The highlight games for the next set of EPL matches are BRIGHTON versus CHELSEA and LIVERPOOL versus WOLVES. Our feature columnist, John Newsome, previews these and all game week 25 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 the time of publication.
Game Week-25, including Game Week-11
Wednesday 12th
EVERTON v LIVERPOOL
19.30 in England
TNT Sports
Everton are in a lot better shape than when this original fixture was scheduled back in December 2024 but postponed due to the exploits of Storm Darragh.
The Toffees, under David Moyes, have gained a victory in the last 3 Premier League games, with the latest being against a lame set of Foxes by a 4-0 scoreline.
Goals from Abdoulaye Doucoure, Beto (2) and Iliman Ndiaye gave Everton all 3 points, however, this will be a tough ask against the league leaders.
The Toffees sit in 16th place with 26 points from 23 games completed.
Liverpool sit at the summit with 56 points from the same 23 fixtures played, which is a game less than all the rest, so it does offer up the chance that Arne’s Slot Machines can increase the gap at the top to 9 points over Mikel’s Young Guns, who sit 2nd with 50 points.
The latest Premier League fixture for Liverpool, produced a professional victory over Bournemouth at the Vitality by a 2-0 away day score, with Mo Salah scoring both, one being a converted penalty and the 2nd being a superb strike.
Before this rearranged game, Liverpool will have faced Tottenham in the 2nd-leg of the Carabao Cup Semi-Final and took on Plymouth in the 4th-Round of the FA Cup.
Liverpool overturned a 1-0 deficit from the 1st-leg of the Carabao Cup Semi, by getting the win over Tottenham at Anfield by a 4-0 score (4-1 on aggregate) to progress to the Final and will face Newcastle in the Showpiece game at Wembley in March.
One is not reading the following incorrectly, this really happened.
Liverpool suffered a defeat against Plymouth by a 1-0 score, one repeats, Liverpool suffered a defeat against Plymouth by a 1-0 score and were knocked out of the FA Cup.
The devastating loss by Arne’s (Reserve) Slot Machines did evoke memories for John Newsome, whose Barnsley team gained a victory over Liverpool in the 4th-Round of the FA Cup back in February 2008, which remarkably was 17 years ago.
Whilst Plymouth’s achievement at their Home Park home is superb, Barnsley actually gained the win over Liverpool at Anfield.
Where does the time go?
Surprisingly, it was Everton that gained a victory over Liverpool in last season’s Merseyside encounter at Goodison Park.
Goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, one in each half, gave Sean Dyche’s Toffees the win over Jurgen Klopp’s Reds by a 2-0 scoreline.
It’s Mr Moyes v Mr Slot for the first time tonight.
Betfred offer Everton at 7/1, the Draw at 18/5 and Odds On 2/5 for Liverpool to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 11/2 that Coady Gakpo Scores First and 13/10 that Liverpool Win To Nil.
(If your pre-match First Goalscorer bet scores First and then scores a Second, Betfred DOUBLE the odds.
If they score a Third, Betfred TREBLE the odds.)
Away Win 0-2- Get 6/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
All of these set of fixtures are the reverse of Game Week-6 that took place over the weekend of September 28th, 29th and 30th, 2024.
Game Week-25
Friday 14th
BRIGHTON v CHELSEA
20.00 in England
Sky Sports
Brighton conceded 7 goals against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground last time out in the Premier League.
Read that again, Brighton conceded 7 goals against Nottingham Forest.
The devastating defeat for Fab’s Seagulls just needs to be learned from and put to bed and hopefully use the experience to push on in the remaining 14 fixtures, to finish as high as possible in the Premier League.
At the moment, Brighton sit in 10th place with 34 points from the 24 games completed.
Brighton faced today’s opponents Chelsea at the Amex in the 4th-Round of the FA Cup late on Saturday Evening, with the home team progressing to the next round of the competition, gaining a victory by a 2-1 score.
Chelsea gained a home victory over West Ham at Stamford Bridge last Monday.
After conceding a Hammers goal to trail at the break, Pedro Neto, who was a 2nd-half substitute and was only on the pitch for 12 minutes scored the Chelsea equaliser.
