December has arrived and with it comes an abundance of Premier League fixtures.
Game Week 15 gets underway early Wednesday morning, so stock-up on your instant coffee of choice and prepare yourself for long and dragged out week at the office.
Match of the round will be played out on Thursday morning (Aus Time), as Jose Mourinho will be out to extend his perfect start at Tottenham with a grudge match against his former employers Manchester United!
Elsewhere, Man City look to get back into the winners circle when they travel to Burnley, Jamie Vardy eye’s off a seven game scoring streak as the Foxes host the Hornets and Marco Silva prays for a miracle as his side head to Anfield for the least anticipated Merseyside Derby in some time.
Find our Full EPL Game Week 15 Tips and Preview below!
Match day 15 kick-off on Wednesday morning Australian time with a mid-table clash between Crystal Palace and Bournemouth.
Palace snapped a three game losing streak with an impressive 2-nil victory over the in-form Burnley FC last time out.
Wilf Zaha scored for the second game running after failing to find the back of the net across the opening 13 game weeks.
Bournemouth will be looking to snap their own three-game losing streak when they travel to Selhurst Park.
The Cherries showed plenty of attacking intent against the Spurs over the weekend, with Harry Wilson notching up his 5th and 6th Premier League goals on the way to a 3-2 defeat.
19 goals have been scored between these two sides during their last four meetings, with the over 2.5 total goals market hitting on each occasion.
With both sides back in scoring touch, I’ll be taking the overs here once again.
Both Burnley and City trudge into this contest off the back of disappointing performances over the weekend.
After blowing buy the Hammers and the Hornets with consecutive 3-nil victories the Clarets were shut out at home to a struggling Crystal side in a 2-nil defeat.
Sean Dyche’s side have turned into flat track bullies, with four of their five wins this season coming against the current bottom four, whereas they have only manage to pick up one point from six games against sides situated in the top half of the table.
Man. City find themselves a healthy 11 competition points behind league leaders Liverpool after another slip-up against the Giant Killing Newcastle outfit!
The Citizens squandered a one goal advantage on two occasions against the Toons, with Pep defensive frustrations compounding week in, week out.
Kevin De Bruyne put on a man of the match display, scoring a early contender for goal of the year.
City haven’t been held winless in back-to-back league matches since December last year and the fixture against Burnley provides the Sy Blues the perfect opportunity to get back to winning ways!
A case of the midseason Blues.
Frank Lampard’s men are winless in their last three matches across all competitions and are missing the top goal scorer Tammy Abraham through a hip injury.
The Blues are responsible for snapping their London rivals seven game winless streak, while saving Manuel Pellegrini’s job at the Hammers’ helm in a 1-nil defeat at the Bridge.
N’Golo Kante will make his return to the starting XI after being rested at the weekend, the Blues look a completely different side with the Frenchman on the park and I’m confident Frank will be thinking twice before resting him again.
Aston Villa have put together a couple of impressive performances coinciding with the return of their club captain Jack Grealish.
Villa’s talisman has been asked to playing in a more advanced position by his manager, which has culminated in three goals and four assists for the newly transformed winger.
Lampard will be looking for a strong response from his young side following their lacklustre display against the Hammers, with the neutral fans set to benefit from an open games at the Bridge on Thursday morning.
Watford have sacked more managers this season (2) than they’ve won games (1), now they’re faced with the daunting task of traveling to face the form team of the comp.
Jamie Vardy:
– 13 Goals.
– 6 game scoring streak (still running).
– Scored in 9 of his 14 starts this season.
Watford:
– 9 Goals.
– 1 game scoring streak (still running).
– Scored in 7 of their 14 Games this season.
Leicester have kept four clean-sheets from their last five games and haven’t conceded to the Hornets at home across their last three outings.
Vardy is eyeing off his own record for the longest scoring streak in the PL (11).
Currently with six on the trot, Leicesters favourite son will be confident in extending his streak to 7 games against the side who he has netted against in his previous three meetings.
Southampton take on Norwich in the inaugural ‘At least we’re not Watford’ Showdown!
