Round eight of the EPL season kicks off this Saturday with seven games to be played around England as Manchester City and West Ham look to move to the top of the table while the bitter Tyne and Wear rivals of Newcastle and Sunderland look to claim their first victories of the campaign. As well as these two top versus bottom clashes there are five other games, including a late kickoff of Chelsea v Southampton, to keep us entertained throughout the day and we provide our top EPL picks from all these matches with online sportsbook Unibet.com.
Crystal Palace v West Brom: 1.75 – 3.55 – 4.95
The early kick off in the Premier League this weekend sees manager Alan Pardew welcome his old club West Brom to Selhurst Park with the sides separated by four points and eight places in the league. After winning 1-0 at Watford last weekend Palace moved into a group of four teams on 12 points and victory in this first match from round eight of the 2015/16 EPL season will see them level with Man City in second and with West Brom having lost two in a row in league and cup before this weekend’s action the home team will fancy their chances.
The second of these two losses will have hit The Baggies hardest as they sat 2-0 up against Everton on home soil last Monday after 54 minutes before losing 3-2 to The Toffees as their usually strong defence fell apart as Romelu Lukaku and Arouna Koné bagged the winning goals. Tony Pulis will want to return to the form that had seen four clean sheets in the six EPL games before last Monday, but with Palace having shown their ability to find goals around the pitch in recent weeks and win close, cagey games and we’re backing Palace to take all three points.
Back Crystal Palace to beat West Brom @ 1.75 with Unibet.com.
Man City v Newcastle: 1.23 – 6.50 – 12.00
The Etihad hosts a clash of two sides with very different stories to tell across the course of the season and even in their last matches. City scored an 89th minute penalty to beat Borussia Monchengladbach (and ruin our Champions League pick!) as they came from behind while Newcastle lead Chelsea 2-0 on home soil last weekend with 12 minutes to play but only took a point as the defending champions scored twice in the closing stages. City sit second in the table while Newcastle are second bottom having failed to win in the league so far this season, but will these sets of form continue this Saturday or is there an upset on the cards?
Despite their lofty position in the league and their confidence boosting win in Germany on Wednesday night City bring back to back defeats in the league into this clash with the side that defeated them 2-0 on this ground in the last 16 stage of the Capital One Cup last season. Defeats to West Ham and Tottenham, who won 4-1 last weekend, see City out of form domestically but with them facing a winless Newcastle, who they have beaten to nil in each of the last five league matches and are unbeaten against in ten years in the EPL, leaves us believing that it will be the home side that wins this clash. There is little value on City to win the match outright, but with Newcastle leaking goals at a rate of 11 in seven games so far we are backing midfielder Kevin de Bruyne to score in this match to make it four in five games to add value to our bet.
Our money is on City to win and de Bruyne to score at odds of 2.55 in the Unibet Sportsbook.
Aston Villa v Stoke: 2.45 – 3.25 – 2.95
Although Aston Villa v Stoke screams a dull and boring matchup – even more so with the sides sitting 18th and 17th in the EPL – four of the last five matches between the teams have seen at least three goals scored. Stoke have won both of their last two visits to Villa Park, scoring six goals, but with having been outscored by their hosts – eight goals to seven – this season will Aston Villa be able to beat Stoke on home soil for the first time since 2009?
Villa come into this game having taken just a single point, at home to bottom of the league Sunderland, since defeating Bournemouth 1-0 on the first day of the season and their home form has seen them fail to score in two of their three games played at Villa Park. Stoke, too, have won just a single game this season but that did come in their last match as they put together back to back wins following victory in the Capital One Cup against Fulham and with three draws in the league as well as their defeat of Bournemouth they will be confident about triumphing for a third successive match this weekend at Villa Park. We, however, can see this game going either way and we’re backing goals in this one, just like so many of the other recent meetings of these two sides, as both teams are leaking goals whilst creating chances.
Our best Aston Villa v Stoke bet is back +2.5 goals at odds of 2.20 with Unibet.