Cole Palmer then took a speculative shot that was deflected off Aaron Wan-Bissaka into the back of the net, to give Chelsea a 2nd goal and ultimately the winner.
The victory by a 2-1 scoreline, saw the Blues jump above Man City and Newcastle into 4th place with 43 points from 24 games played.
At Stamford Bridge in September, it was the home team that gained the victory by a 4-2 scoreline.
Cole Palmer scored all 4 goals including a converted penalty to give Chelsea a lead at the break.
Georginio Rutter had scored the opener for Brighton after 7 minutes, which Carlos Baleba added to before Cole’s 4th.
The surprise then was, there were no further goals in the 2nd-half, leaving Chelsea with the win from the 6-goal thriller.
Betfred offer Brighton at 9/5, the Draw at 5/2 and 23/20 for Chelsea to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 4/1 that Cole Palmer Scores First and 8/5 that Chelsea Score in Both Halves.
(If your pre-match First Goalscorer bet scores First and then scores a Second, Betfred DOUBLE the odds.
If they score a Third, Betfred TREBLE the odds.)
Away Win 1-2- Get 8/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
Saturday 15th
LEICESTER v ARSENAL
12.30 in England
TNT Sport
After gaining a much-needed victory over Tottenham the week before, Leicester went back to losing ways last time out in the Premier League, suffering an away day defeat against Everton at Goodison Park by a 4-0 scoreline.
That’s now 8 losses from the last 9 Premier League fixtures with just 4 goals in those 9 games, which, to say that the Manager (Ruud Van Nistelrooy) was one of the most prolific goal scorers in his day, isn’t a good return.
Obviously, RVN is not transferring his specific skills over to the players in training.
Leicester sit in 18th place with 17 points from the opening 24 games completed.
Wolves, who are the safe team, sit a place above with 19 points, then there is a gap of 9 points between Leicester and Everton who sit above Wolves with 26 points, which basically means, it’s probably going to be any 3 from 4 that are relegated.
Everton will not be dragged into the battle now that David Moyes is back in charge.
The teams above Everton, such as West Ham, Tottenham and even Manchester United, although all struggling, should stay away from the relegation zone.
It now appears that it will be the teams that came up from the Championship last season, who will be going straight back after just one season in the Promised Land.
Which, as already mentioned in previous columns, has only happened twice before in the 33-year history of the Premier League.
Bolton, Barnsley and Crystal Palace came up in 1997 and went straight back the year later and last season, where all of Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United, were relegated after just 1 season in the Top Flight.
Although, if it does happen for just the 3rd time, it will probably become standard over the next 10 years or so as the gap between the Premier League and the Championship is getting wider.
A quick note regarding the aforementioned Barnsley FC, who just happen to be John Newsome’s beloved team.
It’s more than likely that the Super Reds won’t gain promotion and won’t be relegated this term, which will mean that at the start of the 2025/26 campaign, it will be the 4th consecutive season that Barnsley have been in Division 3/League 1, which will be the first time since John started going to Oakwell in 1978 when the Reds were in Division 4.
Barnsley were promoted to Division 3 at the end of the 1978/79 campaign, then spent just 2 seasons in the 3rd Tier before promotion to Division 2 in 1981, which is the equivalent of the Championship, where they spent 16 seasons before promotion to the Premier League.
To think that next season will be the 4th consecutive stay in Division 3 brings a tear to one’s eye.
Back to the Foxes who took on Ruben’s Red Devils on Friday in the 4th-Round of the FA Cup.
In a controversial game that saw Leicester take the lead in the 1st-half at Old Trafford with United equalising after the break, Harry Maguire headed home the winner in the 93rd minute with Harry being a yard offside.
Whilst the dreaded VAR are often subjected to fair and sometimes unfair criticism, the goal would have been ruled out, however, for some reason VAR isn’t used in the opening 4-Rounds of the FA Cup but will be brought back for the 5th-Round ties, so because the on-field referee and linesman didn’t say ‘offside’ the goal stood and Leicester were knocked out of the FA Cup.
