EPL Game Week 24 – 2020/21 Season – Weekend Premier League Tips

John Newsome Football Betting Tips - everytip

The highlight games for this weekend’s action are ARSENAL versus LEEDS UNITED and CHELSEA versus NEWCASTLE. Our feature columnist, John Newsome previews these as well as all game-week 24 EPL matches plus 2 additional games for the postponed Game Week 16 and 17 matches, with his unique and insightful commentary. You can view all previous analysis from John’s regular column here: English Premier League Predictions For Saturday.

Please note all prices quoted below were correct at time of publication.

LEICESTER v LIVERPOOL

Saturday 13th

BT Sport 12.30 in England.

The weekend’s fixtures produced 2-games that finished goalless, with Leicester’s game at Molineux, against Wolves, being one of them. The original Sheffield Superstar, Jamie Vardy was back on the bench after a groin operation, which the boys out there know what that means.
Rebekah Vardy wasn’t happy.

Jimmy V came on for the last 30-minutes, or as they say in Sheffield, ’hafe hour’ and had a guilt-edged chance to score the winner with his head but completely missed the target. Bit rusty was old James but he’ll be back scoring soon, that’s not in doubt.

With Liverpool’s subsequent defeat against Man City a couple of hours later, the point gained at Wolves gives Leicester 43 from the 23-fixtures played, leaving Brendan’s Wonderful’s in 3rd-place, 3-points more than Jurgen’s Reds and 7-points behind Pep’s High Flying City.

It’s also worth adding, just 2-points behind Ole’s Zebras who will be caught by the Foxes if Ole continues to pick Fred (this EveryTip contributor is warming to Scott as he’s only a youngster and covers for Fred too much, given the chance, the Scot called Scott but born in England, could train on) Granted that’s a big sentence for a bracket! A bracket, by the way, is ( and ).

Rod Stewart was down at Pets Are Pets, early Saturday morning getting some much-needed treats and bags, for Lennon before the weekend’s football started.

Lennon is on tenterhooks at the moment, not sure how the pooches weekend will pan out.
As it happened, it started off well, Sir Roderick’s beloved Green and White Hoops gained a great victory against Motherwell (who?) in the Scottish Pub League, by a 2-1 scoreline. Reducing the gap between Celtic and Rangers, temporarily, to 20-points.

At midday on Sunday, 20-plus hours later, Steven Gerrard’s Rangers only managed a draw against Kilmarnock (who?) with the Killie’s scoring in the 95th-minute to draw the game by a 1-1 scoreline.

Rod’s Celtic are still a massive 21-points behind the Teddy Bears with 12-games remaining, 10 for the Ger’s, which basically means, Rangers have to lose 7-games from the 10, for Celtic to retain the Scottish Pub League title, which simply isn’t going to happen. The 10 in a row as gone.

Lennon was happy though, he didn’t get a Wolves shirt with ‘Stewart’ and number ‘76’ thrown at him.

He’s Celtic, United but Brendan has decided that Leicester is the best place to be. Relegation-threatened Liverpool suffered a 3rd-straight home defeat, this time against Man City, after going 68-fixtures at Anfield unbeaten.

The 4-1 scoreline in favour of Pep’s Blues actually flattered Jurgen’s Reds as City, not only ran riot in the 2nd-half but missed a 1st-half penalty, that would have made the score wider at the finish.

All 5-goals were scored after the half-time cup of tea, with Pep making a few minor tweaks in the tactics, changing to a traditional 4-4-2 and basically telling his players to go at Liverpool, who looked lethargic.

After the break, Mo Salah equalised an earlier City goal, converting his spot-kick past Ederson.
Ederson’s Brazilian rival for the goalkeeper’s gloves, Alisson, surprisingly had a very poor half, gifting City two goals by mistakingly giving the ball to the Boys in Blue, in identical situations.
Maybe Alisson is colour blind, thinking his boys in Red were wearing Light Blue.

The Brazilian stopper had missed the previous fixture due to illness, so could have still been suffering and maybe should have sat out another 90-minutes. Probably if the opponents weren’t Man City, then Jurgen would have rested his ‘keeper again but such was the importance of the game, Alisson was in.

Liverpool conceded 4-goals in the 2nd-half giving City the victory and leaving Jurgen’s Reds with 40-points, a massive 10-points behind Pep’s Blues, with the Anfield Rappers having played 23-times, 1-game more. Five points behind Manchester United also.

The 40-points is usually the tally that a team aim to achieve to avoid relegation, so Liverpool should be safe, however, if the form at Anfield continues, Klipperty could just find himself bringing his team to Oakwell next season.

This Game Week-9 fixture at Anfield was an easy victory for Jurgen’s Reds, who were helped on their way by Leicester’s Jonny Evans who scored an own goal. New boy Diogo Jota added a 2nd before the break.

Although Liverpool are missing Big Virgil Van Dijk, the Reds are also missing Diogo, with both players having, or not having, a bearing on the current Liverpool results.

Roberto Firmino scored the 3rd, to give Jurgen’s Boys a great victory by a 3-0 scoreline.

Bet 365 offer Leicester at 13/5, the draw at 13/5 and Evens 1/1 for Liverpool to come away with all 3-points.

Bet 365 offer 5/2 that Harvey Barnes Scores Anytime and 3/1 that Leicester Score in Both Halves.

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CRYSTAL PALACE v BURNLEY

Saturday 13th

Sky Sports 15.00 in England.

Crystal Palace rarely win if Wilfried Zaha doesn’t play. With Big Wilf, missing through injury, the Eagles, once again, suffered a defeat, this time, against Leeds United, at Elland Rd on Monday night, by a 2-0 scoreline.

The goals conceded came early in both halves, with Crystal Palace trailing after just 3-minutes in the 1st-half and 7-minutes of the restart after the half-time break. Roy’s Boys stay 13th in the Premier League table, with 29-points from the 23-fixtures completed.

