man city’s defeat to liverpool last epl weekend was one of the games of the season in the top flight. it marked the first real setback for the citizens in their push for the league title, but it’s hard to see them slipping up from here. despite that, one of the big talking points for this weekend’s action is just how will city respond when they take on newcastle? before you go backing anything on that game or any of the others in the top flight, take a look at our latest betting tips, predictions and odds comparison.
brighton v chelsea: brighton can frustrate struggling blues
the weekend’s fixtures kick off with chelsea heading to the south coast to take on brighton, with the seagulls in fine form at home. they’ve lost just once in their last 11 home matches, which has got to worry the blues. with the seagulls only losing twice at home all season, they’re a tough side to travel to. those defeats came against the league’s two free flowing attacks – man city and liverpool – who are miles ahead of chelsea going forward. with that in mind, it’s hard to see why the blues are such heavy favourites across the board according to our odds comparison.
chelsea have been having real problems in front of goal of late, having drawn their first four games of the year. having strung together three consecutive 0-0 draws, they are on the lookout for new signings in attack, with a lot of rumours linking them to a panic move for andy carroll.
it’s hard to see chelsea turning around their scoring form, especially when they are so reliant on eden hazard, who is being routinely marked out of matches. the blues are likely to struggle going forward again, which is why we’re backing a low scoring game here. we’re backing under 2.5 goals, which can be backed at best betting odds of 7/10 with coral.
man city v newcastle: could newcastle cause problems at the etihad?
man city have some pressure on them to put up a big response to their defeat to liverpool, but facing newcastle might not be the ideal game for that. while they’re going up against a struggling side who have just had a blow in their takeover negotiations, the toon army did see city frustrated at st james’ park last month.
city were held off by newcastle’s organised approach, which was then made to look redundant by the way crystal palace and liverpool approached their meetings with the leaders. the more offensive style from the latter two was used as a way to criticise newcastle, but that won’t bother manager rafa benitez.
the spaniard knows how to organise a team, it’s why they’ve picked up so many results with a poor side. the magpies have enough defensive solidity thanks to their manager’s experience, and that’s likely to cause problems for city here. that 1-0 win in the north east was almost a worse result for city than newcastle overall. we expect the visitors to be edged out again in another tight – possibly dull – game. as a result, we’re backing a city win in this one with under 3.5 goals in the match, which is priced at odds of 13/8 with ladbrokes.
we should be in line for some more exciting action in sunday’s live match, when tottenham head south to take on southampton. the saints are on a run of one win in their last 10 in the league, while they’ve picked up two victories since the start of november. their chances of another top half finish look slim, as they’re now fighting off relegation. mauricio pellegrino has done little to bring them forward in recent weeks, other than getting them to start going on the attack at home.
southampton have seen both teams score in their last five home matches, while they go into this one on the back of a 5-2 loss to tottenham last month. that game was another big one for harry kane, who is having a brilliant start to the new year. he’s now spurs’ highest scorer in the premier league era, and he’s likely to continue that against a saints defence who have conceded in their last six at home.
we can see a few goals being scored in this one, so we think both teams to score is great value at 10/11 with unibet. we also think the visitors are well priced for the win and they’re 4/6 with william hill according to our odds comparison.
monday night’s game sees liverpool given the chance to build on their big win against city. they can stretch their current unbeaten run by avoiding defeat against the league’s bottom side, and unsurprisingly liverpool are 2/7 favourites with coral according to our odds comparison. given the 5-0 win the reds dished out in the last encounter between these two, that’s hardly surprising. while the swans have made some changes after that thumping last month, we can’t see them avoiding defeat here.
carlos carvalhal hasn’t done a lot to change their fortunes, and the swans seem to be staying clear of the transfer market. meanwhile, liverpool have now won their last four in the league, while they’ve scored 20 times in their last six outings in the top flight. that run should see another high scoring game here, with 73% of their away trips seeing at least four goals scored. the swans lost 4-0 at home to each of the manchester sides, and we see another big defeat on the way. liverpool to win with over 3.5 goals in the match is priced at big betting odds of 2/1 with ladbrokes, and that’s our main tip here.