Following their astonishing victory over Manchester City, Newcastle head to London, where they face an unconvincing Spurs side that is beset with injuries to key men. John Newsome assesses their chances and takes an in-depth look at the forthcoming fixtures. You can view all previous analysis from John’s weekly column here – English Premier League Predictions For Saturday.
SPURS v NEWCASTLE
Early Saturday afternoon kick-off live on Sky Sports.
Tottenham quickly return to their temporary home of Wembley after the superb 2-1 win against Watford on Wednesday night. The 3 points gained against the Hornets means there are now only 2 points separating Spurs in 3rd place and City in 2nd and a win against Newcastle will temporarily put them 2nd behind Liverpool. The plus point for Spurs in the win was the return of Son Heung-Min who has been away with South Korea at the Asian Cup. Tottenham are simply not the same team without Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Son so getting one of them back into to team is a start. After going behind against Watford, Son justified his inclusion in the starting eleven by getting the equaliser for Tottenham with 10 minutes to go. Fernando Llorente got Tottenham’s winner in the 87th-minute giving Spurs all 3 points.
Newcastle got arguably the result of the midweek games beating Pep’s High Flying City, inflicting the 4th defeat of the season on Man City. After going behind in only the 24th second of the game at St James Park, it looked like the floodgates would open for City, but Newcastle withstood the onslaught and clawed their way back into the game. Salomon Rondon equalised in the 2nd-half before Matty Ritchie despatched a superb penalty to claim a famous win and start the campaign for Rafa Benitez to get a Premier League winners medal if Liverpool go all the way. Newcastle have finally increased their Transfer record fee held by Michael Owen from 2005 when Owen signed from Real Madrid for £15 Million. Miguel Almiron, who plays for MLS side Atlanta United has agreed terms to play for the Magpies for a record fee of £20 Million. Rafa Benitez has also brought in Monaco defender Antonio Barreca. Who said Mike Ashley wouldn’t supply funds for Rafa.
This reverse fixture at St James Park was the opening game of the 2018/2019 Premier League season and finished 2-1 to Tottenham. All 3 goals were scored in the 1st-half. Joselu scored the Magpies goal sandwiched between a Jan Vertonghan and a Dele Alli goal for Spurs giving them a great start to the campaign.
Bet 365 offer Tottenham at Odds On 2/5, the Draw at 7/2 and 7/1 for Newcastle to come away with all 3 points.
Bet 365 offer 11/5 that there are Over 3.5 Goals and 10/1 that Son Heung-Min Scores the First Goal Inside 20 Minutes.
Home Win 3-1
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CHELSEA v HUDDERSFIELD
Chelsea suffered their 2nd consecutive Premier League loss on Wednesday losing 4-0 against Bournemouth. That was their biggest loss in over 20 years and Sarri-Ball wasn’t happy. Looking at the scoreline it would appear that Maurizio Sarri picked an under-strength side to head to the Vitality. In truth, it could be argued that Sarri had his strongest team possible on show against the Cherries with Gonzalo Higuain, Eden Hazard and Pedro all starting for the Blues. It’s reported Sarri kept them all on the dressing room for a chat afterwards and kicked all his backroom staff out to just talk alone to his players. The loss against the Cherries resulted in Chelsea slipping outside the Top 4 in the Premier League Table behind Arsenal and only 2 points ahead of Manchester United. If the lights go out and the walls come tumbling down and Chelsea don’t get a positive result against the struggling Terriers, Maurizio Sarri may just be on his last legs at Stamford Bridge.
Jan Siewart’s first Premier League game in charge of Huddersfield was a case of the same old same old for the Terriers going down to a 1-0 defeat against Everton. Nothing much was evident in Big Jan’s stewardship of Huddersfield that suggests he will save them from relegation and basically the boys are destined for the Championship. The plus point for the Terriers faithful was the return of Aaron Mooy who made a brief appearance on the 2nd-half. Huddersfield haven’t won a game of football since the 25th of November 2018 and have gained just 1 point out of a possible 33 which is definitely relegation fodder.
