The transfer window is now closed and straight away a big week in the Premier League begins with a midweek round ahead of the weekend games so the top and the bottom could really take a much stronger shape in the next seven days or so.
There are eight matches in the top flight on Tuesday with a televised game which sees West Ham hosting Aston Villa at Upton Park. The other matches in the reverse fixtures from Boxing Day are Arsenal vs Southampton, Norwich vs Tottenham, Leicester vs Liverpool, Man Utd vs Stoke, Sunderland vs Man City, West Brom vs Swansea and Crystal Palace vs Bournemouth.
There were some pretty emphatic scorelines in that Boxing Day fixture list. Some of them I can see being repeated again here and some I can’t. The obvious one I don’t see being repeated is Southampton’s 4-0 demolition of Arsenal. I expect Arsenal to get their revenge but the manner of that beating means I can’t back the home side at 4/5.
Leicester suffered a surprise defeat at Anfield and I can see them turning that around in this match but if I’m honest I would have liked a little bit more on their price as Liverpool have had some good results in big matches on the road this season.
The Crystal Palace vs Bournemouth and West Brom vs Swansea matches look like a betting minefield so I’m going nowhere near them and while I’m incredibly tempted to back West Ham to beat Villa I keep getting burnt when I take Villa on so I’ll wait for their mini resurgence to end.
I am getting involved in the other three matches though. Three defeats on the bounce have sent Norwich careering towards the drop zone and they look like they will have their work cut out to see off a really good looking Tottenham side.
In those three defeats Norwich have shipped 11 goals and that isn’t a good statistic at all. When you think Spurs won the reverse fixture 3-0 at the Lane the signs of a Norwich struggle here become even more apparent.
We should point out that Norwich bagged four goals against Liverpool but it would be amazing if Spurs defend as badly as Liverpool did that day. Spurs look solid defensively and in Harry Kane and Dele Alli they have a couple of potent players to take advantage of this weak Norwich defence. I don’t usually do away sides at odds on but this looks too good a chance to turn down.
Man City thrashed Sunderland on Boxing Day and there is nothing to suggest another comfortable win won’t come their way at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday night.
City fans will have been buoyed by the news that Pep is joining at the end of the season and they’ll be right up for this and I’m sure their players will be keen to impress even more from here on in.
Putting it simply there isn’t an area of the game Sunderland come anywhere near City in and that has to be a concern for Sam Allardyce. Credit to Sunderland they have goals in them but recent goals have come either from Jermain Defoe or Patrick van Aanholt.
You wouldn’t think City are daft enough to let van Aanholt get in again and the supply to Defoe could well be limited. While Sunderland often score they haven’t kept a clean sheet in their last nine games. In that time Tottenham have scored four against them, City also bagged four while Chelsea and Arsenal helped themselves to three each.
I just don’t see Sunderland scoring enough or conceding so few that City don’t win this and win it by a comfortable margin so I’m on them on the -1.25 Asian line.
Another Asian line I’m taking comes at Old Trafford where Stoke are the visitors. Stoke piled the pressure on Louis van Gaal with a convincing win at the Britannia on Boxing Day and even though they’ve stuttered a bit in recent weeks they must fancy their chances of another win here.
Stoke laid down a bit of a marker on Transfer Deadline Day with a club record £18m signing and while he won’t feature in this match it was a statement that this is a club on the up looking to improve.
United never did any business on deadline day which was a surprise given their struggle for goals this season and it could be their struggle for goals that is their downfall here against a generally pretty solid Stoke defence.
If Stoke can stifle United for half an hour or so or even take the lead then we saw in the last game at Old Trafford how the crowd are ready to turn and that can play into the visitors hands. United have only scored 12 goals in 11 home games this season so a goal avalanche here would be a surprise.
With that in mind the 0.75 Asian line on Stoke looks huge and if they score a goal they should be looking at drawing the game at the very least. If Stoke do score United need to score three for this bet to lose in full and there just haven’t been any signs of that happening.
Back Tottenham to beat Norwich for a 4/10 stake at 1.87 with BetVictor
Back Man City (-1.25AH) to beat Sunderland for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Paddy Power
Back Stoke (+0.75AH) to beat Man Utd for a 4/10 stake at 2.08 with Bet365
