If you’re sitting there thinking that it feels like the Premier League only just finished yesterday and is already back for another round, you’d be right. The midweek rounds do make it a bit difficult to keep up with sometimes, particularly when most matches are on at sparrow’s, but that does also allow for extra opportunities to back a few winners.
Week 29 is bookended by who of the biggest rivalries in the league and it has been genuinely difficult to pull anything out of the white noise that lies between.
The North London Derby doesn’t carry the same stigma as a Manchester Derby, a Merseyside Derby or perhaps even just United vs Liverpool, but it doesn’t mean the hate doesn’t run thick and it’s always a terrific fixture. Arsenal hold bragging rights from the last time that these clubs met in the Premier League, but it was Spurs who recorded the most-recent win in the derby after knocking Arsenal out of whatever that stupid third competition is that nobody cares about. Wembley is barely a home ground for Spurs, but I think they’ll be winning regardless.
Wolves are fast becoming Newcastle, in terms of being the most untrustworthy team in the league from a betting perspective but surely they’ll be too good for Cardiff this week. Two-consecutive draws were franked when Wolves dropped their lollies and three points at home to the last-placed Huddersfield, but they’ll be tackling a club that has been flogged at its two most-recent appearances. I was going to write ‘surely this is their best chance of returning to the winner’s stall’, but that was surely against Huddersfield, so who knows.
United wins to Nil. That is all.
It’s Aussie vs Aussie when Mat Ryan’s Brighton host Aaron Mooy’s Huddersfield on Saturday night and that is just about where the interest concludes. The Terriers potentially fluked a win over Wolves midweek (I guess we’ll find out if that is the case after this one), while Brighton dropped another match and with it, are now mathematically less than a win above the drop zone. Brighton is too hot, Huddersfield are too good, but the draw is juuuuust right.
Both clubs were midweek losers, but this match between Burnley and Palace looks like being one of the better contests in Week 29 and a case is there to be made for each. The Clarets pulled off a huge upset over Spurs last weekend but were the unlucky club to catch Newcastle on a day that they actually put it all together. Palace were comfortably beaten by United last start, but absolutely no shame in that currently and they’ll be confident of responding with a W this time around. At home, I think that Burnley is the value.
Bournemouth were absolutely railed by Arsenal during the week and worryingly, they play a far better club in the form of City this weekend. City have made a habit of winning matches like this one 4-0 and while I am majorly going out on a limb here, I simply cannot look past the $12 that is on offer for that result materialising again.
Yuck, Yuck, Yuck. If there are two teams that I hate seeing in any head-to-head market, it’s West Ham and Newcastle. When they fill both spaces in a head-to-head market, it goes without saying that I am as exciting as Rex Banner. Both clubs know how to bottle a match and I can’t help but feel like one will accidently win at the end of 90 minutes.
I really don’t know why I gave Watford such a shout before their match with Liverpool during the week, but I’ve been made to look like a deserving patsy and we’ll move on. I guess other than that horror show, they’ve been playing pretty well and strike another very winnable match here against an inconsistent Leicester outfit. Brendan Rogers is probably a positive signing for the Foxes, as would be Tom Rogic if they decide to pull the trigger but I think that the Vicarage Road faithful will get their boys over the line this week.
A London Derby for the ages… is like to materialise when Spurs and Arsenal do battle, but certainly not when Fulham hosts Chelsea. The coaching reins could legitimately be handed over to Kepa Arrizabalaga and Chelsea would win this match at a canter. To make matters worse, Fulham couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat so it’s tough imagining them finding the back of the net.
This Merseyside Derby is well and truly worth the wait. Not only can Everton secure the standard bragging rights by winning, they can also directly cost Liverpool the title this time around. With City almost surely putting Bournemouth to the sword earlier in the round, anything worse than a win for Liverpool will see them fall out of top spot.