This reverse fixture back at the John Smith Stadium at the start of the season finished with an easy 3-0 win for Chelsea. N’Golo Kante, Jorginho and Pedro got the goals in West Yorkshire giving Chelsea their first 3 points off the season.
Bet 365 offer Chelsea at Odds On 1/6, the Draw at 13/2 and a massive 12/1 for Huddersfield to come away with all 3 points.
Bet 365 offer 3/1 for Gonzalo Higuain to Score the First Goal and 13/1 for Gonzalo to get the First Goal and for Chelsea to Win 2-0
Home Win 2-0
EVERTON v WOLVES
Everton got a much-needed win midweek which would have eased the nerves of the Toffees faithful. However, the win, was only against a very poor Huddersfield side so they shouldn’t get too excited. This game against Wolves will be a better test to see where they are at the moment. One player not involved will be the young left-back Lucas Digne who was shown a straight red card just 11 minutes after coming on as a substitute in the 1-0 win against Huddersfield. Richarlison scored the solitary goal in the 3rd-minute which should have sparked an onslaught from the Everton players against a struggling Huddersfield side but no further goals were added. Marco Silva claimed the win after surprisingly being dumped out of the FA Cup at the weekend to Championship side Millwall.
Wolves emphatically beat a poor West Ham side 3-0 in the midweek fixture at Molineux. After going in at the break with the scores level at 0-0, Romain Saiss gave the Gold and Blacks the lead in the 66th minute and Wolves never looked troubled after that opener. Raul Jimenez scored twice late on to give Wolves all 3 points and keep them on the coattails of Manchester United in 7th place albeit 10 points behind 6th placed United. Everton are just 2 points behind Wolves so this really should be a great game.
Back at the beginning of the season at Molineux, this reverse fixture finished in a very entertaining 2-2 draw. Ruben Neves and Raul Jimenez got the goals for Wolves that day with Richarlison replying twice for the Toffees. Everton stalwart Phil Jagielka was shown a straight Red card in the 1st-half and has only played 15 minutes for Everton since due to injury.
Bet 365 have this pretty even and offer Everton at 5/4, the Draw at 9/4 and 11/5 for Wolves to come away with all 3 points.
Bet 365 offer 13/8 that Richarlison Scores Anytime and 13/2 that Raul Jimenez Scores the First Goal.
Away Win 1-3
CRYSTAL PALACE v FULHAM
Crystal Palace got a well-deserved point against Southampton at St Mary’s midweek. After taking the lead through a Wilfried Zaha goal, the Eagles conceded an equaliser midway through the 2nd-half. Wilfried then got himself into a spot of bother with the Saints goalscorer James Ward-Prowse. After initially getting booked for the fracas he sarcastically clapped the referee who didn’t take kindly to the childish action and immediately showed Wilfried a 2nd yellow and subsequently a red card. Zaha will be a big loss for Palace. Roy Hodgson has agreed a deal with Chelsea to sign Michy Batshuayi on loan until the end of the season. Michy never really got a chance at Chelsea but does score goals and scored a few on loan at German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund.
Fulham surprised everyone including themselves midweek coming from 2-0 down to beat Brighton 4-2. Trailing by the 2 goals at half-time, Claudio Ranieri must have given an inspired talk to his players in the dressing room and sent Fulham out to destroy the Seagulls in the 2nd-half. Callum Chambers, a double from Aleksandar Mitrovic and Luciano Vietto were the goal scorers giving the Cottages a great victory and their first win in 4. That result will certainly give them encouragement and will look to get a result in this London Derby against the Eagles. Fulham have signed Havard Nordtveit on loan from German Bundesliga side Hoffenheim. Havard is a midfielder but has not played since November through injury so if he stays fit, should be fresh for the Cottages.
