While every weekend in the Premier League is blown up to be huge, this one in particular looks massive, as we see a total of five live games spread across Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday matches look good, but they serve only as a warm-up to a huge day of action on Sunday, which sees three matches taking place in the space of six hours, games that include all of the current title challengers.
While Saturday sees traditional big sides like Chelsea and Manchester United facing teams scrapping for their lives, the real entertainment comes on Sunday. The top four are facing each other, with Arsenal hosting Leicester and Manchester City playing Tottenham. Ahead of this title defining weekend, we’ve picked out our best bets from all of the televised matches.
Saturday 13th January 2016
Sunderland v Manchester United (12:45) – Both teams to score (21/20 with Coral)
Manchester United’s recent form has seen them slowly slip behind the top four, and their hopes of making the Champions League places are dwindling. Given that all the sides above them are looking to win the title, it’s tough to see United being able to keep pace with them. The Red Devils have managed to show more attacking intent, but that’s made them a little more open at the back. Can they find a balance in time to push for the Champions League?
Sunderland are four points from safety right now, but they have come from far worse positions to survive in the past. Recently they’ve been much improved, and with Jermain Defoe in form they have plenty of goalscoring threat. We can’t see them keeping a clean sheet, but they can certainly hurt this United defence, which makes both teams to score a huge price at 21/20 as far as we’re concerned.
Chelsea v Newcastle (17:30) – Draw (7/2 with Sky Bet)
This game sees 13th taking on 17th, and despite just four positions separating them, the hosts are priced at 1/ 2. That’s because it’s Chelsea, who are expected to win easily here, but recent form suggests they won’t. They’ve drawn their last four matches in the league at Stamford Bridge, and they are yet to win here under Guus Hiddink. They’ve not got back in to any kind of form, so why on earth would you back the Blues?
Newcastle are awful away from home, but they’ll be targeting points here. Chelsea have needed late equalisers in their last two home games, so they’re far from unbeatable at the Bridge. The Toon might not be able to take all three points here, but we aren’t backing a Chelsea win. Their players will be preoccupied with the PSG game and we see them slipping up here again.
Sunday 14th January 2016
Arsenal v Leicester (12:00) – Over 1.5 Leicester goals (12/5 with Betfair)
The first of Sunday’s action is a huge game between third and first. Leicester are fresh off their win at Manchester City, and now these two are joint favourites for the Premier League title. The Foxes showed nothing even resembling nerves at the Etihad, ripping through the most expensive squad in England with the swagger of champions elect. Don’t expect them to have any worries ahead of this one.
In fact, if anyone should be scared, it should be Arsenal. They ended a poor run with a win at Bournemouth, but they allowed the Cherries far too many chances. Their sloppy play should give the Foxes’ forwards plenty of opportunities to push forward with pace, and if Per Mertesacker is hoping to chase down Jamie Vardy he should probably start running now! We’re backing Leicester to score at least twice, which is out at close to 3/1.
Aston Villa v Liverpool (14:05) – Both teams to score (21/20 with Coral)
Liverpool’s recent form means that Aston Villa actually have a chance of getting a result here. That’s probably the most damning thing you can say about Jurgen Klopp’s side right now. Villa have struck gold in recent weeks, landing games against Crystal Palace and Norwich at home while both sides were on dismal runs. The Reds have been far from impressive, and they could actually slip up against the league’s bottom side.
Liverpool come in to this fresh from throwing away a 2-0 lead against the second bottom side Sunderland, who are just four points above Villa. They may not have fan walk outs to worry about this weekend, but how angry would those fans get at playing £77 for a team who can’t beat Villa? We aren’t going to back the Villains here, but their recent set piece successes should cause problems here, as Liverpool are awful at the back right now.
Manchester City v Tottenham (16:15) – Harry Kane anytime scorer (13/10 with Betfair)
Fourth meets second in the final clash of the weekend, with City looking to bounce back from their Leicester defeat. This weekend could really shake up the title race, but just which of these two will be in touching distance when the dust settles on Sunday evening? The inclination here is to back a home win, but in this crazy season that’s far from a certain outcome. Leicester ran riot here last weekend, couldn’t Spurs find a way to trouble the City defence too?
City have Chelsea and Dynamo Kiev away in their next two following this one, so this is part of a pretty tricky run. Their quadruple hopes are hanging in the balance this month, and Spurs could really stick it to them with a result. Without Vincent Kompany here, you have to expect City to concede, and Harry Kane is more than capable of doing damage for Spurs here. He’s got four in his last four league games, including three goals in his previous two away from home. Mauricio Pochettino has built a really impressive side and we’re backing their talismanic forward to cause problems on Sunday.