The Eagles won’t be relegated but Roy Hodgson will just have to keep an eye on things and make sure his boys keep achieving the odd victory here and there to stay away from the drop-zone.

When Burnley take on Brighton, there are rarely many goals separating the two sides. In the last 10-fixtures between the two, 7, have ended in a draw, 2, have ended in a victory by a single goal, with the other finishing in a 3-1 scoreline.

So Saturday’s result of a draw by a 1-1 scoreline, wasn’t much of a surprise. Brighton took the lead in the 1st-half, with Joey Gudmundsson equalising for the Clarets, just after the break. With no more goals in the game, both added a point to the scoreboard easing themselves away from the drop-zone.

Sean Dyche’s men have 23-points, 2-less than Brighton but with a game in hand, having only played 22, not the 23 fixtures that others have.

Burnley’s game in hand is played on the 17th of this month, against Fulham, that could see Sean’s Clarets go above the Seagulls.

That’s for the future, however, with this game against Crystal Palace, the main priority.
At Turf Moor in November, Chris Wood scored early to give Burnley the victory by a solitary 1-0 scoreline.

Bet 365 offer Crystal Palace at 5/4, the draw at 9/4 and 9/4 for Burnley to come away with all 3-points.

Bet 365 offer 11/4 that Luka Milivojevic Scores Anytime and 12/5 that Ashley Barnes Scores Anytime.

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MAN CITY v TOTTENHAM

Saturday 13th

Sky Sports 17.30 in England.

Man City got the result of the weekend, beating Liverpool, at Anfield, by a great 4-1 scoreline.
With most predicting a tight affair, this EveryTip column included, Pep’s High Flying City, got a comfortable victory in the end.

The 1st-half was the predicted tight affair, even including a missed penalty by City. Raheem Sterling was held back in the penalty area, which the on-field referee, Michael Oliver pointed straight to the spot.

The dreaded were watching Songs of Praise on BBC 2, at the time, so they weren’t getting involved.

Ilkay Gundogan (tra-la-la-la-lar!) took charge of the penalty and somehow decided to kick the ball into the Kop, as Kammy would say ‘Unbelievable Jeff!’ Firstly, it’s got to be mentioned that a lot of commentators say ‘Gundowan!’

It’s a ‘G’, not a ‘W’ so it ‘Gundogan’ and B, what a terrible penalty from a top-class player. With the 1st-half being goalless, it was then a surprise that the 2nd-half at Anfield produced 5-goals.
Ilkay Gundogan (tra-la-la-la-lar!), redeemed himself, within 3-minutes of the restart, scoring City’s opener.

The referee then awarded Liverpool a penalty, again with no involvement from the dreaded, that Mo Salah confidently put away.

In the 71st-minute, John Stones had a goal ruled out for offside, however, within a couple of minutes, Ilkay added his and City’s 2nd to truly redeem himself to the cardboard Citizens.
Raheem Sterling and the superb Phil Foden added 3 and 4 to give Man City a brilliant away-day victory by a 4-1 scoreline, inflicting the 3rd-home defeat in succession, on Liverpool.

Like Liverpool buses, a team waits for ages for an Anfield victory, then 3-come along at once.
Jurgen’s Reds had 68-unbeaten games at home, stretching back to April 2017 until Burnley went and beat the Anfield Raps at the historic stadium.

Now Graham Potter’s Seagulls and Pep’s High Flying City are the next buses that have beaten Jurgen’s Reds at home.

The victory gives Man City 50-points, at the top of the table, 5-above the Numpty Neighbours, with still a game in hand over everyone close, which basically means, just give the title to Pep and his boys now.

What probably will annoy a few Citizens is their beloved Blues conceded a goal whilst John Stones was playing, so the mantra ‘If John Stones plays, City Win To Nil’ wasn’t borne out,
Open bracket (the goal City conceded was a penalty and had nothing to do with John, so he will still feel, John Stones hasn’t conceded a goal) close bracket.

Admittedly, the EveryTip mantra is clutching at straws but both John’s from Barnsley will keep on keeping on!

If John Stones plays, City Win To Nil, If John Stones scores, City don’t lose!

Again, admittedly, John’s goal was disallowed for a toe being offside but the John’s from Barnsley are clutching and will continue the mantra!

Spurs got back to winning ways, after 3-defeats in a row, in the snow of London, on Sunday, comfortably beating West Brom by a 2-0 scoreline.

The Tottenham Top Boys were back in tandem up front, with both Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min, reunited after Big Harry’s spell out through injury. Coincidentally, 2 and a half, of the 3-defeats were all without Mr Kane, after he was replaced at half-time in the loss against Liverpool.

It was then no surprise that both scored with Harry getting the 1st and Son the 2nd to give Dracula a victory over Big Sam Allardyce.

Tottenham sit 8th in the table, having 36-points and matched Chelsea for a couple of hours until Jose’s first love beat Sheffield United and pulled 3-points ahead of Dracula’s Spurs, however, Jose’s men do have a game in hand over Chelsea who have played 23-fixtures not the 22, Tottenham have.

The problem Jose may find is by the time Chelsea next play, which is 2-days after this fixture against Man City, Spurs will still be 3-points behind, have played the same 23-fixtures and know that the Blues have an easier home game against Newcastle to pull 6-points away.

There’s a lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ before that scenario can materialise but everyone loves a bit of ‘but’ and ‘if’, that’s what makes the world go round.

Come Valentines Day, Jose and his new love, Tottenham could easily find themselves as low as 9th in the Premier League, just above the North London rivals, Arsenal.

Gareth Bale once again kept the bench warm against West Brom on Sunday, with Dracula even bringing on a 19-year old youth called Dane Scarlett, in front of the ex-Real Madrid ace.

Another Scarlett, Scarlett Pimpernel that is Dele Alli was nowhere to be seen, apparently injured but rumoured to be, once again, out buying garlic. One thing is for certain, it’s neck and neck in the Barnet of the Year competition between GB and AC.