At Craven Cottage on the opening day of the season, Palace ran out easy 2-0 winners against their West London rivals. Jeffrey Schlupp and Wilfried Zaha were the goal scorers that day.
Bet 365 offer Crystal Palace at slight Odds On 19/20, the Draw at 12/5 and 14/5 for Fulham to come away with all 3 points.
Bet 365 offer 6/1 for a 1-1 Scoreline and 2/1 that Aleksandar Mitrovic Scores Anytime.
Draw 1-1
BURNLEY v SOUTHAMPTON
Burnley have drawn their last 2 outings in the Premier League. The annoying thing about the midweek draw was the Clarets were beating Ole’s new look Manchester United 2-0 going into the final 5 minutes of the contest. Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood gave Burnley the 2-0 cushion and looked to be on brink of inflicting the first defeat on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. With time running out, Burnley succumbed to 2 late goals and had to settle for a share of the points. The previous meeting between these two at Old Trafford in December 2017, remarkably finished exactly the same with Ashley Barnes getting the opening goal, Burnley going in 2-0 up and then succumbing to 2 late goals from United. Lightning definitely struck twice for Sean Dyche’s men. Burnley have improved of late but are still only 4 points above the relegation places.
An interesting phone call transpired on Transfer Deadline Day between Sean Dyche and Peter Crouch.
“Hello Big Fella”… said Sean
“Who’s this ? “.. replied Pete
“It’s Sean Dyche .. do you fancy joining us at Turf Moor?”
“Yeah Righto .. who is this ? a gravelled voiced Jeremy Beagle?”
“No seriously it’s Sean Dyche.. do you want to sign for us? “
Phone Down !
Peter was having none of it. He was sat on the couch watching The Chase with Abbey and said to his beloved wife in the ad breaks
“Someone’s trying to wind me up Abs, said he was Sean Dyche wanting me to sign for Burnley in the Premier League “
“Yeah ok Pete..”
As it developed, it was Sean on the phone and Big Pete has signed for Burnley. Pete and Abbey waited until Bradley had finished though before they celebrated Big Petes return to the Premier League. It just goes to show “Never Stop Believing”
Southampton themselves drew midweek against Crystal Palace and are now unbeaten in 4 Premier League games. James Ward-Prowse got the equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Palace then got himself involved in handbags with Wilfried Zaha which resulted in Wilfried taking an early bath. Wreck-It Ralph has certainly got Saints performing better than under Mark Hughes ( not a hard task ! ) The Clarets and the Saints both have 23 points with the Saints having a slightly inferior goal difference so this game is the proverbial 6 pointer.
Both teams have improved since a very drab 0-0 draw on the opening game of the season at St Mary’s.
Bet 365 offer Burnley at 3/2, the Draw at 9/4 and 9/5 for Southampton to come away with all 3 points.
Bet 365 offer 11/4 that there are Over 3.5 Goals and 11/2 that Ashley Barnes gets the First Goal.
Draw 2-2
BRIGHTON v WATFORD
Brighton looked to be cruising against Fulham in the midweek fixture when Glenn Murray scored a couple to give the Seagulls a 2-0 lead going into the break at Craven Cottage. Unfortunately for Brighton, Fulham came out in the 2nd-half and blitzed Chris Hughton’s men scoring 4 goals to take all 3 points and make the Brighton faithful’s trip home an arduous one. Chris will regroup his boys and get them focused again for this tough ask against the Hornets.
Watford were looking on course for a great win against Tottenham at Wembley midweek. Craig Cathcart put the Hornets ahead in the 1st-half and with time running out looked set to have sealed all 3 points. However, Tottenham scored 2 late goals and to seal the win ending Watford’s 5 game unbeaten run. Watford are in a decent position in the Premier League and won’t be relegated but the Hornet faithful will demand more and will want to finish as high as possible. There wasn’t any deals done in the January Transfer Window but maybe the significant factor the Watford faithful will be pleased with was that Gerard Deulofeu and Abdoulaye Doucoure haven’t left Vicarage Rd.
