EPL 20/21 - Week 33

Crystal Palace v Man City - Away

Brighton v Leeds - Away

Chelsea v Fulham - Home

Everton v Aston Villa - Home

Newcastle v Arsenal - Home

Man Utd v Liverpool - Home

Tottenham v Sheffield Utd - Home

WBA v Wolves - Home

Burnley v West Ham - Draw

Man Utd against Liverpool is one of the biggest matches of any season, if not the biggest. It is quite astonishing how the fortunes of those teams have been ebbing in the past seasons. Man Utd are enjoying their best spell of the post-Ferguson era and seem to have finally found a winning team under Solksjaer. Liverpool reached Nirvana last year after years of drought and while everyone was predicting years of upcoming domination for the Reds, it's more a case of everything un-ravelling and Klopp's men struggling to qualify for a UCL spot. I actually find it somewhat amazing that Liverpool is going into this match as favourites on the exchanges; they might have the greater urgency for the full points and Utd will certainly be feeling the ill-effects of their Europa League match against Roma but both teams are playing at a different tune at the moment. 

Man Utd are simply rocking currently and are able to beat any team, including Man City, over the course of 90 minutes. Solksjaer seems to have found his favoured system and starting eleven. The Red Devils won't win the league but they should be able to comfort their second league position and have an outstanding chance to lift the Europa trophy. The team looks solid all-round.

Liverpool are showing flashes of their old brilliance but not enough to annihilate a match as in previous years. Their main problem since the past months has their decimated backline as well as the profligacy of their forwards starting with Salah. I mean, he's no Tim Werner, but he still misses a lot of chances. Their fragility at the back gives the rest of the team no confidence to rock n roll their way forward. The absence of just one star player in Van Dyke has made a difference to Liverpool's fortunes. 

With their Europa final league spot almost guaranteed after the 6-2 thrashing of Roma in the first leg, the Red Devils should be fully focused on this local derby rather than being distracted by the upcoming second leg. That sets them well to unleash the likes of Cavani, Rashford and Greenwood against the Kop's depleted defence. They put 6 past Roma, they will surely put at least 1 against the visitors, who will realistically go for the jugular given that a draw does them no favours. I cannot see the home side losing this and think it will either end in a draw or home win.

Win: Man Utd

EPL 2020/21 - Week 32 + League Cup Final

Liverpool v Newcastle - Home

West Ham v Chelsea - Away

Sheffield Utd v Brigthon - Away

Wolves v Burnley - Away

Leeds v Man Utd - Home

Aston Villa v West Brom - Home

Leicester v Crystal Palace - Home

Liverpool will have to play their skin to capture that last 4th sport synonymous with UCL football next season. They have a golden opportunity for 3 precious points against visiting Newcastle. The Magpies have been in pretty decent form of late and have picked up their game (and points) since the return of forward Saint-Maximin from injury. Without the Frenchman, it's hard to see how Steve Bruce's men would made a quite stunning recovery given their poor form prior. However, going to Liverpool should be a step too far for them as there is an urgency to win full points for Klopp's men as well. This could be a high-scoring affair with Mo Salah probably on the score-sheet, having been profligate in the recent matches.

Sunday sees the final of the League Cup between Man City and Tottenham. It's quite unfathomable to think that Spurs fired Mourinho days before a final and a possible trophy that they have been so relishing for. I suppose things must have been pretty bad in-house given the timing of the firing; or could it have been a Levy decision to deflect from Spurs' participation in the European Super League fiasco? Could be a little of both, I think. Regardless, I think that Spurs would have had a better winning chance in the final with Mourinho in charge. Although it is a Cup final, Man City have hinted that they might not field their best team with next week's UCL match against PSG very much on their minds. So you get a scenario where the weaker team will play their season on this final while the favourite will have a UCL match as distraction. Obviously, that boosts Spurs' chances but will that be enough to stop Guardiola's men? I think not. Their second team is good enough to handle Spurs' first team and you've got to question interim manager Mason's seasoning for a final after 1 week on the job. This should end up in a City win unless the trio of Bale, Son and Kane can conjur up a masterful performance at the front end.

Win: Man City/Liverpool  

EPL 2020/21 - Week 31

Newcastle v West Ham - Away

Southampton v Crystal Palace - Home

Wolves v Sheffield Utd - Home

Arsenal v Fulham - Home

Man Utd v Burnley - Home

Leeds v Liverpool - Home

Chelsea v Brighton - Home

Tottenham v Southampton - Home

Aston Villa v Man City - Away

The relegation battle is heating up and the one thing for sure is that Sheffield Utd are going down. Not yet mathematically but it is a question of time. This team is longing to start the new season already; they are totally dreadful. Wolves will eat them this week-end. Nuno's team are not in great form but it's been getting better since the afterdays of losing striker Jimenez when the team started to fall apart. Losing their goalscorer has had the expected dramatic impact on the Molyneux side as they had to learn scoring with makeshift forwards. Their defence is solid enough to keep them in their matches and they should have enough firepower to overcome the league table laggards. This should end up in a home win.