There is an outsider, however, coming up on the rails and that is Leicester’s Caglar Soyuncu, hoping his hair-do can compete with Gareth’s and Andy’s. Personally, it’s Mr Bale who’s the front runner.

Tottenham were the last team to beat Man City this current term, at the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium back in November.

Son Heung-Min scored early, on the break, to give Spurs a half-time lead. Giovani Lo Celso added a 2nd, to give Tottenham back-to-back home victories against City by the same 2-0 scoreline.

Since that defeat, Pep’s High Flying City have won 18-games and drawn-3, in all competitions, a brilliant 21-game unbeaten run, that doesn’t look like ending anytime soon.

Bet 365 offer Man City at Odds On 1/3, the draw at 17/4 and 15/2 for Tottenham to come away with all 3-points.

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BRIGHTON v ASTON VILLA

Saturday 13th

Sky Sports 20.00 in England.
Brighton earned a draw at Turf Moor on Saturday from a 1-1 scoreline. Lewis Dunk gave the away side the lead before half-time but Burnley pulled a goal back early in the 2nd-half to give both the relegation-threatened clubs an extra point to their tally.

Graham Potter’s Seagulls have been in great form of late, being unbeaten in their last 5-premier League fixtures, winning-3 and drawing-2, leaving Brighton in 15th-place in the table with 25-points, the same 25 as Newcastle and 2-more than Burnley.

There are now 10-points between Harry’s Boys and Fulham who are in the final relegation place, which means Fulham need to find 4-victories more than Brighton to overhaul the Seagulls.

Ollie Watkins deflected shot in the 3rd-minute was the difference between the two teams when Aston Villa entertained Arsenal in the early Saturday afternoon kick-off.

Dean Smith made a couple of changes following the defeat against West Ham bringing in the marvellously named Marvellous Nakamba and Bertrand Traore, replacing Douglas Luiz and Anwar El-Ghazi.

Tyrone Mings, wearing a short-sleeve shirt on one of the coldest days of the year, was outstanding and blocked, intercepted and controlled everything that the Gunners threw at him.

In these days of gloves, snoods and Under Armour, it was refreshing to see an Englishman wearing nothing but a short sleeve Villa shirt and a pair of shorts. Tough lad is old Tyrone.

Ollie Watkins has found his goal-scoring boots again, having scored in 4 of the last 5, Premier League games after going 9-fixtures without a notch.

That’s Ollie’s 10th-goal of this campaign, his first season in the Top Flight, which is brilliant for the ex-Brentford boy.

Aston Villa sit 9th in the table, with 35-points, after all of Game Week-23 was completed. Villa have only played 21-times, so will feel in a false position but it is, sometimes better, to have the points on the board than games in hand.

The Seagulls got a terrific away-day victory at Villa Park by a 2-1 scoreline. Danny Welbeck opened the scoring in the 1st-half to take Graham Potter’s boys in leading at the break.

Ezri Konza drew Villa level early in the 2nd-half but the parity didn’t last long with Solly March scoring soon after Ezri’s goal to give Brighton the win.

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SOUTHAMPTON v WOLVES

Sunday 14th

Amazon Prime 12.00 in England.

Southampton made hard work of the trip to St James Park on Saturday, conceding 2-goals before the new boy, Takumi Minamino scored. The Magpies then scored again to take the Saints in trailing at the break by 3-goals to 1.

After the interval Wreck-It Ralph’s boys scored within 3-minutes of the restart with Captain Fantastic, James Ward-Prowse scoring a brilliant free-kick. Within seconds of Jim’s goal, Newcastle were reduced to 10-men, giving the Saints a man advantage for the majority of the 2nd-half.

Unfortunately, despite the extra man, Newcastle held on to inflict a defeat on Ralph’s men. The loss leaves Southampton in 12th-place, with 29-points from 22-fixtures played.

There was silly talk in the early part of the season, when Southampton briefly topped the charts, that Wreck-It could win the Premier League title. The Saints, if not careful, could end up in a relegation battle.

That may seem like silly talk too but stranger things have happened. It’s funny how when Southampton beat Liverpool, Ralph started crying like a baby, Southampton haven’t won since 4-Premier League defeats in a row.

Wreck-It will be crying if the Saints get relegated. Wolves earned a point at Molineux, from a goalless draw on Sunday, against Leicester.

There isn’t much more to say about that game other than William Jose continued his integration into Nuno’s Gold and Blacks with another 60-minutes under his belt in the Premier League.

The point gained leaves Wolves with 27 from the 23-fixtures played, lying 14th in the table. At Molineux back in November, Supermarket man Pedro Neto cancelled out a Theo Walcott strike to give both teams a share of the points from a 1-1 draw. Both goals being scored after the break.

Bet 365 offer Southampton at 7/5, the draw at 9/4 and 2/1 for Wolves to come away with all 3-points.

Bet 365 offer 10/3 that Danny Ings Scores First and 11/5 that William Jose Scores Anytime.

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WEST BROM v MANCHESTER UNITED

Sunday 14th

Sky Sports 14.00 in England.

West Brom lost again on Sunday, this time away at the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium, suffering a defeat by a 2-0 scoreline. ‘West Brom lost again’ could easily be the start of any EveryTip preview of a Baggies game as Sam Allardyce is now certain to break his own record of never having a team relegated under his watch.

West Brom have lost 15 of the 23-fixtures played, having only achieved a victory in 2-games and drawn the remainder (6).

Those who are good at Math will know that tally equals 12-points from the 23-outings. The possible hypothesis that could materialise, that would keep Big Sam’s record of not having a team relegated, is Mr Allardyce could walk out of The Hawthorns before the inevitable happens and leave the job to someone else, keeping his record intact. Just saying!

It’s probably not a good idea for the passive Manchester United fans to read this preview as only the true Red Devil’s will understand the following.

Manchester United are useless, it’s as simple as that and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, should shoulder some of the blame for that fact.

There are so many ‘firstly’s’ in this rant/impartial preview, decide what it is but a true United fan will surely agree.

