We’re back after the Champions League with some more Premier League action.
In the early Saturday kick off, Newcastle United are playing Manchester City after their 2-0 defeat at Villa Park on Monday night. City’s last game, on the other hand, was a win over Chelsea. There won’t be many tipping Newcastle’s woeful forwards to get any goals and their defence may be decent but there is no way in the world that they can manage De Bruyne, Sterling etc. That’s why I think City will achieve an impressive 4-0 away win.
Liverpool are back at Anfield as they face the Brighton team that lost to Leicester last week, and the league leaders STILL haven’t lost a game and have only dropped points once. They have an eight point lead on second place Leicester City whereas Brighton sit in 12th, this can surely only go one way. 2-1 Liverpool win.
Chelsea take on out of form West Ham in another 3pm kick off and here is yet another that I can only see going one way. West Ham’s manager Pellegrini may well have a Premier League title to his name but he is struggling beyond belief at West Ham so far. Frank Lampard is the opposite; he’s absolutely flying at Stamford Bridge and he’s making the Chelsea fans love him even more than they already did. 3-1 Chelsea.
Burnley are taking on Crystal Palace on Saturday in the first close game I’ve talked about so far. Zaha did a decent job against Liverpool last week at Selhurst Park whereas I think Burnley won 3-0 and they’re doing a great job so far. Burnley are currently 7th whilst Palace are 14th; however I do actually think the away side will come away with three ponits. 2-1 victory for Crystal Palace.
Mourinho’s Spurs side made an outstanding comeback in their Tuesday night European fixture and they take on Bournemouth back in domestic football at their new stadium. Mourinho’s side have scored 7 goals in his 2 wins out of two as manager however a potential cause for concern is the fact they’ve also conceded four. I actually think they’ll concede a couple more to 11th placed Bournemouth but ultimately they’ll win in what could be quite a good game for the neutral. 4-2 Tottenham.
And the big one for me as a Saints fan. Southampton haven’t won at home all season but they take on last place Watford at St Marys in a MUST WIN game, and I fully believe that Ralph Hasenhuttl would be dismissed with a loss here. This game is a six pointer as its 19th vs 20th and it could either be a thrilling tie or a 0-0 bore. However, I back my boys to pick up a 2-0 win.
Norwich City take on Arsenal at Carrow Road on Sunday in what could be the upset of the week in my opinion. EmeryOut is a very common statment amongst Arsenal fans right now; he was really close to losing to Southampton at home and was only saved by a late goal, and his football style, identity and conduct has left all the fans questioning him and his capabilities. Norwich, meanwhile, slowed down massively following their shock win over Manchester City but they won last time out against Everton and that could lead to an increase in good results coming up to the busy December period. They just need Pukki to repeat his Finland form in the Premier League once again. I think Norwich will snatch a 2-1 victory here, and do what Southampton could not by hanging on for the three points and most likely sealing Emery’s fate.
Wolves vs Sheffield United will be taking place at the same time as Arsenal’s match, and it may actually be a much better game for a neutral viewing. Sheffield United may have bottled a 2-0 lead over Manchester United last week but the fact they even had such a lead in itself was impressive, and the result was a solid draw. Wolves beat Bournemouth last week and it remains to be seen if they’ll win tonight in the Europa League or not, but I think they’ll struggle here regardless. Europa League hasn’t had its normal impact on the Wolves squad so far but here is the first time I think it will, and we’ll see Chris Wilder walk away with a 1-0 win.
Leicester City sit second in the Premier League table and are still being doubted as title contenders because of the quality of Manchester City and Liverpool, however I imagine the Foxes will be looking to prove everyone wrong and mount a decent challenge. Their opponents, Everton, lost to the league’s worst side last week and Silva looks to be treading on thin ice now – in fact, a bad result here would probably see him sacked. And I think he will get a bad result, no, actually, a terrible result. 3-0 Leicester.
And Manchester United play Aston Villa in the final match left to predict. United are playing in the Europa League I believe right now as this goes out but they didn’t take any first team players at all out to Astana to play in that match, and instead the squad is completely made up of their youth products. It will be interesting to see how they get on. Villa, on the other hand, will have also had a full week’s rest (almost) as their last game was Monday night against Newcastle, where they looked superb. It will be interesting to see how United deal with the likes of Grealish and McGinn in this game. I think the result will be a 1-1 draw.
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