This compelling Premier League season sees its latest chapter played out on Saturday and Sunday and part one of this round of matches sees seven games on Saturday as both ends of the table continue to develop.
The attention on Saturday is largely down at the bottom as the top four in the table all play on Sunday so the battle for survival gets an afternoon in the spotlight. The focus begins right from the off as Sunderland host Man Utd in the early kick off.
The 3pm matches see Crystal Palace hosting Watford, Bournemouth welcome Stoke to the Vitality Stadium, Everton take on West Brom, Norwich play West Ham and Swansea go up against Southampton. The late game sees Newcastle travelling to St James’ Park.
I’m not going to get involved in the early match. I’ve not been able to pick the result of a Man Utd match all season and Sunderland are just as erratic. On the face of it United look a little short but Sunderland can be brilliant or awful and I’m never one to guess right so it is better I leave that game alone.
In fact there really isn’t much I like here. I would have considered under 2.5 goals in the Crystal Palace vs Watford match but the odds are very poor and I’d probably have gone with Chelsea if the line was -1 rather than a -1.25.
Apart from one the other matches are quite difficult looking so I’m just going to go in with one bet from the top flight for Saturday and it is on a West Ham side who I’m amazed are getting a 0.25 start on the Asian lines.
West Ham go to a Norwich side who have lost their last six matches, they have shipped goals in the majority of them and only scored in two of those games and in fairness never really landed a blow on Aston Villa last week. I wouldn’t say Norwich have given up or anything like that but a lack of goals and an inability to defend are not a good combination.
West Ham are going along nicely. Last week’s defeat was their first in five matches in all competitions and that includes a draw with Man City and a win over Liverpool in the cup in midweek so they will be full of confidence and ready for another three points here.
Norwich are without their captain Alex Tettey for this match which might not help their character should they fall behind so there isn’t a lot to like about the Canaries right now.
West Ham will be boosted by the news that Dimitri Payet has signed a new contract and if Man Utd haven’t won the early game a win here for the Hammers will send them into the top five and in sniffing distance of a Champions League spot. I think they can avoid defeat here and bring in some profit.
Back West Ham (+0.25AH) to beat Norwich for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with Bet365
