their defeat at West Ham costing them a longer run to close down Chelsea in the title race, but with Leicester last winning on home soil against them more than a decade ago they will fancy their chances in this one.
We see Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino making changes for this match with nothing at stake and this could give the home side the chance at ending this poor home run against the North London side. We feel that the outright result could go anyway and we’re staying away from this, but with Leicester doing well at home and Tottenham the second best side in the league we do see goals in this one and this is where we’re staking our cash.
Back Both Teams to Score – Yes AND Over 2.5 goals in this Leicester v Tottenham game @ 2.05 at Bet365.com.
Southampton v Man United: 2.70 – 3.40 – 2.62
Wednesday night’s EPL action sees a repeat of the final of the EFL Cup as Manchester United lifted the trophy thanks to a late Zlatan winner, but with the Swede out injured still and Jose Mourinho having cast the league aside as they aim to win the Europa League instead will this match see The Saints able to take some measure of revenge?
Although they saw off Celta Vigo to reach the Europa League final, United come into this league clash without an EPL victory in four games and their last win on the road against anyone outside of the bottom three came back in February. Southampton ended a winless loss of their own at the weekend with all three points against relegated Middlesbrough but the home side in that game were not helped by having the fans on their back from the first whistle.
With Southampton having failed to score in five of their last seven on home soil and United assured of a top six finish this season no matter what happens we feel that this match will certainly have an end of season feel to it. Neither side will want any injuries and we cannot see either side giving the full 100% so we see few chances and even fewer goals on the south coast this Wednesday.
Our money is on Both Teams to Score – No in this Southampton v Manchester United game at odds of 1.95 at St. Mary’s.
Chelsea v Watford: 1.28 – 6.00 – 12.00
Monday Night Football this week sees Chelsea get the chance to parade the EPL trophy that they secured on Friday night against West Brom around their home stadium of Stamford Bridge. With Watford having lost all of their last four matches without a single goal having been scored we feel that this game will be more of a celebration than a competitive clash and we expect this to be all one way traffic.
As well as failing to score in any of their last four games, Watford have lost six away games in succession since January and they have also failed to score in any of these games. Chelsea have five wins in a row and have won 18 of their 20 home matches this season, scoring 13 goals in their last four matches since losing to Crystal Palace in April and we see them showing off in this match to take all three points once again in West London this season.