By Antony Jordan
There are five matches to be played in the Premier League this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as ten sides look to play their games in hand towards the close of the season. There are some big games with the two Manchester clubs, Arsenal and West Ham all in action but it is the Merseyside Derby of Liverpool v Everton at Anfield that will take the limelight.
We preview all five clashes being played this mid-week with online sportsbook Bet365.com to bring you our best EPL picks.
Liverpool v Everton: 1.75 – 3.90 – 5.00
Arguably the fieriest derby match in all of England, the Merseyside derby pits together two sides from Liverpool that, while being separated by just three places in the EPL, are ten points apart in the table. Losing Capital One Cup finalists and Europa League semi finalists Liverpool are the team who leading the way of these two local sides and, if they win this match, they can move to within two points of Manchester United in fifth place in the Premier League. They are the favourites to triumph, but can they live up to their favourites billing?
The home are certainly the complete team at the moment as Jurgen Klopp has brought the players together and has them playing as one, while Roberto Martinez is unable to get a performance from an Everton side that arguably has more talented players. The home side produced a fine 2-1 win at Bournemouth over the weekend following their 4-3 comeback victory against Klopp’s former side of Borussia Dortmund on Thursday to move into the final four of that competition and they are now unbeaten in five in all competitions, winning their last three.
Everton are focusing more on the FA Cup right now with them facing Manchester United at Wembley at the weekend as they are without a win in six in the EPL and have beaten only already relegated Aston Villa since the start of February. Their strikers are not firing as they have two goals in their last five and neither were netted by a forward man, and with this coupled with the fact of the FA Cup semi final looming large while Liverpool welcome relegation threatened Newcastle at the weekend we can only see this match going one way.
Our best Merseyside Derby bet is back the home win @ 1.75 at Bet365.
Newcastle v Man City: 5.50 – 4.50 – 1.61
Have The Magpies finally turned the corner? They defeated Swansea 3-0 on this ground at the weekend and are now three points from safety at the bottom of the league. That win will inspire a large amount of confidence for the side, but defeated Swansea who are safe and have little left to play for versus beating Manchester City are two very different things.
City strolled to victory at the weekend as Sergio Aguero hammered home three goals at Stamford Bridge to defeat Chelsea to see them having won four and drawn one of their last five matches to move into the top three of the EPL and the semi finals of the Champions League. After winning just two of their previous ten matches City are certainly back in form right now and with both captain Vincent Kompany and midfielder Raheem Stirling back in the squad for this match they make a difficult task even harder for the home team.
City have won the last 12 EPL meetings between the sides and are the deserved favourites as Newcastle have won just one of their last eight league games. Newcastle certainly have more to play for, but City have far more ability and talent available at their disposal and will win this match comfortably.
We are backing Man City to beat Newcastle and Sergio Aguero to score the first goal at odds of 4.00 with Bet365.com.
West Ham v Watford: 1.57 – 4.00 – 5.75
The home side can move to fifth in the EPL with victory over 12th placed Watford in this Wednesday evening football but to do this they will need to overcome their inability to see off matches recently as they bring four successive league draws into this game. They will feel unlucky to have dropped two points against Leicester at the weekend with the late leveller from the league leaders coming from the softest of penalties, but they have shown outstanding ability this season and with Watford most likely to have one eye on this weekend’s FA Cup semi final at Wembley can the home side live up to their pre-match favourites billing and win for the first time in the league since the start of March?
The Hornets ended a six match winless run at the weekend as they recorded a backs to the wall 1-0 win over West Brom at The Hawthorns that saw the home side have the majority of the possession and chances on goal. Two of those were from the penalty spot and both were missed so they certainly made use the luck factor that is needed to win matches on occasion. They will need much more luck in this match as they face an annoyed and more focused West Ham side, we see this match going the way of the home side this midweek.
Our top West Ham v Watford tip is back West Ham to win and Over 2.5 goals to be scored @ 2.37 in the Bet365 Sportsbook!
Man United v Crystal Palace: 1.57 – 4.20 – 6.50
Fear has finally pushed Crystal Palace into action recently as they had gone more than three months without victory in the league and slipped down the table to the edges of the relegation zone. However, drawing 2-2 with West Ham before beating Norwich and collecting more points with draws against Everton and Arsenal have seen them move nine points clear of the drop zone at the foot of the EPL table. They will be looking to end the season with a flourish, but with both themselves and Manchester United having FA Cup semi final matches at Wembley coming up this weekend are we likely to see rested sides at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening?
This ground will be a tough place to come for The Eagles no matter what side Louis van Gaal plays as United have lost just two of 26 matches in all competitions in front of their own fans this season and have conceded just two goals in a match on two occasions during this campaign too. They have won six and drawn two of their last eight, while their guests this evening are eight games on the road in the league without a win. They have drawn all of their last three away games however and are showing signs of improvement with eight goals in their last five road trips.
With Palace’s recent upturn in results seeing them comeback from being a goal down in two of their four games on this unbeaten run, drawing 0-0 and winning 1-0 in the other two, we see them not giving up no matter what and, as a result of this, we’re backing goals from both of these two sides.
Our money is on Both Teams to Score – Yes at odds of 2.05 in this Man United v Crystal Palace match.
Arsenal v West Brom: 1.25 – 6.50 – 15.00
The final match from this midweek set of games comes from North London on Thursday night as Arsenal look to end a run of two matches where they have let leads slip to draw and share the spoils as well as get revenge for the 2-1 defeat to The Baggies in the Midlands earlier this season. With West Brom safe in the Premier League this season with a ten point gap to the relegation at the bottom of the table they have already seemingly switched off as they have lost three of their last four matches and have just a single point during this time, scoring just a single goal.
Our money is on Under 2.5 goals at odds of 2.25 in this Arsenal v West Brom match.