There is a special midweek fixture list in the Premier League this week as events at the top and the bottom of the table come under the microscope again.
There are five matches in total on Tuesday where the leaders Leicester will be looking to open up a five point gap at the top of the table again. The bottom of the table is under the spotlight too with Aston Villa, Sunderland and Norwich all in action on what could be a defining night in the relegation battle.
Aston Villa play host to a rampant Everton side on Tuesday night and I think the time has come again to take on Villa. To me they look like they’ve given up and even at odds on an Everton side who have only lost once on their travels all season look good things.
Villa’s capitulation at home to Liverpool a couple of weeks ago was shockingly poor and anything like that here and they are going to take another pounding against a side who are twice as free scoring as Liverpool are.
Everton won the reverse meeting between these two 4-0 at Goodison Park and I wouldn’t necessarily expect too much different here. In their last four away games Everton have won at Newcastle and Stoke and got creditable draws at Man City and Chelsea. I think they’ll have too much for Villa.
The televised game on Tuesday is the Solent derby between Bournemouth and Southampton. Southampton’s good run of form was ended by Chelsea on Saturday. I see no reason why they can’t pick up where they left off again here but Bournemouth were unlucky not to beat Watford at the weekend so this feels like a game best left alone.
I think the time for taking Leicester on hefty handicaps is gone now. I got lucky with a late goal to give me a push on Saturday and they are a similar favourite against West Brom on Tuesday. I think we saw on Saturday how winning the game is the overriding thing now but there were signs the pressure might be starting to get to them.
They struggled to break Norwich down and West Brom could be even harder. This one just has a trappy feel about it especially with N’Golo Kante missing for the home side. I don’t really fancy much from a West Brom point of view so I’ll leave the game alone.
Speaking of Norwich, I am happy to take them on again with one of the form sides in the division and that is Chelsea. Chelsea pre-Mourinho sacking and post sacking are chalk and cheese and I see no reason why Guus Hiddink won’t lead his charges into the top half of the table with another three points here.
Sides up and around the top six have been messing around all season and Chelsea know that and I sense they are starting to believe a big finish isn’t beyond them this season. If it is to come to fruition then this simply has to be a must win game.
Norwich have lost six of their last seven and the match they didn’t lose they gave up a 2-0 lead so that would have felt like a loss so confidence must be low despite an improved performance at Leicester at the weekend.
Chelsea are unbeaten in the league under Hiddink and have recent wins at Crystal Palace, Arsenal and Southampton to their names and I expect them to add Norwich to that list of victims here and with an early goal it could be a very comfortable night for the Blues.
Sam Allardyce said after Saturday’s defeat at West Ham that to stay up his side have to get at least four points from their next two matches, the first of which come on Tuesday night as Sunderland host out of form Crystal Palace.
You sense a little bit of pressure is starting to build on Palace but for me it is only a matter of time before they come out of this slump they are in the middle of. They’ve shown in the FA Cup that they can still win matches, they’re just not getting the rub of the green in the league.
I guess if you look purely at the numbers you could make a case for Sunderland being value here but their need for points could see them absolutely perfect for the Crystal Palace counter attack so I’m going to sit this one out, tentatively avoiding a punt on the visitors.
WON – Back Everton to beat Aston Villa for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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WON – Back Chelsea (-0.75AH) to beat Norwich for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with Bet365
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