Manchester United, one of the biggest clubs in the World, not England or Great Britain or even Europe, the World, are comfortably beating an average Everton side, at half-time by a 2-0 margin and within 7-minutes of the restart are level, then again take the lead only to be drawn level again, with the last kick of the game, should simply pack in and every one of the players and staff, including Ole, should fall on their sword and leave it to someone else, maybe a numpty from Barnsley.

What happened on Saturday, in the same prime-time TV slot as the Masked Singer, is beyond the pale, with the masked Manchester United manager, losing the plot.

No one who reads this EveryTip column can say that John Newsome, hasn’t pre-warned the faithful that Manchester United won’t win anything with Fred and Scott McTominay in the team.

On Saturday, whilst Glenn Hoddle, or whoever was singing dressed as a Shark, or whatever, United were controlling a tie against Everton.

After 39-minutes, Paul Pogba got injured, so Ole, in his wisdom and him thinking that Fred is the man, replaced PP with the Brazilian, Nemanja Matic and Donny Van Der Beek, sat there looking at each, thinking, ‘Hello!’

Ole! Fred is not the answer, how many times does one need to be proved wrong. If a 9-0 victory over a very poor Southampton side with 10, then 9-men is Ole’s yardstick to the fact that Manchester United need Fred, then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be joining Frank Lampard at the Job Centre pretty soon.

Gary Neville, a legend at Old Trafford, was sat in the commentary box for Sky Sports and told everyone watching, where Everton were going wrong in the 1st-half.

Carlo Ancelotti, whether listening to Gary or not, changed things at the break, OGS was obviously not listening to his old mate.

Within 7-minutes of the 2nd-half, Everton had drawn level at 2-2. Another firstly! If G-Nev can see it, why can’t Ole? Then, after being fortunate enough to take the lead again, midway through the 2nd-half, the Red Devil’s, in the 95th-minute, when every one of the United players should have been busting a gut not to concede, conceded!

It’s simply not acceptable, it’s not a case of ‘oh well, that’s blooming football’, as Ole’s is. No Ole, it’s not blooming football, it’s a damning indictment on OGS, as a manager and Manchester United as a club, for the money that the club gains through sponsorship, it’s simply not ‘blooming football’

If Everton matched United toe-for-toe, then it could possibly be, at worse, ‘blooming football’ but when Manchester United are 2-0 up, then 3-2 up with seconds remaining, a draw is not acceptable.

Players such as Harry Maguire, Arron Wan-Bissaka, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford, all potential England International’s, who are supposed to be bringing England the Euro’s back home this summer, should be ashamed of themselves letting slip a 2-0, then a 3-2 lead, to ultimately come away with a point instead of 3.

The Noisy Neighbours, Man City didn’t disappoint their faithful against the other Merseysider’s on Sunday, gaining a brilliant victory, to keep the current mantra of Social Distancing between themselves and the chasing pack.

The 1st-two United goals from Edinson Cavanni and Bruno Fernandes were sublime, with Scott McTominay adding the 3rd that should have given Ole’s Wheels the points.

Yet the horrendous defending that followed, allowed Everton to equalise and take a point away from Old Trafford, leaving Manchester United with 45 in total, still 2nd, in the table, after Leicester only managed a draw themselves on Sunday, 3-points adrift of City at the top, who have a game in hand. To reiterate, if Ole continues to pick Fred and Scott McTominay, Manchester United won’t win anything.

Last weekend’s fixture against Everton was a poignant affair, being the 63rd-anniversary of the horrendous Munich Air Disaster.

Manchester United were on their way back from a European Cup tie against Red Star Belgrade and stopped off in the West German City to refuel.

On departure the plane failed to take off and crashed on the runway resulting in 23-deaths, 8 being part of the Manchester United team.

Last year, during the lockdown, this EveryTip column mentioned, the legend that is Tommy Taylor, who sadly lost his life on the 6th of February 1958, was born on the same street that John Newsome lived on as a child in the 1970s.

Whilst a tragic accident that killed so many, what’s not commonly known is that from all the fatalities, two of the Manchester United players were born in Barnsley. Tommy Taylor and Mark Jones.

Tommy was signed by United after scoring countless goals for his hometown club, however, Mark went straight to Old Trafford as an apprentice.

When Sir Matt Busby came calling to the Oakwell outfit, the fee was set at £29,999, a pound less than £30,000 as not to label the original TT as a ‘£30,000’ signing.

Mr Taylor scored 159-goals from 237 appearances for both Barnsley and Manchester United, plus 16-times for England from just 19-caps, including goals against the mighty Brazil, who at the time, in 1956, were 2-years away from winning the World Cup.

Compare that to Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and of cause Tommy’s teammate, Sir Bobby Charlton.

The Samba Boys won the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, 5-months after the Munich Air Disaster, that took the lives of 2 of England’s best players, that of Tommy and Duncan Edwards. For those not familiar with Duncan Edwards, imagine Paul Gascoigne, Roy Keane and Kevin De Bruyne rolled into one.

Two other of the fatalities in the crash, Roger Byrne and David Pegg had made appearances for England and who’s to say Mark Jones wouldn’t have been given an International Cap.

Imagine England, with Tommy Taylor and Duncan Edwards competing in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, Brazil would definitely have had their work cut out and England may just have been crowned as World Champions, 8-years before the Three Lions actually were.

Tommy Taylor tragically died in his prime, aged 26, just imagine how many goals the lad would have scored for England if that plane had not attempted to take off for the 3rd time and abandoned the flight until the following day.

Mark Jones was a combative Centre Back, who skipped the joys of playing at Oakwell with Tommy and went straight from school to Manchester where he made 103-appearances for United in the 8-seasons he was at Old Trafford.

There was talk of an England appearance in the offering before the tragic accident. In Manchester, February the 6th is marked with honour and respect and it was fitting that the game against Everton took place at Old Trafford, on the 63rd anniversary.