Cheers!
Arsenal smashed Man City last Sunday with Pep 2 (Mikel Arteta) getting the better of Pep 1 (Pep Guardiola).
Goals from Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri (5 different goal scorers) gave Mikel’s Young Guns the victory over Pep’s None Flying Blues by a staggering 5-1 scoreline.
(They were Pep’s High Flying Blues but at the moment, cannot even be called Low Flying and are more akin to None Flying Blues!)
Regarding Myles Lewis-Skelly or MLS (not Major League Soccer!), the lad is a star in the making and will be in the Left-Back places for England when Thomas Tuchel picks his first squad in March.
Arsenal sit in 2nd place with 50 points from 24 games played, which could mean a massive 9 points difference between themselves and Liverpool come kickoff today if Arne’s Reds get the victory over the Toffees on Wednesday.
The Gunners have played a game since the win against Man City.
There was the 2nd-leg of the Carabao Cup Semi-Final against Newcastle at St James Park to decide who would head to Wembley in March.
Arsenal were trailing by 2 goals to Nil from the 1st-leg and after 90 minutes at St James, couldn’t overturn the deficit, conceding 2 more Newcastle goals to ultimately suffer a 2-legged defeat by a 4-0 aggregate score.
If one remembers, Arsenal were knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United, so since the game at St James Park, the players and staff will have had a 10-day break which could benefit the Gunners in the run-in.
If one compares that to Liverpool, who will have played 3 times over that 10-day break.
So please bear that in mind when thinking about the results over the coming weeks.
Another 4-2 scoreline in favour of the home team when the Foxes travelled South to take on the Gunners in the Game Week-6 affair.
Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard scored in the 1st-half to give Arsenal a comfortable lead at the interval.
James Justin then scored twice early in the 2nd-half to put Leicester level going into injury time.
When it appeared a draw was on the cards, the unfortunate Fox Wilfred Ndidi was credited with an Own Goal in the 94th minute before Kai Havertz scored a 4th for Arsenal in the 99th minute to give Mikel’s Young Guns the victory over Steve Cooper’s Tame Foxes by a 4-2 scoreline.
The late goals go to prove that if a team wants to time waste, which appears to be the ‘New Norm’ at the moment, then the lost time will be added on and games can continue over the 100-minute mark.
Time-wasting has always been a part of the Beautiful Game, however, some teams, including Arsenal, start time-wasting within 10 minutes of the start of the match.
Goalkeepers are a big factor of that particular dark art.
Some ‘Keepers catch the ball in midair then dive on the ground and roll around for 20 minutes.
You never saw the great Pat Jennings, Ray Clemence or Gordon Banks doing that.
Another one, now that the new ‘Goal Kick Rule’ has changed that allows the Defenders to be in the area is, the Goalkeeper stands in the middle and 2 Defenders on either side, debate for 10 seconds who kicks the ball, then the ‘Keeper decides he’s going to kick the ball long and sends the Defenders away.
Twenty seconds wasted, purely due to the change in the Goal Kick Rule!
So if a team scores or concedes a goal in the 100th minute or so, then think about all the time-wasting that goes on, especially what takes place after just 10 minutes of the game.
Betfred offer Leicester at 9/1, the Draw at 9/2 and Odds On 2/9 for Arsenal to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 11/2 that Leandro Trossard Scores First and Evens 1/1 that Arsenal Win To Nil.
(If your pre-match First Goalscorer bet scores First and then scores a Second, Betfred DOUBLE the odds.
If they score a Third, Betfred TREBLE the odds.)
Away Win 0-3- Get 13/2 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
ASTON VILLA v IPSWICH
15.00 in England
Aston Villa suffered a defeat in the last Premier League game, suffering an away night loss against Wolves at Molineux by a 2-0 scoreline.
The defeat was predicted in this EveryTip column, mainly due to the fact that Villa have failed to win after 7 of the 8 Champions League fixtures played this term.
Coincidentally, the only time Aston Villa have won a game following a Champions League affair was against Wolves at Villa Park back in September following the opening European game.
