The Premier League returns from the World Cup break with the traditional Boxing Day set of games with seven matches taking place across four kick off slots as the competition resumes with something of a bang.
This is the other round of the season where Amazon Prime have the coverage so all of the matches are available to be streamed live although to watch them all you’ll need a few devices during the middle part of the day.
Early Kick Off
The action resumes with one of three London derbies which take place over the course of the day. That sees Brentford looking to their bright start to the season and build on their win at the Etihad Stadium prior to the World Cup break. They take on a Tottenham Hotspur who begin what could be a massive five months given that they are in the top four in the league and later in the campaign will resume their Champions League tilt.
3pm Matches
There are four matches in what you would call the traditional kick off slot on Boxing Day with the pick of those very much the one at the King Power Stadium where Leicester City will look to pick up with the same form they finished the first part of the campaign with when they host Newcastle United who very much have their sights on the top four. There is another London derby kicking off at this time where Fulham could move into the top seven if they can go to Selhurst Park and beat Crystal Palace, who themselves will be looking to move up a few spots with a win.
Wolverhampton Wanderers will begin a new era on Boxing Day when Julen Lopategui takes charge of the club for the first time in a league outing when they make the trip to Goodison Park to take on an Everton side who were improving prior to the break and will be wanting to pick up where they left off. The other match comes from St Mary’s Stadium where Nathan Jones will take charge of a first home Premier League game when his Southampton team entertain Brighton and Hove Albion.
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Late Games
We have two late games on Boxing Day with the first of them coming from Villa Park where Aston Villa play host to a Liverpool side who will need to sprout wings and fly home if they are going to get in the title shake up. They’ll need to perform well just to make the top four so will be grateful that the home side will be without star stopper Emiliano Martinez who is still away celebrating winning the World Cup.
When that is done the attention will turn to the Emirates Stadium where the league leaders Arsenal will have the chance to move at least seven points clear at the top of the table. They will host a West Ham side for whom the break came at a really good time and they will be looking to show some of the form of the past two seasons rather than what they have delivered for much of the opening part of the campaign.
Betting
I’ll restart the season with one bet and we have to wait until the final match of the day for it to come along. I’m happy to oppose Arsenal straight back out of the starting blocks. They are a young squad who have had six weeks of thinking about being top of the league and the added expectation which is going to come with that. That is a negative in itself but a bigger issue is the injury to Gabriel Jesus which could really derail them until they get the chance to rectify the situation. He was involved in 30% of their goals in the first part of the season so you feel he will be a real loss.
West Ham United on the face of it struggled in the first part of the campaign but actually when you delve deeper into their numbers they performed a lot better than their results suggested with their xG output a whole lot higher than the number of goals they have. That tells us they just need to be a little more ruthless in the final third of the pitch and they should be in business. With Lucas Paqueta enjoying a decent World Cup and the likes of Jarrod Bowen and Said Benrahma in good form there is no reason why the Hammers can’t pick up a result away to a Gunners who could see their goal output reduced until a replacement for Jesus can be found.
Tips
Back West Ham United (+1AH) to beat Arsenal for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Bet365
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