In Barnsley, Mark Jones and Tommy Taylor are also remembered with honour and respect and will never be forgotten. Rest in Peace Mark and Tommy!

Along with the other legends that lost their lives that fateful day in February 1958.

Geoff Bent
Roger Byrne
Eddie Colman
Duncan Edwards (survived the crash, but died in hospital 15 days later)
David Pegg
Billy Whelan
Respect!

Back in November, Bruno Fernandes scored the solitary winning goal after the break, from the penalty spot, to give United a victory at Old Trafford by a 1-0 scoreline.

Bet 365 offer West Brom at 17/2, the draw at 9/2 and Odds On 2/7 for Manchester United to come away with all 3-points.

Bet 365 offer 21/20 that Edinson Cavanni Scores Anytime and slight Odds On 10/11 that United Score in Both Halves.

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ARSENAL v LEEDS UNITED

Sunday 14th

Sky Sports 16.30 in England.

Arsenal suffered their 2nd defeat in the space of 4-days, after going 7-Premier League games unbeaten. A deflected shot in the 2nd-minute against Aston Villa early Saturday Afternoon was the difference between the two teams, with no more significant action for the remaining 88-minutes.

Following Bernd Leno’s Red Card against Wolves, new boy and ex-Brighton ‘keeper Mathew Ryan, who has only just arrived at the Emirates, was thrust straight into the starting eleven but ultimately lost his debut game for Arsenal.

The defeat leaves Arsenal in 11th-place, with 31-points after a subsequent victory for Leeds United on Monday Night Football. Mikel’s Gunners have played all 23-fixtures on offer, whereas the teams around have only completed 22.

As mentioned, Leeds United leapfrogged today’s opponents into 10th-place in the Premier League table with a professional victory against Crystal Palace on Monday by a 2-0 scoreline.
Jack Harrison scored after 3-minutes, with the 2nd coming from a great, coolly taken finish by Patrick Bamford, 7-minutes after the restart.

That’s Patrick’s 12th-goal of the campaign which is simply brilliant for the lad, who must be knocking on the door of Gareth Southgate’s England squad.

Marcelo Bielsa demands that his players work hard and constantly run, which Patrick and the rest consistently do, with Big Bamford defending from the front.

Leeds United have their 10th-victory of the season, with 10-defeats and 2-draws from just the 22-fixtures played, not the 23, others have completed. The Math will tell everyone, that’s 32-points, with Marcelo’s Whites sitting in 10th, a place and a point above the Gunners who have played the full 23-games.

At Elland Rd back in November, the cardboard fans, both Whites and Gooners, were entertained to a 0-0 draw.

The only goalless draw Leeds United have been involved in, since the return to the Top Flight and 1 of the 4 games, from the 22-fixtures played, that Marcelo’s Whites have failed to score. The excitement came with the dismissal of Nicolas Pepe who gave Ezgjan Alioski a very tender Glasgow Kiss. Google it, boys and girls. Enough said.

Bet 365 offer Arsenal at slight Odds On 4/5, the draw at 3/1 and 14/5 for Leeds United to come away with all 3-points.

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EVERTON v FULHAM

Sunday 14th

BT Sport 19.00 in England.

Harry Houdini has been on the phone to Carlo Ancelotti asking just how the Italian escaped from Old Trafford with a point following a draw against Manchester United by an amazing 3-3 scoreline.

After the Red Devil’s scored twice in the 1st-half to comfortably control the game, Carlo had a few words at the break to his Toffees that changed the whole complexion of the game.

If anyone wants to know what those words were, just listen to Gary Neville’s commentary for Sky Sports.

G-Nev knew exactly what Everton needed to do and told the listening millions who were allowed to watch the Saturday night football and not forced to watch The Voice Uk. The UK is added to show which particular region in the world that the horrendous singers are from.

The Voice USA obviously means those that can’t sing are from America, The Voice France, well, the points made.

Gary informed everyone who were concentrating that Everton needed to pass the ball forward down the channels to Richarlison and the Sheffield Superstar 2, Dominic Calvert-Lewin. After the break, with Ole not bothering to listen to Mr Neville, the Toffees did exactly what Carlo and Gary had said and within 7-minutes were level with goals from Abdoulaye Doucoure and the brilliant James Rodriguez, which is pronounced ‘Ham-ez’ not James like it says.

It’s a good job our Blunt mate from Swinton, nowhere near Bramall Lane isn’t called ‘Ham-ez’, that would confuse him, the lads all on saying James and certainly can’t spell it.

Abdoulaye’s goal resulted from a terrible error from David De Gea, who instead of either catching the ball or even leaving it alone, somehow decided to palm the ball straight to Big Doucoure who slotted home.

Hammy’s goal was just superb, matching Bruno’s 1st-half strike. United re-took the lead, midway through the 2nd-half, however, a late free-kick, slung into the box, prompted the phone call from Mr Houdini.

The Sheffield Superstar 2, got on the end of a flick from the ex-United player, Michael Keane and tapped home past D D G, to snatch a point. Harry was well impressed.

There was barely time for the restart, with the referee blowing straight away, giving Everton a point to add to their mid-season tally.

Carlo’s Blues sit 7th in the table with 37-points but have only played 21-fixtures so have a game, or 2, in hand over most of the clubs around them.

The Toffees won’t win the title anytime soon but with Carlo Ancelotti at the helm, could quite conceivably break into the Top Four or at worst, gain entry into the Europa League places for next season.

If victories are achieved in the games in hand, Everton could be level with the Foxes and overtake, the Merseyside rivals in Red.

In the last 12-Premier League games, Fulham have played, Scott Parker’s boys have 4-losses and 8-draws, gaining 8-points from a possible 36.

In anyone’s Math, (as the Americans say) that’s simply relegation material and the Cottagers are heading back to the Championship, quicker than an order is processed at a Drive-Thru McDonalds.