Villa finished 8th in the Champions League-League Phase so avoided a playoff round and went straight into the last-16 with a potential fixture against either the winners of Club Brugge v Atalanta or Sporting v Borussia Dortmund, once those playoff games have been concluded.
Unai Emery’s Claret and Blues sit in 8th place in the Premier League table with 37 points from the opening 24 games.
The Wild Boy Jhon Duran has left Villa Park and headed over to Saudi Arabia joining Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr.
Some have questioned the decision of a 21-year-old to leave the Premier League and head over to the Arabian Desert.
John Newsome can’t answer for the Wild Boy, however, £300,000 a week in wages, may just be the reason.
All the best Jhon Boy.
Another £300,000 a week player has come into Villa Park, him being Marcus Rashford, whose time at Old Trafford has come to an end (for the time being, as it is only a loan move!)
Ruben Amorim isn’t a fan of Marcus, so it was inevitable that Mr Rashford would leave, however, don’t rule out the possibility of a return to Old Trafford, if Ruben doesn’t last long in the United hot seat.
Villa took on Tottenham in an ‘All Premier League’ 4th-Round FA Cup tie, progressing to the next round following a victory by a 2-1 score.
Ipswich come into this game sitting 19th in the table with 16 points from the 24 fixtures completed.
In the previous Premier League game against Southampton, billed as ‘El Rubbisho’ Kieran McKenna’s Tractor Boys suffered a disappointing defeat by a 2-1 scoreline, with Liam Delap scoring the Ipswich goal.
That was the 4th defeat in succession leaving Ipswich in the relegation zone, now 3 points from safety.
Ipswich did gain a victory in the FA Cup, inflicting a defeat on Frank Lampard’s Coventry side by a 4-1 scoreline, to progress to the 5th-Round, which takes place at the end of February and the beginning of March.
Both teams shared the points from a draw by a 2-2 score in the game at Portman Rd.
Liam Delap scored the opener to give the home team an early lead, however, that only lasted 7 minutes with Morgan Rogers equalising soon after.
Ollie Watkins added a 2nd for Villa on the half-hour mark to give the away team a lead at the break.
Liam added his and Ipswich’s 2nd midway through the 2nd-half and with no further goals, both teams gained a point apiece from the Archbishop’s favourite scoreline.
Betfred offer Aston Villa at Odds On 4/11, the Draw at 7/2 and 6/1 for Ipswich to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 6/1 that Marcus Rashford Scores First and 18/5 that Liam Delap Scores Anytime.
(If your pre-match First Goalscorer bet scores First and then scores a Second, Betfred DOUBLE the odds.
If they score a Third, Betfred TREBLE the odds.)
Home Win 3-1- Get 10/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
FULHAM v NOTTINGHAM FOREST
15.00 in England
Fulham gained a great away day victory over Newcastle at St James Park in the fixture preceding the FA Cup.
After conceding a Newcastle goal to trail at the break, Raul Jimenez scored on the hour mark to draw the game level before Rodrigo Muniz (who had replaced Raul after the equaliser) scored the Fulham winner to give the away team the win from a 2-1 score.
That leaves Fulham in 9th place with 36 points from the opening 24 games completed.
The same 2-1 away day score then occurred in the FA Cup tie against Wigan on Saturday, to see the Cottagers progress to the 5th-Round.
What is the best way to respond after suffering a devastating defeat by a 5-0 score?
Go out next time and smash your opponents by a 7-0 scoreline.
Which is exactly what Nottingham Forest did last Saturday.
After suffering the loss against Bournemouth by a 5-0 score the week before, Nuno’s Tricky Trees hammered Fab’s Seagulls by a 7-0 scoreline in the early Saturday Afternoon game at the City Ground, with the goals going in as follows.
12′ Lewis Dunk (Own Goal)- (Forest 1-0)
25′ Morgan Gibbs-White- (Forest 2-0)
32′ Chris Wood- (Forest 3-0)
Half-Time Hot Dog and Onion Flavoured Monster Munch.
