The majority of the action from the top flight in England happened in the eight games on Saturday and while there is just a single game being played this Sunday afternoon and Monday night. Despite the fact of games to be played the two matches of Newcastle v Norwich and Swansea v Stoke offer plenty of potential for action, excitement and, most importantly, goals.
We take a look at both games with online sportsbook William Hill and provide our best bets from the closing pair of games on this weekend’s EPL card.
Newcastle v Norwich: 2.62 – 3.10 – 2.80
The 2015/16 Premier League campaign for Newcastle has been hard enough as they sit bottom of the table coming into this weekend’s game and now they have an even bigger problem as number one goalkeeper Tim Krul was injured on active duty for the Netherlands during the international break and the Dutchman has been ruled out for the rest of the season. On top of this Karl Darlow is still not fully recovered from his injury and Steve McClaren will likely have to play third choice stopper Rob Elliott with 18 year old Frederick Woodman taking a place on the bench after being recalled from Crawley Town.
Despite this goalkeeper crisis there has been an easing of injuries on other parts of the pitch with defenders Daryl Janmaat, Massadio Haidara and Paul Dummett plus midfielder Jack Colback all in contention to play this weekend. However, a lack of goals – a joint league lowest of six in eight games – sees them in trouble up front too but with Norwich having failed to keep a clean sheet all season they will fancy their chances at grabbing something in this game. They scored two against Chelsea in their last home game before fading late on to draw 2-2 but will this game be different?
The side promoted via the playoffs have already collected three times the amount of points as their hosts so far and they have netted twice as many goals as Irishman Wes Hoolahan has been driving the creativity with five assists – second best in the league. Despite the odds saying otherwise we feel that Norwich are the favoured side to win this match after some fine performances this season, including winning 3-1 against Sunderland when they last visited this area, and our pick of the day is for an away win at St. James’ Park.
Our top Newcastle v Norwich tip is back Norwich to win @ 2.80 in the William Hill Sportsbook!
Swansea v Stoke: 2.05 – 3.10 – 4.00
The ninth round of EPL football comes to a close at the Liberty Stadium as Swansea host Stoke City on Monday Night Football and William Hill make the home side, who began the weekend one point and three places better off than Stoke, the big favourites to take all three points. History backs them up on this too with Swansea having not been beaten on home soil by Stoke in more than 20 years and after a 2-0 home win last season last season they will be confident despite drawing two and losing two of their last four EPL games.
Stoke had started the season poorly but a narrow 1-0 away win at Fulham in the League Cup almost a month ago has kick-started their campaign as they defeated Bournemouth 2-1 at home and Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park. Swansea will be a tougher nut to crack for Mark Hughes and his players, but with both teams motivated and determined to win this match we foresee goals from both teams from Wales and the Midlands.
Back both Swansea and Stoke to score on MNF at odds of 1.95 with WilliamHill.com