This reverse fixture back in August at Vicarage Rd finished 2-0 in favour of Watford. Roberto Pereyra got both goals for the Hornets giving them a great start to the season.
Bet 365 offer Brighton at 16/11, the Draw at 11/5 and 19/10 for Watford to come away with all 3 points.
Bet 365 offer 8/5 that Glenn Murray Scores Anytime and 5/2 that Troy Deeney does likewise.
Draw 1-1
CARDIFF v BOURNEMOUTH
Late Saturday afternoon kick-off live on BT Sports.
Cardiff have had a difficult couple of weeks initially paying a record fee of £15 Million for Nantes forward Emiliano Sala then seeing the player go missing on a flight over to start his career in South Wales. Neil Warnock has described the past few weeks as the worst of his long career. Neil had to restore some sense of perception in the Bluebirds and took his boys to the Emirates midweek which was always going to be a tough ask regardless of the sorrows of losing Emiliano. Nathaniel Mendez-Laing got a 93rd-minute consolation goal for Cardiff in the 2-1 loss against Arsenal. Neil’s Bluebirds have only collected 1 point from a possible 12 and are in the bottom 3. There is still hope for Cardiff and they will definitely target this home game against the Cherries as a possible winnable game. Cardiff have managed to bring in Leandro Bacuna
from Reading to bolster their squad.
Bournemouth blew away Chelsea midweek easily beating the Blues 4-0 inflicting the biggest defeat on Chelsea for 22 years. Eddie Howe rightly said that that was his greatest win and Bournemouth have now returned back-to-back wins after a run of winless games. Josh King got a couple, the superb David Brooks got one and Charlie Daniels finished off the scoring giving the Cherries faithful a great night at the Vitality. The win was without Callum Wilson who has had a minor operation on his knee to help him further down the line. Callum had been talked of a Transfer target for Chelsea but he’d be better off staying at Bournemouth for the time being.
On the opening day of the season, Bournemouth ran out easy 2-0 winners against new boys Cardiff. Ryan Fraser and Callum Wilson were the Cherries goal scorers. Callum has earlier missed a penalty in the game which would have irked him.
Bet 365 offer Cardiff at 19/10, the Draw at 12/5 and 11/8 for Bournemouth to come away with all 3 points.
Bet 365 offer 7/1 for Bournemouth to Win Both Halves and 5/2 that David Brooks Scores Anytime.
Away Win 0-2
LEICESTER v MAN UNITED
Early Sunday afternoon kick-off live on Sky Sports.
Leicester stunned everyone on Wednesday night leaving Anfield with a point and realistically could have easily beaten Liverpool. After going behind in the 2nd-minute, Harry Maguire equalised right on half-time. James Maddison had earlier missed an easy chance heading the ball wide and Demarai Gray had the chance to square the ball to Jamie Vardy late on in the game but chose to shoot. All in all, it was a great point for Claud Puel’s men and stopped the rot of 3 losing game’s. The Foxes have secured the loan signing of Youri Tielemans from Monaco with Adrien Silva going in the opposite direction.
Manchester United ‘s amazing winning run under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer finally came to an end midweek in a sensational game against Burnley at Old Trafford. Burnley went 2 goals ahead and with time running out, it looked like Ole was going to suffer the first defeat of his new stint in Manchester. United were awarded a penalty after Jesse Lingard was pulled back and Paul Pogba despatched with confidence to give hope of a comeback. With time running out Victor Lindelof got a dramatic injury-time equaliser to maintain Ole’s unbeaten start to his managerial reign at Old Trafford. There won’t be any talk of Ole getting the job full time until the end of the season but he’s slowly ruling others out and making Ed Woodward sit up and take notice of his achievements. Anthony Martial has signed a 5-year extension to his contract after it appeared he was looking at the exit door under Jose Mourinho.
