Friday, September 25, 2015

EPL 2015/16 - Week 7

Spurs v/s Man City - Draw
Leicester v/s Arsenal - Away win
Liverpool v/s Aston Villa - Draw
Man Utd v/s Sunderland - Home win
Southampton v/s Swansea - Home win
Stoke v/s Bournemouth - Home win
West Ham v/s Norwich - Draw
Newcastle v/s Chelsea - Away win
Watford v/s Crystal Palace - Away win
West Brom v/s Everton - Home win

The banker of the week-end is Chelsea as they visit the woeful Magpies. Mourinho enjoys those types of encounters against weak teams where he can exploit their weaknesses to the full. That is a guaranteed full points for the Blues regardless who replaces Costa at the helm of their attack.

Man Utd should also easily dismiss Sunderland although Van Gaal has a poor record when confronting fellow Dutch counterpart Advocaat.

Value-wise, I like the the Gunners chances as they visit Leicester. Although they will miss Coquelin and Paulista for that game, they should have too much ammunition against Ranieri's team who have overachieved of late and should get back to earth soon.


Friday, September 18, 2015

EPL 2015/2016 - Week 6

Chelsea v/s Arsenal - Draw
Aston Villa v/s West Brom - Draw
Bournemouth v/s Sunderland - Draw
Newcastle v/s Watford - Draw
Stoke v/s Leicester - Home win
Swansea v/s Everton - Home win
Man City v/s West Ham - Home win
Spurs v/s Crystal Palace - Away win
Liverpool v/s Norwich - Home win
Southampton v/s Man Utd - Home win

Many of the matches look very close this week-end, so it won't be surprising if it ended up with many draws. I like the chances of Southampton against Man Utd. The Saints are on the up after a rather indifferent start and will be a team tough to play against as they were last year. Man Utd are still finding their feet and succumb alarmingly when under pressure as their defeat at PSV Eidhoven showed. For the moment, they've shown that they can take the lead but just cannot work on shutting down the opposition; they will have a difficult match against the Saints who look a good value punt.

 I also like the chances of Stoke at home to Leicester. The Foxes are second in the table but have chinks in their armour. Sure they fought back against Villa with 2 goals down last week-end but it's hard to see them repeat that on the road against a Stoke side that is usually difficult to beat at home. The Potters will have to deal with some suspension and injuries to some key players but they have an urgency of getting full points after a slow start and they are good value at current odds.

Friday, September 11, 2015

EPL 2015/16 - Week 5

Everton v/s Chelsea - Away win
Arsenal v/s Stoke - Home win
Crystal Palace v/s Man City - Draw
Norwich v/s Bournemouth - Home win
Watford v/s Swansea - Away win
WBA v/s Southampton - Away win
Man Utd v/s Liverpool - Home win
Sunderland v/s Spurs - Away win
Leicester v/s Aston Villa - Home win
West Ham v/s Newcastle - Draw

Although Stoke are resilient team to play against, they will be missing several key men for their trip to their Emirates. Arsenal should take full advantage and get the full points. 

Despite their current struggles and the loss of keeper Courtois for a long while, Chelsea have enough quality to get the win at Goodison Park. I fancy they will win this by the slightest margin. Pedro looks set to light things at the front again. 

I like Spurs chances away at Sunderland. Harry Kane will score sooner than later and Spurs are over-due a win. They won't get any easier than Sunderland.

Finally, the big match is between arch-rivals Man Utd and Liverpool. The Kops were fully exposed last week and the loss of Coutinho to suspension severely curtails their front weaponry. Man Utd have lots to answer themselves, particularly after a frantic transfer adventure that had them land teenager Martial at a spectacularly inflated fee. Old Trafford will be buzzing for the occasion and the hosts are poised to overcome a Liverpool team still looking to gel.