The festive football in the Premier League concludes this Tuesday and Wednesday with the final four matches from the 20th round of the EPL and we will be treated to one of the biggest and best matches of the entire festive period as Tottenham welcome league leaders Chelsea to White Hart Lane on Wednesday night.
We preview this massive London derby between two of the top four sides in England as well as the other three games on Tuesday evening with online sportsbook Bet365.com to provide our best EPL picks at the end of the Christmas football schedule.
Tottenham v Chelsea: 2.62 – 3.25 – 2.62
This Wednesday night London derby is perhaps the biggest game of the season for the away side as they can write their name into the history books with victory to take them level with the 2002 Arsenal side that won 14 matches in a row. This will not be an easy match for Antonio Conte’s men as Tottenham are in impressive form on home soil with seven wins and two draws in nine EPL clashes at White Hart Lane this season, but Chelsea’s 13 match winnings streak has seen them beat Man United 4-0 at home and win 3-1 at Man City too. Adding to this was a 2-1 home win for Chelsea against Tottenham at the end of November so the visitors to North London will certainly not fear this first game of 2017, but will it really be as close as the Bet365 match odds suggest?
Tottenham have won all of their last four home league matches and have netted 13 goals in the process, but all of these games have come against sides in the bottom half of the table. However, they have matched the other sides in the top four blow for blow when they have welcomed them this season as they drew 1-1 with Liverpool before they put in their performance of the season to see off Man City 2-0 and with two draws and a win in their last three home clashes with Chelsea they too will have nothing to fear from this match which will draw eyes from all around the globe.
Since losing 3-0 at Arsenal on their last trip to North London Chelsea have been perfect on the road with six straight league wins and five clean sheets, with only Man City managing to find the net. The other five sit no higher than ninth in the table and this season’s Chelsea have rolled over everyone outside of the top four so far but we can see them struggling in this one. Don’t get us wrong, they can still win this and make it 14 EPL wins in a row but, just like Bet365, we’re stumped on how this match will play out.
With both sides finding the net at Stamford Bridge five weeks ago and there being at least three goals in eight of the last 11 meetings between these two sides we feel that the value on this Wednesday night action is on the goals market and this is the way we are leaning.
We are backing Over 2.5 goals in this Tottenham v Chelsea match @ 1.95 at Bet365.
Bournemouth v Arsenal: 4.33 – 3.50 – 1.83
This clash between The Cherries and The Gunners will be the fourth time that they have ever met in the top flight and the home side in this match at The Vitality Stadium are still looking to get close to the Londoners. All of the past three meetings between the teams have seen Arsenal triumph by two goals with both home and away games last season ending 2-0 and the reverse of this fixture in November ending 3-1 at The Emirates in North London. Can Arsenal continue their dominant form against the side from the south coast?
After conceding three goals either side of Christmas Day to Southampton and Chelsea the home side in this clash ended the year with 3-0 win at Swansea to lift them into the top half of the table in situations that describe their season to a tee. They have been inconsistent so far with wins over Hull, Liverpool and Leicester in their last six at home, while they were also beaten by Sunderland and Southampton as well as drawing with Tottenham. This has shown that they can compete and beat the top sides but the defeat to Sunderland was a massive surprise, so the big question is which Bournemouth side will we see this Tuesday evening?
After losing 2-1 at Everton and Man City before Christmas Arsenal have since beaten West Brom and Crystal Palace without conceding a goal to end 2016 excellently, but both of those wins came on home soil and with just a three clean sheets on their travels in 13 matches in all competitions this season they have trouble in shutting out sides that are capable in attack. The Cherries certainly are with their 26 goals netted this season the second best outside of the top six so we can see them giving The Gunners trouble and we feel that goals are the way to go in this match as it offers more value than the away win, which should happen due to the pace and power of the Arsenal attack against a suspect Bournemouth defence.
Our best Bournemouth v Arsenal bet is back Both Teams to Score – Yes AND Over 2.5 goals at odds of 2.10 in the Bet365 Sportsbook!
Stoke v Watford: 1.72 – 3.50 – 5.00
The first meeting of these two sides this season did not go well for Watford as they were beaten 1-0 thanks to an own goal from goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes as the ball bounced off him and into the net from a corner before they finished with ten men as Miguel Britos was red carded late on. They will be hoping for a better showing at the Bet365 Stadium this Tuesday night like last season when they triumphed 2-0 here. Stoke have since won both clashes at Vicarage Road and will be confident of victory despite sitting one place and one point behind their guests in the EPL table, but can the favoured home side end the run of away wins in this fixture?
Mark Hughes’ home side come into this clash without a win in five, but with away games at Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea amongst this number it is not a surprise that they have struggled over the festive period. They did draw both home games against Southampton and Leicester during this time and this leaves them with a home record of three wins and three draws in their last seven clashes in front of their own fans, losing only to Bournemouth.
Watford are not in any better form with three losses and a draw in their last four since beating Everton 3-2 at home, and their away form has seen fail to win since the middle of October with four defeats in a row coming into this game. They have conceded 12 goals in these four matches and scored two, with them failing to net against Man City and Sunderland in the last two games, and with Stoke having conceded just five times in their last seven on home soil we can see this match going only one way.
Our top tip is back the home win @ 1.72 on this Stoke v Watford match at The Bet365 Stadium
Crystal Palace v Swansea: 1.75 – 3.50 – 4.75
Although this is just the start of the second half of the season this match is certainly a relegation six pointer as Palace occupy 17th place, the first position outside of the relegation zone, and Swansea are bottom of the league but there is just four points between the two sides. This means that a home win would leave The Swans seven points adrift of safety, but a repeat of the 5-4 home win that they recorded in November would see them right back in the mix to remain in the top flight after an awful start to the season that has already seen two managers sacked.
Crystal Palace have also fired a manager as Alan Pardew was let go and former Bolton and England boss Sam Allardyce was brought in to replace him and while he has not had the easiest of starts he will be eying this match for his first win after drawing 1-1 at Watford and then losing 2-0 at Arsenal. Palace did beat Southampton 3-0 three matches ago at Selhurst Park and they have been close to winning more with one goal losses to Man United, Man City and Chelsea, and now with their new manager being renowned for marshalling a defence they could easily turn things around quickly.
Aiding this will be the fact that no other side outside of the top five in the league has scored as many goals as they have done and with better defensive organisation they will soon start to stop leaking as many goals as they have done so far. Swansea have scored just once in their last three away games while conceding 11 times as they failed to get anything at Tottenham, West Brom and Middlesbrough and with their managerial changes coming too late for this match we see them once again failing to take the points.