after a crazy week in the premier league, where chelsea, arsenal, liverpool, tottenham hotspur, everton and manchester united all dropped points, pep guardiola’s manchester city were the only side in the top seven to have won. despite only drawing at anfield, antonio conte’s blues extended their lead at the top of the table to nine points.
it was a very good start to the week for a few teams in and around the bottom, as swansea city and crystal palace both won. with hull city, sunderland and middlesbrough all drawing, claudio ranieri’s leicester city, who were beaten 1-0 at burnley, were the biggest losers, as they now sit just two points clear of the drop zone.
with all 20 premier league clubs back in action at the weekend, we’ve got our usual best betting odds, tips, analysis and previews on the biggest premier league fixtures taking place on saturday and sunday, including the blockbuster london derby from stamford bridge between chelsea and arsenal.
where better to start than the big one at the bridge? this weekend’s round of pl fixtures gets underway with a cracker, as antonio conte’s league leaders chelsea entertain arsene wenger’s arsenal.
the gunners will be desperate to avoid defeat, having been beaten 2-1 by watford at the emirates stadium in midweek. after giving the hornets a two-goal head start after just 13 minutes, wenger’s troops failed to recover. whilst arsenal were slipping up against watford, chelsea were earning a hard-fought point at anfield. it could have been so much better if diego costa had not seen his late penalty saved, but it was still a priceless point for the blues.
looking at our live odds comparison, chelsea go into this saturday’s game as the 21/20 favourites with betfred. the bookies don’t seem to fancy arsenal too much, pricing the north londoners at 14/5 (ladbrokes) to secure a surprise away win, with the draw coming in at 13/5 at coral.
however, we’re predicting a comfortable home victory in this one. the blues have won 10 of their 11 league fixtures at the bridge this term, and we like the look of coral’s best odds of 27/10 for conte’s boys to win -1.
saturday’s late match comes from white hart lane, as mauricio pochettino’s tottenham hotspur host aitor karanka’s middlesbrough. after drawing at sunderland on tuesday, spurs will be looking to get back to winning ways at the weekend.
when these two met at the riverside stadium earlier in the campaign, tottenham ran out narrow 2-1 winners, with heung-min son scoring a double. the lilywhites, who are unbeaten in their last 10 in all competitions, currently occupy second spot in the premier league table. although boro’s first season back in the top flight has been testing at times, they are doing ok in 15th and would gladly accept that position come may.
the best odds you can get on a shock away win are 12/1 (betvictor), whilst the draw is available at the tempting price of 5/1 at bet365. however, we can’t see past a routine home win – coral are only offering 1/4 for a tottenham victory, so we feel there’s better value in betvictor’s 21/10 for the home side to win -2.
on sunday, manchester city and swansea city meet in a crucial fixture at the etihad stadium. after both sealing important victories in midweek, this one should be an intriguing contest in manchester.
after winning just one league game in four prior to wednesday, man city’s empathic 4-0 win at west ham united was just what the doctor ordered. after winning 5-0 at the london stadium in an emirates fa cup fixture at the start of the year, the citizens have now put nine past the hammers without reply within the space of a month.
as for the swans, they have been given a new lease of life by new boss paul clement. despite being taught a footballing lesson by arsenal in clement’s first pl game in charge, back-to-back victories has certainly lifted the spirits at the liberty stadium. swansea followed up last weekend’s stunning 3-2 win at anfield by beating claude puel’s southampton in south wales on tuesday night.
unfortunately for the swans, although they are tempting at 14/1 (betfred), we can’t see them getting anything at the etihad. the draw is also nicely priced at 6/1 with betway, but even though the odds are short, we believe taking up betvictor’s 2/9 for a home win is the way to go in this one.
last up is the tasty looking battle at the king power stadium between claudio ranieri’s struggling champions, leicester city and jose mourinho’s inconsistent manchester united. after drawing their last three pl matches on the spin, united will be eager to get their season back on track with a win this sunday.
however, the foxes, who have lost their last three successive league games, are in desperate need of a reprieve. for one reason or another, leicester have made a woeful attempt of defending their premier league title.
ranieri’s troops go into this one as the 24/5 underdogs with betfair. looking at the live odds comparison, the best odds you can get on the draw are betvictor’s 14/5, while a red devils win is available at just 8/11 with betfred.
that said, we believe it’s best to back mourinho’s men to win by a margin at the king power. man utd were frustrated for virtually the whole game against hull city in midweek, and they will want to bounce back fast on sunday. therefore, we like coral’s 2/1 for united to win -1 at the home of the champions this weekend, with 3-1 our prediction in the correct score betting.