Well, the eight Premier League matches on Saturday following the league’s return to action after the international break certainly brought plenty of action and excitement as well as a number of shock results. Arsenal and Manchester City were beaten away at West Brom and at home to Liverpool to see Leicester City top of the EPL after 13 games of the 38 game season with Manchester United after a last gasp winner at Watford move into second place.
There is just a single game playing on each of this Sunday and Monday, but will we be treated to the same spectacles as Saturday? We preview both clashes with online sportsbook Bet365.com and provide our best EPL picks.
Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham: 1.57 – 4.20 – 6.50
White Hart Lane hosts the clash of the teams sitting fifth and sixth in the EPL this Sunday afternoon and with the home side having lost just a single match this season – against Manchester United all the way back on the opening day of the season in August – and having the second best defensive record in the division with just ten goals conceded the home support will believe that they will leaving the ground with all three points secure in their pockets. This is especially true as West Ham have a number of injury concerns, the worst of which sees the most influential player Dmitri Payet in the side out of the team’s midfield for at least three months while striker Enner Valencia will join him on the sidelines for the same timeframe. There are also doubts over Diafra Sakho and Alex Song who are both returning from injury along with summer signing from Nottingham Forest Michail Antonio.
As well as the injury issues for the visitors to this North London ground they will face a Tottenham side full of confidence as Harry Kane has rediscovered his goal scoring form with five his last three Premier League games and both defensive midfielders Dele Alli and Eric Dier were called up by England during the international break and performed even better than expected, with Alli bagging a wonderful opener in a Man of the Match performance against France.
With these two players defending the backline and The Hammers missing their key creative player in the middle of the park we cannot see anything but victory for the home side in this Sunday afternoon match.
Crystal Palace v Sunderland: 1.57 – 4.00 – 7.00
Things have not been easy for Sam Allardyce since taking over at the Stadium of Light as he has suffered three defeats in four games, beating only local rivals and his former side Newcastle during this time. His side are still rooted in the relegation places at the bottom of the league, but if they can manage to upset the odds and claim all three points in this week’s Monday Night Football then they will close to within a point of Newcastle and the promise of safety.
However, many things will need to change if they are to do this as their defence is one of the worst in the league as they have conceded 26 times in 12 matches, one fewer than Bournemouth who are the league’s worst and have played an extra game. They have average a point every second game so far and their away form is the worst in the division with just a single point in six games coming in a 2-2 draw with bottom of the league Aston Villa. They have averaged three goals per game conceded on the road too and with Crystal Palace sitting just two points away from a top five spot in the table despite being tenth things look bleak for The Black Cats this Monday night.
Palace have not done the best on home soil this season with just two wins in six matches, but with the three losses coming to Arsenal, Man City and West Ham who are all in the top six of the table as well as a draw with Man United who occupy second place they have not had the easier run of fixtures so far. Their two wins came against sides in the bottom half of the table and with Sunderland very much entrenched in this half of the league with no sign of them getting out we see an easy home win for the Londoners on Monday night.
Top EPL Picks:
Our top EPL pick for these Tottenham v West Ham and Crystal Palace v Sunderland games is the home win in both matches and we’re combining them into a double that pays odds of 2.46 in the Bet365 Sportsbook.