The opening day of the New Year sees a near full round of matches in the Premier League, with 18 of the 20 sides in the division taking to the pitch for the final time before the FA Cup break at the weekend, each looking for three more valuable points.
We have a funky day of action on New Year’s Day with four different kick off times, and in a bid to emulate Amazon Prime, BT Sport will be showing all nine fixtures live, on a day where the top and bottom of the table are in the spotlight once again.
Early Kick Offs
We begin with two early kick offs on Wednesday with the pick of them coming from the Amex Stadium where Brighton and Hove Albion will look to build on their win over Bournemouth at the weekend when they host a Chelsea side who had a good victory against Arsenal on Sunday. The other match in this kick off slot is a big one for the visitors with Aston Villa looking for three points which would move them out of the relegation zone at the earliest opportunity. They head to Lancashire to take on Burnley at Turf Moor.
3pm Matches
We have three matches in the regular 3pm kick off slot with second placed Leicester City the highest team in action. They make the trip up to Newcastle in a match they’ll be looking to come out on top in. Tottenham were held by Norwich on Saturday so they will want more from their trip to St Mary’s Stadium where they face a Southampton side who are suddenly in a decent run of form while the other match is a repeat of one of the FA Cup semi-finals from last season as Watford host Wolverhampton Wanderers.
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Early Evening Matches
The champions Manchester City are in action in this time slot when they go up against an Everton side who have found their mojo again after the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti, so that might not be the easiest of encounters for the home side. The bottom side Norwich City will be looking for points desperately in this slot as well. They host Crystal Palace looking to build on the fine work of their 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening while the other match sees the second coming of David Moyes, when West Ham host Bournemouth in a clash of the two sides immediately above the relegation zone.
Late Game
The final match of a busy day of action in the Premier League comes from the Emirates Stadium and is one of the more iconic fixtures in recent years, albeit not so much this term with both sides struggling so badly to come up with the goods. It sees Arsenal going in search of a first win under Mikel Arteta when they host a Manchester United side who are beginning to show signs of life again under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, albeit without ever being completely convincing. This should be a decent way to round off the day nevertheless.
Betting
There were one or two bets that interested me on the card but who happen to be a little too short with Leicester City and Manchester United among them so I’m going to settle for just the one bet to round off this busy period, which actually has a Red Devils link to it given that it comes in the form of David Moyes, the former United boss, who I think will get a win in his first game in charge of West Ham United.
They host a Bournemouth side who are never much on their travels at the best of times but they looked bang ordinary on Saturday at Brighton and a bit of a slump appears to be setting in. One thing that is setting in at the Vitality Stadium is a huge injury list and any side would struggle to contend with it let alone one the size of Bournemouth. Moyes has the luxury of picking from a mainly fit squad, one which is big enough for him to make changes should he wish to, which Bournemouth probably don’t have that luxury which isn’t ideal at this time of year. West Ham are likely to look more secure with Lukasz Fabianski back and Moyes should generate enough of a tune from them to come out on top here.
Tips
WON – Back West Ham to beat Bournemouth for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
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