By Antony Jordan
The final two matches from the 21st round of the 2016/17 Premier League season play this Sunday and both clashes pit sides from the cities of Manchester and Liverpool against one another. The biggest clash happening this Sunday sees a renewal of the rivalry between Man United and Liverpool at Old Trafford while the other sides from these great footballing cities also clash as Everton and Man City meet at Goodison Park.in the day’s earlier match.
Both clashes promise thrilling matches and we preview both games with online sportsbook SportsInteraction.com to provide our best EPL picks.
Manchester United v Liverpool: 2.05 – 3.30 – 3.58
While we see this match being thrilling and exciting, the reverse of the fixture at Anfield in October was far from this as Jose Mourinho set his Manchester United side out to defend and frustrate their hosts. They managed to do this as they claimed a 0-0 draw with Liverpool on Merseyside which United took as a positive, but they’ll be going different on home soil as they aim to extend their nine match winning run and 15 game unbeaten stretch to move to within two points of a Liverpool side sitting second in the league.
Adding to the more positive approach that United are sure to employ at Old Trafford this Sunday they will be boosted by the fact that Sadio Mane will not play as he is away at the African Cup of Nations and that Liverpool have not won in three matches before this weekend. They have drawn at Sunderland in the league before a rested side were held to a goalless draw by Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup, while their midweek exploits saw them defeated by Southampton in the League Cup semi-final first leg. This will have hurt Jurgen Klopp and his men as Manchester United defeated Hull 2-0 to be the favourites to be the first team into the final.
However, despite each side’s respective cup form they are both in excellent league form and will both believe that they can win this match. As a result of this we are not confident that either side will win or lose this game. With United keeping just two clean sheets in nine home league games and Liverpool conceding six goals in their last four away matches in the Premier League we see goals coming in this clash – unlike the reverse fixture – and our money is on goals being scored at Old Trafford this Sunday.
Our best Manchester United v Liverpool bet is back Over 2.5 goals at odds of 1.96 with SportsInteraction.com.
Everton v Manchester City: 4.21 – 3.73 – 1.77
The second half of the Manchester v Merseyside rivalry happens in Liverpool as Ronald Koeman’s Everton, who just completed the signing of Morgan Schneiderlin from Manchester United, welcome Man City to Goodison Park looking to close the gap on the top six in the league. The Toffees are currently nine points behind the runaway leaders of the EPL and come into this match having had a record of three wins and a draw in five Premier League matches ended by defeat to Leicester in the FA Cup last weekend so will be looking to bounce back with all three points against once of the most difficult sides to defeat in the league, but can they upset the odds?
City are missing a number of key midfield players through injury and suspension with Fernandinho, Fernando and İlkay Gündoğan all unavailable, but with Vincent Kompany and Leroy Sane returning Pep Guardiola will be certain to have enough numbers to fill his squad with match winning players. However, apart from their 5-0 destruction of West Ham in the FA Cup last weekend, City have not looked in top form with them losing 1-0 to Liverpool and just edging past Burnley in a 2-1 victory and with Everton having lost just one match on home soil in the league all season they will need to be better, and they’ll certainly need star striker Sergio Aguero to start hitting the back of the net again soon.
Everton have a good home record against City with four wins and a draw in the last seven occasions that they have hosted them and with wins over Arsenal and Southampton in two of their last three home matches where they scored five times they will feel that they can claim another three points this weekend. However, with just one clean sheet in eight clashes at Goodison Park in the EPL they know that they have some defensive issues and we feel that City will take advantage of this and find the net, but with City themselves having just two clean sheets on the road in the league all season we feel that no matter who wins this match – and it could easily see the home side upset the odds – there will be goals on show this Sunday afternoon.