To those confused with the constant reference to McDonald’s whilst previewing a Fulham fixture, it’s simply because, Scott Parker, aged probably about 12/13, was in a McDonald’s advert, kicking a ball in his back garden until his mum shouts him to say they’re off for a Big Mac and Fries. Google McDonalds and Scott Parker boys and girls.

Unfortunately for Ronald McDonald-Parker, his Fulham boys can’t convert the draws into victories which throughout the season, will result in relegation.

If 2-fixtures are played, it’s better to win-1 and lose-1, than draw-2, so instead of drawing games like the latest one on Saturday night, a goalless bore-draw against the London rivals, West Ham, Fulham would be better going all out for the victory and risking defeat, because 8-points from a possible 36, isn’t going to keep Scott Parker as a Premier League manager and the lad will be losing at Oakwell again as Fulham did in their Promotion winning season.

Barnsley also beat Fulham at Craven Cottage doing the double over Scott. The reason that fixture at Craven Cottage is mentioned is that it’s exactly 12-months ago, on the 15th of February 2020 and for some, it’s the last time since the travelling Barnsley Boys, saw their beloved team play live, due to the horrendous Coronavirus pandemic.

The point gained because it is always a point gained, never 2-points lost as some say, as one can’t lose something that is not there in the first place, gives Fulham 15, leaving them still 3rd from bottom and now a massive 8-points from safety.

Never mind Scott, there’s a few decent Drive-Thrus near Oakwell. This was a very entertaining game at Craven Cottage back in November with Everton coming out victorious in a 5-goal thriller.

Bobby Decordova-Reid scored for Fulham in between 2-Dominic Calvert-Lewin strikes.
Abdoulaye Doucoure added a 3rd for the Toffees before half-time. Ruben Loftus-Cheek pulled a goal back for the Cottagers after the break but Everton held on for the victory by a 3-2 scoreline.

Bet 365 offer Everton at Odds On 8/11, the draw at 11/4 and 15/4 for Fulham to come away with all 3-points.

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WEST HAM v SHEFFIELD UNITED

Monday 15th

BT Sport 18.00 in England.

West Ham played out a goalless draw against fellow Londoners, Fulham on Saturday with not much else to be said. The most exciting moment of the game came in the 94th-minute when somehow, Tomas Soucek received a straight Red Card for a supposed elbow on Alexandar Mitrovic.

Tomas, being a foot taller than Alex, just lifted his arm and his elbow caught Big Mit, in the face, even Alexandar knew it was an accident, everyone in the world knew it was an accident, except the dreaded VAR, who had been watching the 6-Nations Rugby Union tie between England and Scotland on ITV, that saw Scotland beat England for the first time at Twickenham since 1983.

The boys at Stockley Park quickly switched back to the football and decided to get involved and advised the on-field referee, Mike Dean to go over the pitch-side monitor and look at the incident.

After an age, with Mr Dean, looking at the clash many times, who didn’t know his arm from his elbow, decided that Mr Soucek had intended to harm the Big Serbian and sent him to get the baths running for his teammates.

With this being a prediction column, John Newsome predicts that Tomas Soucek will have the Red Card rescinded and will be free to play in this game against Sheffield United. The dreaded then switched back to ITV to watch The Masked Singer.

West Ham remain in 5th-place, with 39-points from 23-fixtures completed which is simply brilliant for the Hammers and certainly this EveryTip contributor as had his opinion changed about David Moyes. It’s hoped his opinion can be changed about David’s ex-club Manchester United.

***BREAKING NEWS ****

Tomas Soucek has had his Red Card rescinded and is free to play against the Blades. A quick side note to that, some idiot threatened the lives of Mr Dean and his family after the Red Card incident.

Mr Dean is a bit of a celebrity referee, often a bit of a fancy Dan, a bit of a Numpty and sometimes comes up with strange decisions such as the Red Card for Tomas but doesn’t repeat, doesn’t deserve to have his and his family’s life threatened by some idiots who didn’t agree with the sending off.

It’s football guys and girls and there are much worse things that are happening in the World.
There’s simply no need for lives to be threatened or people to be racially abused for making an error in a game or for a woman to be abused because her opinion isn’t agreed with. It’s a game of football. Chill out!

Sheffield United lost again on Sunday night, succumbing to a defeat against Chelsea at Bramall Lane, by a 2-1 scoreline.

Chris Wilder wasn’t happy, his face told everyone, although it is difficult to tell whether Happy Chris is happy or not.

Against Thomas Tuchel’s Blues, whilst the rest of the nation were watching Countryfile, Chelsea scored all 3-goals in the defeat, with a Blues goal just before the break and conceding an own-goal to gift Sheffield United an equaliser. Unfortunately for the Blunts faithful, Chelsea scored the winner after United conceded a penalty.

In the last 7-Premier League fixtures, Chris’s Blades have lost-1, won-1, lost-1, won-1, lost-1, won-1 and lost-1, so in theory, if that pattern continues, Sheffield United should beat the Hammers.

Everyone knows though, that’s not how football works, even with patterns of coincidence and this will definitely be a tough ask against an inform Bubbles side. Happy Chris’s Blades remain rock bottom of the table with 11-points from the 23-fixtures played, a massive 12-points from safety.

James from Swinton, nowhere near Bramall Lane, made his lovely girlfriend a beautiful Valentines meal on Sunday before settling down to watch the football.

With the candles lit and the bottle of R Whites Lemonade on the table, Jimbo’s version of Champagne, the young Blunt felt all warm and fuzzy inside, pleased with his Chicken dinner for his special girl on such a romantic day.

Unfortunately, the celebrations were cut short when the lovely lady informed Little Jim that Valentines Day was, in fact, next Sunday not this. When James asked, ‘Is it not the 7th of February then love?’ The missus replied, ‘No, it’s the 14th, you silly little Blunt, it’s always the 14th.’

Jim’s not used to having a girlfriend, the lad wasn’t bothered though, he polished off the Chicken, opened the bottle of fizz, told the lucky girl to do the pots and settled down in front of the 50-inch telly to watch his second footballing love, once again lose.