64′ Chris Wood- (Forest 4-0)
69′ Chris Wood- (Forest 5-0)
89′ Neco Williams- (Forest 6-0)
90+1′ Neco Williams- (Forest 7-0)
Full-Time Pint of Marstons and a Bag of Dry Roasted.
The stunning victory gives Nottingham Forest 47 points leaving Nuno’s Merry Men in 3rd place, 3 adrift of Arsenal and 9 away from Liverpool at the summit, which could be extended to 12 after the Liverpool v Everton game takes place on Wednesday.
Forest face Exeter in the FA Cup, which takes place on Tuesday Night.
A single Raul Jimenez goal scored just after the half-time break, gave Fulham the away day victory by a 1-0 scoreline over Forest at the City Ground back in September.
Betfred offer Fulham at 11/10, the Draw at 21/10 and 9/4 for Nottingham Forest to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 4/1 that Chris Wood Scores First and 4/1 that Nottingham Forest Score in Both Halves.
(If your pre-match First Goalscorer bet scores First and then scores a Second, Betfred DOUBLE the odds.
If they score a Third, Betfred TREBLE the odds.)
Away Win 0-2- Get 14/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
MAN CITY v NEWCASTLE
15.00 in England
Both teams suffered defeats in the last Premier League fixtures with City suffering a devastating loss against Arsenal by a 5-1 scoreline and Newcastle losing against Fulham by a 2-1 score.
Erling Haaland with the City goal against the Gunners which was an equaliser at the time before Arsenal then scored another 4.
Jacob Murphy scored the Newcastle goal that gave the home team a lead at half-time before Fulham notched twice in the 2nd-half to inflict the defeat on the Magpies.
Both now have the same 41 points from the 24 games played, with Man City sitting 5th and Newcastle a place below in 6th.
Man City then faced Leyton Orient in the FA Cup and despite conceding an Orient goal, eventually got the victory by a 2-1 score, to progress to Round-5.
Newcastle also played in the Cup, gaining a victory over Birmingham by a 3-2 scoreline.
The Magpies had played the 2nd-leg of the Carabao Cup Semi-Final against Arsenal last Wednesday and completed an aggregate victory over the Gunners by a 4-0 score, to face Liverpool in the showpiece Energy Drink Final at Wembley in March.
Man City face Real Madrid at the Etihad on Tuesday in the 1st-leg of the Champions League playoff, which will take place after this column is published so more on that next week.
Just three words to say about that clash.
Good luck City!
This reverse fixture at St James Park finished in a draw by a 1-1 score.
Josko Gvardiol scored the opener to give City a lead at the break before a converted Anthony Gordon penalty just after the restart gave both teams a share of the points.
Betfred offer Man City at Odds On 7/10, the Draw at 3/1 and 11/4 for Newcastle to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 5/1 that Alexander Isak Scores First and 11/10 that there are Over 3.5 Goals.
(If your pre-match First Goalscorer bet scores First and then scores a Second, Betfred DOUBLE the odds.
If they score a Third, Betfred TREBLE the odds.)
Draw 2-2- Get 11/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
***Premier League Team of the Week***
GOALKEEPER- Jose Sa- Wolves
RIGHT-BACK- Trent Alexander-Arnold- Liverpool
CENTRE-BACK- Calvin Bassey- Fulham
CENTRE-BACK- Archie Gray- Tottenham
LEFT-BACK- Myles Lewis-Skelly- Arsenal
MIDFIELDER- Thomas Partey- Arsenal
MIDFIELDER- Joe Aribo- Southampton
MIDFIELDER- Jean-Ricner Bellegarde – Wolves
FORWARD- Beto- Everton
FORWARD- Mo Salah- Liverpool
FORWARD- Chris Wood- Nottingham Forest
STAR MAN- Chris Wood- Nottingham Forest
***Last Week’s Winning Tips-
Nottingham Forest To Win- 7/5
Liverpool To Win- 7/10
Everton To Win- 7/10
Wolves To Win- 23/10
Chelsea To Win- 4/11
Correct Scores-
Chelsea v West Ham 2-1- 7/1
Correct Tips-
Nottingham Forest Win To Nil- 100/30
Liverpool To Score in Both Halves- 6/5
Wolves To Score in Both Halves- 3/1
SOUTHAMPTON v BOURNEMOUTH
15.00 in England
The South Coast Derby.
