The remaining five Premier League matches in this midweek round of fixtures take place on Wednesday night with the three sides fighting with Leicester for the title all in action on what promises to be another evening of twists and turns in the top flight.
Tottenham are Leicester’s chief chasers and they head to Upton Park for a really high profile London derby which carries plenty of significance. It is well known West Ham and Tottenham don’t get along and the Hammers will love nothing more than to stick a strong sized dent into Spurs’ title chances.
West Ham have only lost twice at home all season in the league whereas Spurs have only lost one away game this campaign so something is going to have to give in this one. It is two really good sides going against each other here but it isn’t a game to bet on in my opinion.
Arsenal will be looking to bounce back from their defeat at Old Trafford on Sunday when they entertain Swansea at the Emirates. This is a must win game for Arsenal if they are to get serious about winning the title but Swansea showed Spurs how they are not going to roll over and have their bellies tickled at the weekend.
Just as they did with Spurs on Sunday, Swansea have the potential to be spoilers here and given that Arsenal will just be desperate for the win rather than running up a cricket score I can’t really take a handicap on the Gunners. I’m tempted to take Swansea to keep this close but not enough.
The TV game is a repeat of the Capital One Cup final where Liverpool have an immediate chance for revenge when they welcome Man City to Anfield. City really need to start picking up league wins if they are to chase Leicester down so if they think they can take it easy after that trophy success at the weekend they need to think again.
Liverpool showed enough on Sunday to suggest that they can cause City some problems but they were a tired side by the end of that final and haven’t had much in the way of recovery time. I’m not totally sure their priorities lie in this competition any more so I’d favour City to win but not strongly enough to back them.
Man Utd looked good in beating a disappointing Arsenal at the weekend and while he’s been forced to do it Louis van Gaal’s tactic of blooding the youth is working a treat and getting Old Trafford excited again.
I would expect them to beat Watford on Wednesday but two games in 72 hours for a very young side might be an issue. It might not be and I could be reading too much into things but either way it is enough to put me off such a big handicap on the hosts.
I will bet in the one remaining game though which sees Stoke hosting Newcastle. Newcastle’s seven points on the road from 13 matches this season is the second worst in the entire division. Only Aston Villa are worse and that is nothing to shout about.
They head to a Stoke side who haven’t been flawless in recent times but who picked up a morale boosting win on Saturday and who have only lost one of their last five at the Britannia. Newcastle centre back Fabricio Coloccini is expected to miss this match and that isn’t ideal against a Stoke side who have a wonderful front three.
Marko Arnuatovic, Bojan and Xherdan Shaqiri have combined with success this season while Jon Walters, Joselu and Mame Diouf give Mark Hughes plenty of options off the bench should he need them.
Newcastle got walloped 5-1 at Chelsea in their last away game and they’ve now shipped 31 on the road this season, scoring just seven. Their travelling woes are set to continue on Wednesday.
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