The Premier League rolls on this weekend and we are set for another ten exciting fixtures in England’s top tier.
Manchester City have opened an eleven-point gap at the top of overall standings, but they face their toughest task for weeks in the form of Tottenham Hotspur
Leicester City vs Crystal Palace
Leicester City’s resurgence continued mid-week when the delivered Southampton a 4-1 thrashing at St Marys. That was undoubtedly the Foxes’ most convincing performance and result of the season and they now sit eighth overall; within striking distance of the European spots.
On Saturday night they welcome a Crystal Palace side to King Power Stadium, who pulled off an incredible late coup to take all three points from Watford mid-week. Goals to Sako and McArthur in the 89th and 92nd minutes made for one of the
Palace were clearly lucky to take the win and were probably helped by Tom Cleverley’s 87th minute red card, and playing an in-form Leicester away from home is probably still a bridge too far.
Tip: Back Leicester to win @ $1.85
Watford vs Huddersfield Town
Watford will look to return to winning form when they host Huddersfield Town in Round 18.
The Hornets looked to have all three points sewn-up mid-week, but a horror 5-minute period that saw Tom Cleverly sent off and Crystal Palace score twice meant that they were left scratching their heads.
Huddersfield weren’t expected to match Chelsea on Wednesday morning and didn’t; finishing on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline. Their performance against Brighton last weekend however was pretty convincing and they did manage to get on the scoresheet against Chelsea, which is something of a win.
Given Watford’s late capitulation and the Terriers’ inconsistency, it’s tough to pick a winner in this fixture and a draw looms as great value as a result.
Tip: Back the draw @ $3.60
Chelsea vs Southampton
Prior to the mid-week round this match loomed as a genuine contest, but it is tough to see Southampton turning around their lacklustre performance enough to compete.
Southampton at home generally looms as a tough prospect for any Premier League club, but the Saints were absolutely played off the park by Leicester City and slumped to a disappointing 4-1 loss. Chelsea meanwhile put their shock loss to West Ham in Week 16 to bed when they comfortably accounted for a spirited Huddersfield side.
Chelsea looks likely to win and win well and they offer little value in head-to-head betting, but there’s plenty to be found within line and over/under markets.
Tip: Back over 3 goals to be scored @ $2.15
Arsenal vs Newcastle United
This should be one of the more lopsided games in Week 18 of the Premier League, but given who the two teams in question are, that probably won’t be the case.
Arsenal is a team rich with class, experience and money, but they continue to shoot low and after consecutive draws with Southampton and West Ham, are seventh overall, below Burnley. Whatever it is that makes Arsenal perennial underperformers needs to be fixed, not only for future title aspirations, but also their chances of returning to European football come season’s end.
Newcastle is a tough team to trust from a betting perspective. They can put teams to the sword, but also just completely miss the mark and the latter has been on show in full force throughout the last seven days.
Everything suggests that Arsenal should win this, but they represent no value at current odds and I’m happy to stay out of this from a betting perspective.
Tip: No Bet
Stoke City vs West Ham
It has been anything but happy hunting for Stoke City of late and they face another legitimate challenge in West Ham on Sunday morning.
The Potters slumped to a 5-1 defeat to Spurs last weekend, before going down 1-0 to Burnley on Thursday. There was some merit in the latter performance, but it’s still a pretty dire scene for Stoke, who are in serious danger of falling into the bottom three.
West Ham have apparently heard the call and followed up a big win over Chelsea on Matchday 16 with a commendable draw at home to Arsenal on Thursday. The Hammers do sometimes have a tendency to throw away games like this one, but off the back of their recent form they should just beat Stoke, at healthy odds.
Tip: Back West Ham to win @ $3.30
Brighton & Hove Albion vs Burnley
This looms as one of the more exciting fixtures in Week 18 and we are set for a great contest between Brighton and Burnley at Falmer Stadium.
Its been a pretty slim few weeks for Brighton, who are winless since early November, but still playing with plenty of fight. They weren’t awful during a 2-0 loss to Tottenham mid-week and are best suited to playing at home.
Its been a truly outstanding season for Burnley, who leapfrogged Arsenal this week into sixth overall. The Clarets have won three of their last four Premier League fixtures and are simply over the odds at their current quote to win this match.
Tip: Back Burnley to win @ $3.10
Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur
The headline fixture in Week 18 will peg runaway leaders Manchester City against Tottenham early on Sunday morning.
City have been just fantastic this season and that has continued throughout the last seven days via a 2-1 win over bitter rivals Manchester United, as well as a 4-0 thrashing of Swansea on Thursday morning. The Blues are now 11 points clear atop standings and they are well and truly on track for a third Premier League title this campaign.
Spurs have been something of a thorn in City’s side in recent seasons and they undoubtedly represent the biggest danger to City’s current win streak of any club in the league. Spurs have posted some big wins over their rivals in recent weeks and they are a team that looks ready to push up into the top two, following a somewhat inconsistent start to the season.
It’s impossible to tip against City is current form, but they have been scoring a lot of their recent winners late and if there’s a team that will not allow them to do that, it’s Tottenham. City’s run of winning form has to come to an end at some point and we’re confident that Spurs can hold them to a draw.
Tip: Back the draw @ $4.40
West Bromwich Albion vs Manchester United
The biggest mismatch in Week 18 of the Premier League will peg West Brom against Manchester United at the Hawthorns on Sunday.
The Baggies did hold Liverpool to a scoreless draw mid-week, but they have been pretty terrible otherwise and lost to last-placed Swansea City on Sunday.
United put their Derby Day loss behind them with a 1-0 win over a spirited Bournemouth on Thursday and realistically, they should go on with the job against another lowly opponent here.
Tip: Back over 2.5 goals to be scored @ $2
AFC Bournemouth vs Liverpool
Liverpool’s inability to convert mid-week points over an opponent as formless as West Brom means that they are going to find it difficult to really challenge at the top of the table.
They face another very winnable game when they travel to Bournemouth early on Monday morning, but given their inconsistency, they remain pretty difficult to follow from a betting standpoint.
The Cherries on the other hand were unlucky not to take anything from their match with Manchester United on Thursday and are a club that generally plays better in front of their home fans.
There just is not enough value behind Liverpool to justify backing them here and this figures as another match that will probably be better to stay out of.
Tip: No Bet
Everton vs Swansea City
Week 18 will draw to a close on Tuesday morning when Everton returns home to place Swansea.
Two seasons ago this would have been an outstanding contest, but the Swans have failed to make anything of an impact on the league this year and appear on track for relegation at season’s end. They did rally to secure a tight 1-0 win over West Brom last weekend, but all that confidence has probably evaporated after they were destroyed at home by Manchester City on Thursday.
Everton have really started to build to the task recently and they followed up a 1-1 Merseyside Derby draw with a win over Newcastle mid-week.
The result of this appears to be a pretty open and shut case and Everton figure as a lucrative fold for a multi-bet this weekend.
Tip: Back Everton to win @ $1.68