Southampton, who had suffered 6 successive Premier League defeats, gained a victory over Ipswich last time out.
Goals from Joe Aribo and Paul Onuachu gave the Saints the win over the Tractor Boys by a 2-1 score, with Ipswich scoring an equaliser after Jelly Man Joe’s opener.
The 3 points gained, leaves Southampton at the foot of the table with 9 points from the opening 24 games, still 10 points adrift of safety.
It was then a game in the FA Cup, where Ivan Juric’s Southampton were knocked out by Scott Parker’s Burnley.
Obviously, Ivan The Terrible just wants to concentrate on the Premier League and try and avoid relegation.
Bournemouth suffered a first defeat in 12 Premier League games last time out, succumbing to a loss against Liverpool at the Vitality by a 2-0 score.
Whilst it was a defeat, it was against probably the best team in Europe at the moment, (Plymouth fans will argue that!) so not too much to worry about.
That leaves Bournemouth in 7th place with 40 points from the 24 games played.
It was then an ‘All Premier League Clash’ against Everton in the FA Cup, where the Cherries knocked out the Toffees by a 2-0 score to progress to the 5th-Round.
Goals from Evanilson, Dango Ouattara and Antoine Semenyo gave Bournemouth a comfortable lead at the break when these 2 South Coast teams met at the Vitality.
The surprise then was, the Cherries couldn’t add to the goals in the 2nd-half with Taylor Harwood-Bellis scoring for the Saints just after the restart.
Fortunately for the home faithful, there were no further goals, with Bournemouth gaining the victory over Southampton by a 3-1 scoreline.
Betfred offer Southampton at 4/1, the Draw at 3/1 and Odds On 8/15 for Bournemouth to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 5/1 that Justin Kluivert Scores First and 2/1 that Bournemouth Win To Nil.
(If your pre-match First Goalscorer bet scores First and then scores a Second, Betfred DOUBLE the odds.
If they score a Third, Betfred TREBLE the odds.)
Away Win 0-3- Get 12/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
WEST HAM v BRENTFORD
15.00 in England
West Ham suffered an away night defeat against Chelsea last time out in the Premier League.
Jarrod Bowen, who had missed 5 games due to injury, was back in the starting lineup and scored the opener to give the Hammers a lead at the break.
Unfortunately for the watching Bubbles in attendance at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea scored twice in the 2nd-half to inflict the defeat by a 2-1 score.
Graham Potter’s start to life as the Hammers Boss is stuttering with just 1 Win, 2 Losses and a Draw since taking over.
West Ham sit in 15th place with the same 27 points as Tottenham both having completed 24 games so far.
There was also a defeat in the 3rd-Round of the FA Cup, meaning West Ham had the weekend off, which maybe gave Harry Potter a bit of time to get his wizardry over to the Hammers players.
Brentford also had the weekend off, having surprisingly been knocked out of the FA Cup in the 3rd-Round.
So both teams will have had a break since the last Premier League fixture, with Brentford suffering a home defeat against Tottenham last time out by a 2-0 scoreline.
After being the ‘form team’ when playing at their GTech Stadium, the Bees have suffered 4 defeats from the last 5 home games with a draw in the other, meaning just 1 point from a possible 15 on home soil.
Brentford sit in 11th place with 31 points from 24 games completed.
Both these London teams shared the points from a draw by a 1-1 score when the two met at the GTech back in September.
Bryan Mbeumo scored the Bee goal after just a minute to give Brentford a lead at the break.
Tomas Soucek scored the equaliser for the Hammers just after the restart and with no further goals both teams gained a point apiece.
Betfred offer West Ham at 5/4, the Draw at 12/5 and 7/4 for Brentford to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 4/1 that Jarrod Bowen Scores First and 15/8 that West Ham Score in Both Halves.
(If your pre-match First Goalscorer bet scores First and then scores a Second, Betfred DOUBLE the odds.
