The home straight in the Premier League continues on Saturday when six of the 10 matches in the latest fixture list are played out on a day where the bottom end of the table will be very much in the spotlight throughout the afternoon.
We are back to the typical Saturday schedule where we open up the day with a TV game and then round the action off with one. As ever, the other matches will have updates in all of the usual places on what looks like a compelling day of football.
Early Kick Off
The Premier League Saturday begins at St James’ Park with the lunchtime kick off between two sides who began the season looking to secure European football next term as Newcastle United welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Tyneside. Tottenham definitely will be playing in Europe in one of the competitions next season and they will be hoping to win here and take a step closer to competing in the Champions League while Newcastle need a very strong end to their campaign if their fans are going to need to get their passports out next term. Both teams want the points in those quests so we should be set for an entertaining opener to the day.
3pm Matches
The champions Manchester City are one of the teams involved in just four matches that take place in the traditional 3pm slot on Saturday. With the second leg of their fascinating Champions League tie with Real Madrid to come on Wednesday night all eyes will be on the team sheet as Pep Guardiola looks to manage an Etihad Stadium clash with relegation threatened Luton Town. Nottingham Forest will be hoping that Pep’s men do the business and if they do the Tricky Trees can move three points clear of the drop if they can beat Wolverhampton Wanderers at the City Ground.
The bottom two are involved in the other two matches on Saturday afternoon with Burnley looking to keep their feint survival hopes alive when Brighton and Hove Albion are the visitors to Turf Moor. Brentford are anything but safe yet but they look to have an idea chance to ease their relegation fears when they host rock bottom Sheffield United, who are closing in on their exit to the Championship being confirmed and who are desperate for a win to extend their top flight stay longer than is currently anticipated.
Late Game
A good looking Saturday slate ends at the Vitality Stadium for the evening game where AFC Bournemouth look to bounce back from their defeat to Luton Town last weekend when they host a Manchester United side determined to finish the season strongly and launch a late bid for a top four finish. Bournemouth are eyeing up a top half finish which would represent a decent achievement for them but they are starting to pick up unwanted injuries so all eyes are likely to be on the visitors to see if they can take advantage of their depleted hosts, who you would think will be buoyed by putting a dent in their rivals title hopes last week.
Betting
There isn’t a huge amount that I like the look of on Saturday but the fact that Nottingham Forest have one clean sheet in 21 matches and Wolverhampton Wanderers just one in their last 10 outings makes me think that we are going to see goals when the two meet at the City Ground. That is the basic statistic but then when you factor into the equation that the point deduction for Forest means that draws are no real use to them, especially at home, so they are likely to go out for winning these games.
Forest have scored in seven of their last eight matches with the one they didn’t score in coming against Liverpool while Wolves are likely to be more of an attacking threat here with Matheus Cunha and Hwang Hee-chan expected to be involved in this match. Wolves can play with freedom with nothing really on this one for them and they have shown pretty much all season how dangerous they can be and if given an even crack with VAR I wouldn’t be surprised to see them come out on top here but with both sides struggling for clean sheets I expect to see more than 2.5 goals in this one.
Tips
Back Nottingham Forest vs Wolverhampton Wanderers – Over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