The lad will be visiting Oakwell next term if hopefully the fans are allowed in, which will confuse Jim, as he’ll not know who to cheer on.

The Blades suffered 1 of their 18 defeats so far this term when West Ham had a night out in Sheffield back in November.

Sebastian Haller scored the only goal of the game, after the break to give David Moyes a first victory at Bramall Lane. Sebastian and Tracy are enjoying life in Holland with Big Seb ripping it up in the Eredivisie for Ajax scoring twice in the 6-games played so far.

Tracy loves her job in Lidl’s, Amsterdam branch, however, the Yorkshire lass can’t get used to the Euros and keeps giving out the wrong change. She loves the shop though and says it’s better than that posh one beginning with ‘A’ in Knightsbridge, Arrods! where Sebastian told her to shop in his time at the London Stadium. Track prefers Lidl’s.

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CHELSEA v NEWCASTLE

Monday 15th

Sky Sports 20.00 in England.

The final fixture of Game Week-24 sees the cardboard Toon Army travel to West London.
Chelsea scored all 3-goals in the victory against Sheffield United on Sunday. The 2-1 scoreline was made up of Mason Mount opening the scoring just before the break, Antonio Rudiger, unfortunately turning past his own ‘keeper, Edouard Mendy and then Jorginho converting a penalty, 4-minutes after Antonio’s OG.

Rudy Rudiger’s own-goal was superb and there was talk that Chris Wilder had enquired about taking the lad on loan as, the big Chelsea defender, is a better striker than any of the goal-shy Blades Blunts.

Jorginho did revert back to his ‘hop, skip and a jump’ style penalty, which copies Bruno Fernandes but Jorgie Boy has slipped up a few times doing that, so a miss may not be far off.

TT’s Chelsea move up to 5th in the table, with 39-points from 23-fixtures and with Liverpool’s defeat a couple of hours earlier, the Blues are just a point, less than Jurgen’s Reds who could quite easily be overtaken this weekend with Leicester hosting Liverpool and Chelsea having this considered easier game against Newcastle.

West Ham, who host Sheffield United at the London Stadium, have the same 39-points as the Blues, so could be above both Liverpool and Chelsea come the start of this game. Before this fixture against the Magpies, Thomas Tuchel and his boys head to Yorkshire to take on Barnsley at Oakwell in the 5th-Round of the FA Cup.

The Reds fixture against Wayne Rooney’s Derby last Saturday was postponed due to the usually impeccable Oakwell pitch being waterlogged so it’s hoped the game goes ahead, which is live on BBC 1.

A couple of weeks back, this EveryTip column did a piece on a Cup game played in 2008 and no apologies are made for repeating the few paragraphs printed in EveryTip’s Game Week-18 Preview.

‘Due to this being an unprecedented season with the current Coronavirus situation, the FA Cup competition is decided on the day of the tie, therefore the draw for the 4th and 5th-rounds were done at the same time. That offers up a lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘but’ situations and everyone likes a bit of that.

If Chelsea beat Luton and the mighty Barnsley FC beat Norwich in their respective 4th-round clash, Frank’s Chelsea will head to Oakwell in the 5th-round.

Back on the 8th of March 2008, late Saturday Afternoon, a Chelsea team picked by Avram Grant, headed to Yorkshire to obviously role over the Championship side Barnsley in the 6th-round.

The Blues team consisted of Carlo Cudicini, Juliano Belletti, John Terry, Ricardo Cavalho, Wayne Bridge, Michael Essien, Michael Ballack, Florent Malouda, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Joe Cole and Nicolas Anelka.

Both Belletti and Ballack were part of the finalists at the 2002 World Cup in Japan, Juliano being an unused substitute for the victorious Brazil team over Michael’s Germany.
Michael, also not seeing game time in the final but still received a runners-up medal.
Frank Lampard was injured at the time so didn’t make the trip to Oakwell. (He won’t be coming this time either!)

The Reds team that night picked by Simon Davey, had Luke Steele in goal, Bobby Hassell, Rob Kozluk, Dennis Souza, Steve Foster, Marciano Bruma, Jamal Campbell-Rice, Martin Devaney, Brian Howard, Istvan Ferenczi and Kayode Odejayi.

Little old Barnsley had beaten Liverpool at Anfield in the 5th-round to set up this mouthwatering tie against the current FA Cup holders at the time.

The winners were in the Semi-Final at Wembley and Barnsley, had not been in the Semi-Final of the FA Cup since 1912 when the Tykes went on to lift the historic trophy.

In the 66th-minute, Martin Devaney sent in a superb Bend it Like Beckham cross that landed plum on the head of Kayode Odejayi, who nodded past the hapless Cudicini, to put Barnsley in front.

The Barnsley penalty area resembled the Alamo in the final 15 minutes but somehow the home side held firm to book their passage into the last four.

The 16,000 of the 22,410, went berserk, with fans young and old and some who are now Man City Citizens but were wearing the Red of Barnsley at the time, wanting to run onto the pitch to touch their Barnsley idols who were in the Semi-Final of the FA Cup.

Ricky Jennings is a Red, is a Red, is a Red, Ricky Jennings is a Red, come on, sing along Rickster! Unfortunately, Big Kayode went from hero to villain, after taking the emotions of the Reds faithful into outer space following his goal against Chelsea.

In the Semi, at Wembley, against Cardiff, KO literally knocked the stuffing out of the Barnsley fans bringing the emotions back down to earth when in the latter stages of the game, at the time, trailing 1-0 against Cardiff, Kayode was put clean through on goal with just the Bluebirds ‘keeper to beat and missed a sitter.

What could have been Mr Odejayi, however, the Reds fans will always have a place in their hearts for the Big Fella, following his goal against Chelsea.’

Newcastle gained a great victory against Southampton on Saturday, by a narrow 3-2 scoreline.
Joseph Willock, who has just arrived on loan from Arsenal at St James, scored on his debut for the Magpies.