If they score a Third, Betfred TREBLE the odds.)
Home Win 2-1- Get 8/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
CRYSTAL PALACE v EVERTON
17.30 in England
Crystal Palace gained a great away day victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford last time out in the Premier League.
Jean-Philippe Mateta scored twice to give the Eagles the win over a sorry set of Red Devils by a 2-0 scoreline.
That leapfrogged Palace above United into 12th place with 30 points from the opening 24 fixtures.
It was then a long trip North to South Yorkshire for a game against Doncaster Rovers in the 4th-Round of the FA Cup, which took place on Monday the 10th which will be after this week’s column is published.
The Toffees come into this fixture following the rearranged game against Liverpool which takes place on Wednesday.
There was an outing in the FA Cup, which saw David Moyes’ Toffees suffer a defeat against Bournemouth by a 2-0 scoreline, to see Everton’s Cup campaign over for another year.
Everton gained the victory over Crystal Palace in the Game Week-6 encounter at Goodison Park.
Marc Guehi did score first for Palace to give the away team a lead at the interval.
Dwight McNeil then scored 2 quick-fire goals early in the 2nd-half and with no further goals, Everton got the win from a 2-1 score.
Betfred offer Crystal Palace at slight Odds On 9/10, the Draw at 11/5 and 11/4 for Everton to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 4/1 that Jean-Philippe Mateta Scores First and slight Odds On 10/11 that Both Teams Score.
(If your pre-match First Goalscorer bet scores First and then scores a Second, Betfred DOUBLE the odds.
If they score a Third, Betfred TREBLE the odds.)
Home Win 2-1- Get 15/2 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
Sunday 16th
LIVERPOOL v WOLVES
14.00 in England
Sky Sports
As mentioned in the Everton v Liverpool preview above, the Reds gained a professional victory over Bournemouth last time out in the Premier League.
It was then a game against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup and a match on the South Coast against Plymouth at Home Park in the FA Cup, where amazingly it was the home team that inflicted a defeat on Arne’s Slot Machines to knock Liverpool out of the Cup.
Unbelievable Jeff!
Wolves gained a victory over Aston Villa at Molineux before the FA Cup.
Goals from Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Matheus Cunha gave Vitor Pereira’s Gold and Blacks the win over Unai Emery’s Claret and Blues by a 2-0 scoreline.
That put Wolves in 17th place with 19 points from the 24 games completed.
It was then an FA Cup clash against Blackburn at Ewood Park where Wolves progressed into the 5th-Round with a victory by a 2-0 score.
Liverpool gained the away day victory over Wolves at Molineux back in September.
Ibrahima Konate scored for the Reds on the stroke of half-time to give Liverpool a lead at the break.
Rayan Ait-Nouri equalised for Wolves early in the 2nd-half before Mo Salah scored what proved to be the winner on the hour mark to give Arne’s Slot Machines the win over Gary O’Neil’s Gold and Blacks by a 2-1 scoreline.
Betfred offer Liverpool at Odds On 1/7, the Draw at 11/2 and 11/1 for Wolves to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 3/1 that Mo Salah Scores First and 21/20 that Liverpool Win To Nil.
(If your pre-match First Goalscorer bet scores First and then scores a Second, Betfred DOUBLE the odds.
If they score a Third, Betfred TREBLE the odds.)
Home Win 2-0- Get 13/2 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
TOTTENHAM v MANCHESTER UNITED
16.30 in England
Sky Sports
It would have been amazing to think at the beginning of the season that when these two Heavyweights of the Premier League meet at the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium in the 2nd-half of the campaign, Tottenham would be sitting in 14th place with 27 points and Manchester United would be a place above in 13th with 29 points from the 24 fixtures completed.
However, that is the case going into this Game Week-25 encounter.
Tottenham gained a victory over Brentford last time out with goals from Papa Matar Sarr that followed a Brentford OG giving Ange’s Spurs the win from a 2-0 scoreline.
