The Premier League season has reached the home straight and it continues on Saturday when half of the division are on show over the course of three kick off times on a day where the race for Europe could well intensify.
We only have five matches on the card because of the teams that were in Europe on Thursday night but despite that we do have two TV games in the UK to get stuck into and then there will be regular updates on the other games in the usual places.
Early Kick Off
It is up to the Etihad Stadium to open up proceedings on Saturday as the reigning champions Manchester City look for three points that will strengthen their claims for a spot in the top five come the end of the season. At some point you would imagine Crystal Palace will put their full attention into winning the FA Cup but this could easily be a dress rehearsal for the final of that competition so they are likely to want to put a good account of themselves in on a ground where they have won before, which makes this an intriguing early game.
3pm Matches
We only have three matches in the traditional 3pm slot on Saturday afternoon but it will be the race for European football that will take centre stage. Nottingham Forest are in control of their own destiny when it comes to qualifying for the Champions League and they will look to move closer to securing their spot with the elite next season when a hard to beat Everton side make their way to the City Ground for what is a big and tough clash for the home side.
Aston Villa are firmly in the race for the top five as well and given that they are enjoying a promising Champions League outing this term they will want to be in it again next season and could be forgiven for thinking that their match against Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium is must-win. It certainly is the case for Brighton and Hove Albion if they want European football next season. They are four points off the current European spots and they host troubled Leicester City knowing that they have to win.
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Late Game
We close out the schedule on Saturday in the capital for Arsenal will look to continue to make Liverpool work for the Premier League title when they host a Brentford side who might be ideal opponents for the Gunners. Arsenal should be buzzing after their midweek win against Real Madrid whereas Brentford are in a bit of limbo with nothing significant to play for. The Bees are usually a tough nut to crack but Arsenal will be keen to go to the reverse match in Madrid on Wednesday night with a win.
Betting
I’m going to focus my attention on two matches over the course of Saturday with the first one being the one between Brighton and Hove Albion and Leicester City where much like on Monday night I am taking on the Leicester defence. Brighton aren’t the best favourites in this league it has to be said but we saw on Monday that Leicester are all over the place. I’m not going to go quite as mad as I did on Monday because Brighton aren’t as rampant as Newcastle but they do have the potential to be therefore I can’t ignore punts on the Seagulls to score over 2.5 goals and over 3.5 goals. Brighton have scored twice in five of their last six matches against Leicester and this is a much inferior Foxes outfit to the ones that have gone before. The reverse meeting was a 2-2 draw so on home soil you would expect more from the Brighton attack here. They have scored three against Chelsea here this season as well as three against Tottenham whereas Man Utd, Man City, Fulham and Bournemouth all conceded twice here. I expect the Leicester defence to leak again.
The other match I like the look of is the one between Southampton and Aston Villa where my favourite bet involving Aston Villa is coming out again which is for both teams to score and over 2.5 goals. Even though Villa are in the middle of a Champions League tie, this is a match they need to win so they will be going out to do that even if they rotate their stock. Southampton are now down so it doesn’t make much sense for them not to come out and have a go here and at least give their supporters some joy from a wretched campaign. Southampton have actually scored in their last four outings and nine of their last 11 but they can’t keep goals out of the back of the net. This punt has landed in eight of the last 11 Southampton matches and four of the last six Villa ones. I expect it to land again and I fancy Donyell Malen to be one of the scorers in the match. He isn’t registered for the Champions League so we know he’ll be featuring here and he might get the whole 90 if Unai Emery wants to save someone completely for midweek. He hasn’t had the sort of impact that other January signings have had but against the worst defence in the league this looks like a great chance for him to add to his goal collection.
Tips
Back Brighton – Over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Betfair
Back Brighton – Over 3.5 goals for a 1/10 stake at 4.50 with Betfair
Back Southampton vs Aston Villa – both teams to score and over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Boylesports
Back D.Malen to score anytime for a 2/10 stake at 3.50 with Boylesports
Back them here:
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