Norwich v Leicester: 2.25 – 3.50 – 3.20
This match at Carrow Road sees the first meeting of Norwich and Leicester since they clashed in the fifth round of the FA Cup during the 2011/12 season and it was the Midlanders who secured their first win since 2008 as David Nugent bagged a late goal to see a 2-1 win. That match was the fourth game in a row and seventh in eight matches that saw at least three goals in a game between the teams and with both sides scoring well on top of conceding goals are we expecting the teams to pick up where they concluded in 2012?
Norwich have bagged nine goals in three EPL and one cup game since losing 3-0 at Southampton at the end of August and have kept just a single clean sheet in that time, while Leicester were beaten for the first time this season last weekend as Arsenal thumped them 5-2 at the King Power Stadium. They are yet to fail to score this season and have not kept a clean sheet either, so we can certainly see more goals from these two teams this Saturday afternoon.
Back +2.5 goals in this Norwich v Leicester match @ 1.77
Bournemouth v Watford: 2.10 – 3.40 – 3.55
Two of the newly promoted sides to the top flight clash for the first time in the Premier League and it is the side that let the Championship title slip in injury time at the end of last season who sit above the champions after seven games of the season. Watford start the weekend three places and two points better off than Bournemouth, but could only manage a single point in two meetings against the side that is spending its very first season in the EPL. Can they bounce back from losing their unbeaten run at Vicarage Road to Crystal Palace with victory in this clash?
Bournemouth have scored three in three at home in the Premier League this season as they have lost to Aston Villa, drawn 1-1 with high flying Leicester and defeated bottom of the table Sunderland, but with Watford having recorded the same set of results on the road against Everton, Man City and Newcastle we feel that this match could either way. As such, we are avoiding the outright markets and as only Sunderland failed to score at Bournemouth while Watford only failed to net against Manchester City we see there being goals in this clash at the Vitality Stadium.
Our top Bournemouth v Watford pick is both teams to score at odds of 1.79 with Unibet.
Sunderland v West Ham: 3.00 – 3.40 – 2.35
The sides clashing at the Stadium of Light have had very different seasons so far with them coming into this weekend of football action sitting bottom of the Premier League with just two points and third place, just three points behind league leaders Manchester United. Should Newcastle claim a shock result against Man City and The Hammers win in the North East they could be top of the table after eight games for Man United play on Sunday, but can West Ham do their part?
The Londoners are unbeaten in four matches against The Black Cats and have a 100% winning record on the road this season despite having one of the toughest opening trio of fixtures possible against Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. Slaven Bilic’s men scored seven goals and conceded just one in these games and with Sunderland having conceded a league high of 16 goals in their seven matches this season, while scoring ten fewer than this, we feel that with West Ham available at better than evens whilst filled with confidence is the bet of the day.
Our best EPL bet is back West Ham to beat Sunderland at odds of 2.35 in the Unibet Sportsbook!
Chelsea v Southampton: 1.78 – 3.50 – 5.00
The final match from this Saturday’s Premier League football comes from Stamford Bridge where the sides with the best defences in the EPL attempt to replicate this form from last season. After seven matches of this campaign Chelsea have already conceded 14 goals and Southampton have seen nine goals conceded which are high amounts compared to the 33 and 32 goals conceded in the 38 games of last season. Both teams will feel that they need to get back to their defensive ways if they’re to move up the table, but can they do so this Saturday evening at The Bridge?
Chelsea had their three game winning run ended last weekend as they drew 2-2 at Newcastle – and barring that last ten minute comeback things could have been a lot worse for Jose Mourinho’s side – before they were beaten 2-1 in Porto in the Champions League this week. They have already drawn with Swansea and lost to Crystal Palace at home in the league this season so with back to back 0-0 draws on the road in the league to their name Southampton will fancy their chances in this match.
Despite both sides wanting, and really needing, to rediscover their defensive ability there has been goals in matches between these two sides in recent times with eight of the last nine games seeing both sides find the net. Both teams are in double figures of goals scored this season and even though Diego Costa serves the third of his three game ban we can see goals in this match.
Back both Chelsea and Southampton to score @ 1.79 with Unibet.com.