the premier league title race, battle for the top four and the fight for survival, are all starting to get extremely interesting in the premier league. the gap at the top remains four points after both chelsea and tottenham hotspur secured midweek wins.
meanwhile, following manchester city’s game with rivals manchester united on thursday, we should have a clearer picture of who’s in pole position to claim a uefa champions league spot for next season. arsenal kept the manchester clubs honest with a 1-0 victory over leicester city on wednesday night.
at the other end, hull city and swansea city did not play in the week, but middlesbrough earned a hard-fought and potentially crucial 1-0 win over doomed sunderland at the riverside stadium, whilst crystal palace were beaten at home by spurs.
we’ve got five big premier league fixtures to preview, including the everton v chelsea clash, as well as sunday’s mouth-watering north london derby between mauricio pochettino’s tottenham hotspur and arsene wenger’s arsenal.
we begin with an important matchup between two sides in and around the lower regions of the premier league table, as sam allardyce’s crystal palace welcome sean dyche’s burnley to selhurst park. these two are separated by just two points and both have a little bit of work to do in the race for survival.
after beating chelsea, arsenal and liverpool recently, it’s no surprise to see the eagles the clear favourites with the bookies in this one. sporting bet are offering 4/5 for palace to seal the points. meanwhile, the clarets are priced at 4/1 with betfred to claim their first away league victory of the season, with the draw coming in at 13/5 (betfair).
despite losing to tottenham in midweek, allardyce’s side are in superb form. we can’t see anything other than a home win, with sporting bet’s 4/5 standing out.
on sunday, jose mourinho’s manchester united entertain paul clement’s struggling swansea city at old trafford. win, lose or draw at the etihad stadium on thursday, united will still be eyeing up three points from this match.
on the other hand, the swans are running out of time to save their premier league lives, as clement’s men remain two points adrift of marco silva’s hull. as hard a task as it will be, the welsh outfit must be targeting at least a point at old trafford, especially with a tough game against everton coming up next.
the bookies are not giving swansea much hope at the theatre of dreams, with betvictor pricing them at 9/1 to seal a rare away win. the draw, meanwhile, is available at best betting odds of 17/4 with sporting bet.
with such a fierce battle surfacing with man city and liverpool for a top four place, nothing short of three points will do for the red devils on sunday. betfair are offering just 4/11 for a home win, so we prefer coral’s 11/10 for united to win -1 at the weekend.
everton v chelsea: priceless three points for the visitors
all tottenham eyes will be on goodison park before their match with arsenal on sunday, as antonio conte prepares his chelsea side to face ronald koeman’s everton for what promises to be an enthralling match in merseyside.
only the blues have a better home record than the toffees, and koeman’s boys are still hoping to beat the gunners to sixth spot in the premier league. everton head into this huge clash as the 14/5 underdogs with betvictor, whilst the draw is generously priced at 13/5 with ladbrokes.
the league leaders travel to merseyside as the 21/20 favourites with betway to leave goodison with a priceless three points. to be fair to the pensioners, they have hit back like champions after their poor showing at old trafford. therefore, we’re predicting the londoners will seal a vital win at everton this sunday.
the standout premier league fixture of the weekend comes from white hart lane, as north london rivals tottenham hotspur and arsenal go head-to-head in a huge derby match on sunday. spurs, who are flying high, are the bookies’ favourites to claim the victory.
arsenal have not travelled to the lane as 3/1 underdogs many times in recent years, but that’s exactly what they are this weekend. to be honest, judging by spurs’ recent run of results, it’s not hard to see why. tottenham have won their last eight premier league matches on the spin. arsenal, meanwhile, have won their last three league and cup games, which includes a 2-1 emirates fa cup semi-final victory over man city at wembley.
looking at the live odds comparison, spurs are available at 19/20 with betfair to claim the win. however, we can see the pair playing out a draw at whl this sunday. sporting bet have this one to end all square at the temping odds of 3/1.
the last of our previews comes from vicarage road, as walter mazzarri’s watford host jurgen klopp’s liverpool on monday night. the reds will be looking for another triumph over the hornets, after thumping the hertfordshire club 6-1 at anfield earlier in the season.
however, in the corresponding fixture last year, watford put on one of their best displays of the season in an emphatic 3-0 win. betvictor are offering 11/2 for the hornets to beat the reds on home soil for a second successive season. a liverpool victory is available at 4/7 (betway), whereas you can get the draw at 7/2 with bet365 on our odds comparison.
like klopp’s troops proved in the reverse fixture, the reds can put any team to the sword. equally, they are capable of dropping points anywhere. nevertheless, we’re siding with a comfortable away win in this matchup, with coral’s 6/4 for liverpool to win -1 catching our eye.