Both these sides have enjoyed an upturn in form over the past couple of weeks, with both pulling off a 2-2 draw against the competitions laughingstocks in Arsenal.
Despite their results against the Gunners, the Saints and the Canaries fail to instil any confidence in me from a betting perspective.
I’d suggest steering well clear of the contest in both a betting and viewing capacity.
Pellegrini lives to see another Match Day!
If Newcastle didn’t ruin your multi in the open fixture of GW14 then the Hammers most certainly did win they ended their seven game winless streak with a 1-nil victory over the Blues.
Aaron Cresswell gave West Ham the lead with his third goal of the campaign, then the Hammers held on to dear life as Chelsea spurred multiple goalscoring opportunities.
The Wolves clawed their way back to a 1-1 draw against an inform blades side after conceding in the opening minutes of the fixture.
Raul Jimenez was in the thick of it again, providing the assist for Matt Doherty’s equaliser in the 65th minute.
The Wolves are impressively nine games undefeated (the longest streak excluding Liverpool), but their European commitments are clearly weighing on Nuno Santos shallow squad with Thursdays game set to be their 4th in two weeks.
Mo’ing the neighbours lawn.
Jose returns to Old Trafford for the most anticipated match of Game Week 15.
The Spurs have climbed from 14th to 5th in the two weeks the ‘Special One” has been in charge, winning three from three across all competitions.
Mourinho has already had a huge affect on the mentality of young gun Dele Alli, who has score three goals in his last two matches.
Alternatively, life after Jose is not going as swimmingly as the United board were hoping.
The Red Devils are languishing in ninth spot on the ladder following successive draws against Sheffield United and Aston Villa.
Ole will be hoping to have Pogba and McTominay available for the must win clash, with Fred and Pereira struggling to create through the middle of the ground.
It’s hard to go against the Spurs in this game, Mourinho will no doubt be over exuberant in his celebrations if he were to get one over his old side here.
Never has there been a less anticipated Merseyside Derby!
Despite poor individual form (Mo Salah), Liverpool just keep on finding ways to win matches.
This time it was Virgil van Dijk’s turn to come to the rescue, the Ballon d’Or favourite nodded home two goals past Mat Ryan to help the Reds to a 2-1 victory over Brighton.
How Marco Silva has a job has me baffled, in fact the only thing more mystifying is how he has managed to coach a squad of such quality to 17th position after 14 matches!
Everton have failed to score in the last three Merseyside Derbies, and will have their work cut out for them against side who are desperate to secure their first ever “Premier League” championship!
The Toons have earned the reputation of ‘giant killers’ with wins over Tottenham, Man U and a draw against Man City last time out.
Unfortunately, consistency has been hard to come by for Newcastle, who have also lost against battlers such as Norwich and Arsenal.
Sheffield are unbeaten across their last seven starts, but have only managed to pick up a single point in each of their last three games.
This is a growing concern for the newly promoted side who seem to be doing everything right apart from winning.
Surprisingly the Blades have struggled at Bramall Lane, with all three of the league defeats coming at home.
Newcastle a growing in confidence each passing match day and they are more than capable of taking a point away from home in this matchup.
#LjungbergOUT
The final match of the round sees Arsenal looking to secure their first win in nine starts and first under caretaker manager Freddy Ljungberg.
The Gunners played out a 2-2 draw against cellar dwellers Norwich City over the weekend, with the latter dominating for the majority of proceedings.
Aubameyang scored a double, taking his season tally to 10 and providing at least one positive talking point for Arsenal fans to get around.
Unfortunately, as well as Aubameyang is traveling up top, Mustafi and co and equally as horrible at the back! the German defender looked like a newborn giraffe trying to find his feet as the like of Teemu Pukki and Todd Cantwell ran rings around him.
Brighton have lost three games on the trot, be it against Man U, Leicester and Liverpool.
Mat Ryan has kept the score line respectable across each of these occasions and may have his hands full again as the Gunners look to compensate for their lack of defence.
With both sides desperate to capture all three points, I can see contest turning into a shoot out.