Miguel Almiron added a 2nd before Southampton pulled a goal back. Miguel scored his 2nd and Newcastle’s 3rd, with all 4-goals coming before the half-time cup of tea.

In a crazy 4-minutes after the break, the Saints scored again and within seconds of the goal, Jeff Hendrick received his 2nd-Yellow Card, that ultimately saw the lad take an early bath.
Despite only having 10-men for the majority of the 2nd-half, Newcastle held on for the victory, which is now 2-wins from the last 3-games.

Mr Willock will be a good addition for Steve Bruce, with the lad having limited game time at the Emirates but getting some football on loan until the end of the season.

The Magpies have 25-points from the 23-fixtures played and sit 16th in the Premier League table, which, although close to the relegation places, Steve’s men are 10-points clear of the drop-zone.

At St James Park back in November, an own goal from Federico Fernandez in the 1st-half and a Tammy Abraham strike after the break gave Frank Lampard’s Chelsea the victory by a 2-0 scoreline.

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Ex-professional footballer known affectionately as The Beast, Jon Parkin has kindly given his predictions for Game Week-23.

Leicester 1 v Liverpool 1
Crystal Palace 2 v Burnley 1
Man City 2 v Tottenham 1
Brighton 1 v Aston Villa 2
Southampton 1 v Wolves 1
West Brom 0 v Manchester United 2
Arsenal 1 v Leeds United 1
Everton 3 v Fulham 0
West Ham 2 v Sheffield United 1
Chelsea 2 v Newcastle 0

There are 2-additional fixtures on the 17th of February that are added to this Preview.

Game Week-17

BURNLEY v FULHAM

Wednesday 17th

Sky Sports 18.00 in England.

This New Year’s fixture was supposed to take place on the 3rd of January but due to the Coronavirus, was postponed.

Burnley are slowly moving away from the drop-zone. By the time this fixture comes around on the 17th, the Clarets could possibly have 11-points more than Scott’s Boys, with Burnley beating Crystal Palace and Fulham losing against Everton.

That said the reverse could happen if Burnley lose against Roy’s Eagles and the Cottagers gain a victory against Everton, the Social Distance could just be 5-points with this then being a crucial game.

If the gap is 11-points between Burnley and Fulham before kick-off, the jeopardy wouldn’t be as crucial, not that Sean Dyche would allow it but Burnley could easily afford to lose the game.
Fulham are currently in the relegation places, with 15-points, before the fixture against Everton, however, despite the big points-gap between the two sides, Scott Parker will feel, his boys can catch today’s opponents.

It was just over 12-months ago, on the 12th of January 2020, that Scott Parker’s boys headed North to the cold of Turf Moor to take on Sean Dyche’s Clarets.

Surprisingly and to the disappointment of the Cottagers, both Burnley’s goals in the 2-1 victory, were credited as O-Gs when Joe Bryan and Dennis Odoi turned past their own ‘keeper.

Before that, Andre Schurrle had given Fulham the lead with just 2-minutes on the clock.
All 3-goals were scored before the 23rd-minute mark and with no further strikes, Sean’s boys got the victory.

Bet 365 offer Burnley at 6/4, the draw at 11/5 and 15/8 for Fulham to come away with all 3-points.

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Game Week-16

EVERTON v MAN CITY

Wednesday 17th

Amazon Prime 20.15 in England.

Another re-arranged fixture that should have taken place between Christmas and the New Year. Young Mason Holgate is performing well at the moment for Carlo’s Toffees and had a great game at Right-Back, recently against Manchester United.

Bearing in mind, young Mason, who’s still only 24-years old, has been used as a Centre-Half but is now keeping the Everton legend Seamus Coleman out of the starting eleven and could, quite conceivably, make the Right-Back berth his own for a good few years.

One thing England do have is a plethora of brilliant young defenders who play on the right-side, with Mason added to that list and competed elegantly, with another top-class Right-Back on show at Old Trafford.

When Pep hands his team sheet in, an hour before the kick-off, it’s worth checking to see if another ex-Barnsley Boy, John Stones is in the starting eleven.

If the former Toffee is playing, then a few bob (gamble responsibly!) is well worth placing on the mantra, If John Stones Plays, City Win To Nil.

Both Mason and John started their footballing careers at Barnsley FC but left Oakwell at different times, both heading to Goodison Park (Cheers Everton!) with Johnny Boy then moving to the Etihad.

Kyle Walker is up there with the best so it’s unlikely that Mason will follow John to Manchester anytime soon but watch this space and don’t rule out Mr Holgate heading to a top club.

Almost immediately after those words were put into a sentence, the Everton faithful will be screaming at their iPad, ‘We are a top club!’ Calm down Z-Cars, just a bit of fun.

John and Mason will get to renew acquaintances at Goodison Park with hopefully, Mr Stones wearing the very fetching Paisley Print City away shirt. Prince would be happy. This next bit was written for the original preview back in December.

‘After watching all the 20-teams, despite City currently lying 6th in the table, Pep 1’s boys are the closest rivals to Jurgen’s Reds. Some may argue that and have every right, that’s what makes this beautiful game, so beautiful.

However, City have played a game less than Liverpool so despite being 6-points behind the Anfield Rappers, will feel in a false position at the moment.’ That’s why EveryTip and John Newsome do this column.

Marco Silva was still in charge of Everton back in September 2019 and oversaw a 3-1 defeat against Pep’s City.

Sheffield Superstar 2, Dominic Calvert-Lewin had equalised a Gabriel Jesus opener to send both teams in level at the break. In the 2nd-half, Everton held there own for 25-minutes, until Riyad Mahrez put City in front.

Raheem Sterling put the game to bed with 10-minutes to go giving Man City a 3-1 victory, starting the demise of Marco’s reign on Merseyside.

Bet 365 offer Everton at 5/1, the draw at 10/3 and Odds On 1/2 for Man City to come away with all 3-points.

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