Friday, October 13, 2017

EPL 2017/18 - Week 8

Liverpool v/s Man Utd - Away win
Burnley v/s West Ham - Home win
Crystal Palace v/s Chelsea - Away win
Man City v/s Stoke - Home win
Swansea v/s Huddersfield - Home win
Tottenham v/s Bournemouth - Home win
Watford v/s Arsenal - Home win
Brighton v/s Everton - Draw
Southampton v/s Newcastle - Home win
Leicester v/s WBA - Home win

Liverpool against Man Utd is always high up there among the biggest matches of the season, no matter that the Kops haven't tasted titled glory in decades and managers have come and gone over the years. The hosts have had their ups and downs since the start of the season but this will be the first real test for the rampant Red Devils. The big thing for Liverpool these days is that Coutinho has been back with a bang since the "Barcelona" episode. Even though rumors of his departure for Catalonia for the January deadline are persisting, the Brazilian has been banging in goals lately, which would have brushed off any misgivings the Red fans might have held towards him. The unfortunate thing for the Kops is that they are without Mane due to injury. When the Senegalese is back, Liverpool will truly be kicking from all corners. Man Utd are unbeaten so far but it is no secret that that their opponents so far have been of lesser quality. Still, getting the points and goals as they have been doing, should help in their quest for another title. Mourinho will most probably park the bus at Anfield and rely on counter-attacking forays with the likes of Rashford, Martial and Lukaku to sneak one or more goals at the other end. I very much see a scenario where the hosts find it hard to break down the Utd defensive wall and the Red Devils chancing their luck on rapid counters. The Liverpool defense has yet to show any kind of stability or robustness and the Red Devils have ample quality at the front end to score. I think the value punt here is to go for either a Utd win or a draw-no-bet.

For accumulators, I see easy wins for top guns such as Man City, Spurs and Chelsea. I see the Blues prolonging Palace's woes even further although the bright light for Roy Hodgson's men is the return of Zaha. It will help them in later games but not against Chelsea.

Win: Man City, Tottenham, Chelsea
Draw-no-bet: Man Utd

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