I expect the Leeds against Liverpool match to be a high-scoring affair. Both teams can be adventurous and have major firepower at the front end of the pitch. The Kops have all to play for to secure a UCL spot next year at the end of the season after having been dumped out by Real Madrid in mid-week. Got to say that Klopp's men played with a lot of swagger in that match and deserved at least a couple of goals. The problem is that they haven't been able to replicate that kind of play consistently all year long. Leeds won an unbelievable match at Man City last week-end while playing with 10 men. Biesla's men play like they have that belief in them that they can go toe to toe with any team in the league. I think they will expose the weakened Liverpool back four in a gun slinging match. I see the home team edging this one.

Win: Wolves/Leeds

UCL Quarter Finals Return - PSG v Bayern

PSG absolutely stole a win at Bayern last week; the Germans thoroughly outplayed them and would have scored more if they had superstar striker Lewandowski. Their main achilles tendon however remain their uber-slow defence, which Mbappe took full advantage like a kid in a candy store. \

For Tuesday's match, Lewandowski will still not be there, which is a big blow to the Bavarians. PSG will in turn be missing Marquinhos, their rock at the back and whose withdrawal from injury in the first leg thoroughly exposed the French defence. Bayern are clearly the better team and have it in them to win at the Parc des Princes but winning by a 2-goal margin could prove a step too far without their Polish striker.

The way to play this match is to seek out a win for the Germans but a qualification to the semi-finals for the French champions.

Win: Bayern Munich

Qualify: PSG

EPL 20/21 - Week 30 (And the Clasico!)

Man City v Leeds - Home

Liverpool v Aston Villa - Away

Crystal Palace v Chelsea - Away

Burnley v Newcastle - Home

West Ham v Leicester - Home

Tottenham v Man Utd - Draw

Sheffield Utd v Arsenal - Away

West Brom v Southampton - Away

Brighton v Everton - Away

Real Madrid v Barcelona - Home

A fantastic week-end of sports coming up with the usual EPL, the Clasico in Spain and the Masters for golf aficionados. Liverpool look vulnerable to Aston Villa and I fancy taking a shot with the Villains here at over 6/1. The Kops have lost all aura of invicibility at home this season and Anfield is no longer the fortress it used to be the last couple of years. But more importantly, Liverpool have an important return UCL match against Real Madrid next week with the hope of overturning a 3-1 deficit. No doubt this will be floating on the team's mind and I wouldn't be surprised to see Klopp rotate his starting eleven a bit. Truth be told, the Kops were horrendous in Madrid and were lucky to come away with just a 2-goal margin. They are definitely lacking confidence at the moment and Villa can certainly pounce as they are very comfortable on their away matches and they have an in-form stopper in Martinez, although star playmaker Grealish will miss the match through injury. Villa can definitely cause an upset here.

The markets have Barcelona as favourites for the Clasico and I am definitely looking the other way. Real Madrid are finding serious form at the moment as witnessed by their demolishing of Liverpool in mid-week. The manner of their win was very convincing. Sure they will also be distracted at the prospsect of the return leg, something that Barcelona do not need to worry as they are out of the UCL, plus they will be missing the central defensive pair of Ramos and Varane. But Barcelona have hardly shown that they are the kind of force they were the past decade and their odds certainly look overly short. I am not convinced with their system of having Dembele in the striker role and look more to Ascensio, Benzema and Vicinius to do damage at the other end for the Whites. Might be worth going for the outright win for the home team.

Win: Aston Villa, Real Madrid 

EPL 20/21 - Week 29

Chelsea v West Brom - Home

Leeds v Sheffield Utd - Home

Leicester v Man City - Away

Arsenal v Liverpool - Home

Southampton v Burnley - Home

Newcastle v Spurs - Away

Aston Villa v Fulham - Away

Man Utd v Brighton - Home

Everton v Crystal Palace - Home

Wolves v West Ham - Draw

The gameweek following the international set of matches is always tricky and there are bound to be surprises this week-end. Man City look set to resume where they left off, i.e in winning ways, although they have a tough encounter at third place Leicester. The big news obviously coming out of the Etihaad this week has been the announcement of Aguero's departure at the end of the season. The guy has been a legend since his arrival at City but it has been plain clear this year that he was not part of Guardiola's future plans, particularly with the spate of injuries that he has had to deal with. It is quite possible that City already have lined up another big name striker to have made the departure overtly public. That bodes really well for the EPL. Back on Sunday's match, the return from injury of De Bryune has given the Citizen's new impetus in their quest for the quadruple. Leicester will put up a good fight but Guardiola has an abundance of quality at his disposal to tilt the match the visitors' way. 

Everton are on a 3-match losing streak and I expect them to show more tooth coming back from the break. The form of Calvert Lewin is pivotal to the success of the Toffees and the return of James Rodriguez to the line-up will certainly boost up their attacking front. I think they'll overwhelm Crystal Palace which is very much a one-dimensional team that relies too much on Zaha. The Eagles are enjoying a relatively good sequence, coming to this match, having lost only one of their last 5 matches but at current odds, it might be value to side outright with the home team.

Win: Everton, Man City