It was then the 2nd-leg of the Carabao Cup Semi-Final which saw Tottenham give up a 1-0 1st-leg lead and capitulate eventually losing the 2-legged affair by a 4-1 aggregate score.
Tottenham then took on Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Sunday and were knocked out of that particular competition with Villa inflicting the defeat on Tottenham by a 2-1 scoreline.
After stating that ‘he wins a Trophy in his second season!’ Ange Postecoglou has been knocked out of 2 of the 4 competitions up for grabs in the space of 3 days leaving the Premier League and the Europa League as the only Trophies that Mr Postecoglou and Tottenham can win.
The Premier League Trophy isn’t going to Tottenham, meaning Big Ange and his Spurs will have to win the Europa League for that ‘second season win’ prophecy to come true.
Today’s opponents may just have a say in that!
Manchester United suffered a disappointing home defeat by a 2-0 score against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford last Sunday.
It was then another home game against Leicester in the FA Cup which saw Ruben’s Red Devils progress to the 5th-Round after a controversial victory over Ruud’s Foxes by a 2-1 scoreline.
Controversial because the winning goal from Harry Maguire did show that Big Harry was a yard offside, however, the 4th-Round of the Cup doesn’t use the dreaded VAR.
Maybe Manchester United have one hand on the prestigious Trophy.
Tottenham are unbeaten against Manchester United in the previous 5 games in all competitions with 3 Wins and 2 Draws.
It was October 2022, when United under the guidance of Erik Ten Hag last gained a victory over a Tottenham team with Antonio Conte at the helm.
In the fixture at Old Trafford back in September, Ange’s Spurs destroyed a sorry set of Erik’s Ten Bobs by a 3-0 away day score.
Brennan Johnson scored the opener after 3 minutes to give Tottenham an early lead.
Bruno Fernandes was shown a straight Red Card just before half-time leaving United a player lite for the whole of the 2nd-half.
Dejan Kuluseveski and Dominic Solanke added 2 and 3 in the 2nd-half to give Tottenham the away day win over United.
Betfred offer Tottenham at 13/10, the Draw at 5/2 and 13/8 for Manchester United to come away with all 3-points.
Betfred offer 5/1 that Son Heung-Min Scores First and 8/5 that Tottenham Score in Both Halves.
(If your pre-match First Goalscorer bet scores First and then scores a Second, Betfred DOUBLE the odds.
If they score a Third, Betfred TREBLE the odds.)
Home Win 2-1- Get 17/2 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!
The Top of the Scottish Premier League looks the following-
1- Celtic played 25, points 66
2- Rangers played 25, points 53
That means that Rangers can only accrue 92 points from 13 out of 13 victories in the remaining games.
Celtic will get to 93 points in 9 games time if a victory is achieved in all 9, which will see the Green and White Hoops confirmed (again) as the Scottish Pub League Champions in the middle of April.
There are 8 games to go before the SPL splits into 2 groups for the final 5 fixtures, with the 8th for Celtic being against Kilmarnock on the 12th of April, meaning a slip-up from Rangers could see Brendan’s Wonderful’s being crowned Champions before the split.
Celtic face Bayern Munich on Wednesday in the 1st-leg of the Champions League Playoffs.
Rangers don’t play in Europe until the beginning of March.
Rangers were knocked out of the Scottish FA Pub Cup on Sunday, suffering a devastating loss against Queens Park (who?)
When trailing 1-0 going into injury time, Rangers were awarded a penalty for the chance to get back on level terms, however, the Captain James Tavernier had his kick saved.
James is the brother of Marcus Tavernier who plays in the (proper) Premier League for Bournemouth.
Celtic had comfortably gained a victory in their Cup tie against Raith (who?) to progress to the next round and everyone assumed Rangers would follow suit the day after, however, not to be which did irk a certain YankScot over in Seattle.
The lad is still going strong over in America, going into his third week working on the trolleys in the New Amazon Supermarket putting more Dollars into Jeff Bezos’ pocket!
The loveable OzScot/YankScot will be allowed to work on the tills before much longer.
Shamrock Rovers play their 1st-leg Europa Conference League Playoff against Molde of Norway on Thursday.
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