With all the recent Premier League, Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup action, fixture congestion has become a real problem for the top clubs. The biggest sides have been handed some tall tasks in recent weeks, and now there’s an extra round of league games coming up this midweek. These clashes aren’t easy for any of the title challengers, and none of them can afford to drop points.
The fight for top spot, top four and top six is in full swing, as Southampton and West Ham make late pushes for Europe. They’re both in derby action here, and they look to keep up their impressive runs when they take on local rivals. Elsewhere, we have a League Cup final rematch just three days after the final itself, as Manchester City head to Liverpool. Here we’re looking at the biggest of the week’s live games, plus we’ll have a betting tip on each.
Tuesday 1st March 2016
Bournemouth v Southampton (19:45) – Southampton win (6/4 with Betfair)
The live game on BT Sport sees Southampton head across to south coast rivals Bournemouth, in just their second ever top flight meeting. The Saints are in great form ahead of this clash, and they’ve made a late run into European contention. Of all the sides outside the top four, they seem the most likely to make a place push for the Champions League right now, although the top six is a more realistic aim. Can they keep all that going against their local rivals?
The Cherries have some daylight between them and the drop, but they can’t afford to slow down now. Eddie Howe’s side have been impressive, but they’re also quite inconsistent. Playing the Saints is one of the toughest tests in the league right now, and we’re not quite sure they’re up to it. With Ronald Koeman’s men playing such great football, we have to go with them for this clash. They have pulled off some impressive away wins of late, and their defence is so solid that they should have little trouble here.
Leicester v West Brom (19:45) – Leicester -1 handicap (31/20 with Coral)
The league leaders have a tricky looking game against a West Brom side who are capable of a shock away from home. The Baggies have been pretty good defensively away from the Hawthorns, but they face a very different kind of challenge in this one. It’s hard to see their back four, which is big but a little on the slow side, dealing with the attacking talents of Jamie Vardy for the 90 full minutes. That mean defence is likely to get its toughest test of the season so far at the King Power.
Tony Pulis really needs a result to appease the West Brom fans. Things are starting to go the same way they did at Stoke. The team and players are a little too close to the drop, yet they’re a little too confident that Pulis will get them out of it. Add that complacency with their less than exciting style of play, and the fans’ outrage is understandable. Making the case for anything other than a win for the Foxes here is tough and it’s hard to see West Brom pulling off a shock here. After their cup defeat to Reading, morale will be low, and we see Leicester piling on top of that with a comfortable win.
Wednesday 2nd March 2016
Liverpool v Manchester City (19:45) – Over 1.5 City goals (7/5 with Coral)
These two will be glad they don’t have to make a trip down to London to face each other this time around. The two League Cup finalists will have that trophy out of the way by the time this one kicks off, and they’ll be focused on league points. Don’t expect a weakened side from either of these two in this one, there’ll be no development squads in action here. City have the title to fight for, while Liverpool will be looking to make the top six.
City’s win over Dynamo Kiev was such an impressive away display that we see them doing well here. Their performance in Ukraine was brilliant, from how they controlled the play right to their second half counter attacking. They held out against a determined Kiev side, and picked up a decisive 3-1 win. We think they are capable of a similar result here, and we’re backing City to score over 1.5 goals, which shouldn’t be too much of a problem for them with Sergio Aguero in great form. After back to back league defeats, City need a big response here on Wednesday night.
West Ham v Tottenham (19:45) – Tottenham win (evens with Betfair)
Wednesday night sees Tottenham looking to keep up their title chase as they head to Upton Park for the final time. The Hammers beat Spurs off the pitch to secure the Olympic Stadium, can they now beat them on the field in their last season at the Boleyn Ground? It would certainly do their push for Europe some good, and hosting Europa League football in their first season at their new ground would be quite a way to open it up. First, they need to find a way past a Spurs side who hammered them earlier in the season, and worryingly for Slaven Bilic and co, Mauricio Pochettino’s men have improved since then.
Spurs may have dropped out of the FA Cup, but that’s not the worst result for them. Juggling three competitions was always going to be a little too tough on their squad and now they can put full focus on the Premier League title. This will be a tricky match for them and had it came straight after the Europa League you’d have said it might be a little too far. But, we think that Pochettino will guide his team to another impressive victory at Upton Park, keeping up the pressure on leaders Leicester.