This reverse fixture back at Old Trafford was the first game of the 2018/2019 Premier League season and was played on a Friday Night. United beat Leicester 2-1 with a Paul Pogba penalty and a Luke Shaw strike giving the Red Devil’s all 3 points. Jamie Vardy got a very late consolation for the Foxes giving them brief hope of a comeback.
Bet 365 offer at Leicester at 12/5, the Draw at 13/5 and Evens 1/1 for United to come away with all 3 points.
Bet 365 offer 9/2 that there are Over 4.5 Goals and 6/1 that Paul Pogba gets the First Goal.
Away Win 2-4
MAN CITY v ARSENAL
Late Sunday afternoon football live on Sky Sports.
Man City suffered a surprise defeat at St James Park midweek making it 4 defeats up to now in the defence of their Premier League title. Sergio Aguero gave City a superb start to the game scoring the fastest Premier League goal of the season after just 24 seconds. The Toon Army must have feared the worst. City, however, couldn’t capitalise on their great start and were pegged back midway through the 2nd-half. The usually reliable Fernandinho inexplicably gave away a penalty which Newcastle converted and City were unable to reply and ultimately lost their 4th game of the season. With the loss and Liverpool only drawing against Leicester, the gap is now 5 points at the top of the Premier League in favour of Liverpool and City will fight to the end to retain their title. Probably the worrying thing about the game against Newcastle was City looked leggy and tired and with games coming thick and fast City may not be able to compete with Liverpool come the end of the season.
Arsenal comfortably beat an emotional Cardiff 2-1 at the Emirates on Tuesday. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette got the Gunners goals which keeps the pressure on Chelsea in the fight for a Top 4 finish. Arsenal have competition from Manchester United for that 4th place spot but all they can do is win their games and let others worry about themselves. With Chelsea losing midweek, Arsenal leapfrog the Blues into 4th place in the Premier League and now there are only 9 points separating Tottenham in 3rd place and United in 6th so it really is going to be an exciting run in. Denis Suarez has arrived at the Emirates on loan from Barcelona so that should spark some freshness into the team and the Gooners faithful.
Back at the Emirates on the opening day of the season, City ran out easy 2-0 winners in Unai Emery’s first Premier League game. Raheem Sterling and the Bernardo of the Silva’s got City’s goals that day.
Bet 365 offer City at Odds On 2/7, the Draw at 5/1 and a massive 15/2 for Arsenal to come away with all 3 points.
Bet 365 offer 11/5 that there are Over 4.5 Goals and 15/8 Sergio Aguero Scores 2 Goals.
Home Win 4-1
WEST HAM v LIVERPOOL
Monday Night Football live on Sky Sports to bring Game Week 25 proceedings to a close.
West Ham have had a tough old week losing 3 games in a row including being dumped out of the FA Cup to League One side AFC Wimbledon. Marco Arnautovic decided that China wasn’t for him and then signed an improved contract to keep him at the London Stadium for a few more years. Cynics would say that’s all Marco wanted and didn’t really like Chinese food. Even with the mercurial Arnautovic in the starting lineup, the Hammers were hammered 3-0 away at Molineux and didn’t really put up a fight against Wolves. This will be another tough game on Merseyside as not many travel to Anfield and get a result. Marco did leave the field early against Wolves after suffering injury which initially looked like he would be sidelined for this game against Liverpool but scans have only revealed bruising so the Austrian could feature.
Liverpool remain top of the Premier League despite only drawing in their midweek game against Leicester. With a mixture of slow play, Leicester’s resilience in defending and a touch of snow all combined to stop Liverpool in their tracks and prevent the Reds from taking all 3 points. Liverpool went ahead early on through Sadio Mane but were pegged back right on the half-time whistle. It could be argued they should have had a penalty when Naby Keita was knocked off his feet in the penalty area but the referee waved play on. With Man City losing the night before it was a point gained regardless of the performance and Liverpool are now 5 points ahead of City which is 1 point more than at the beginning of the week. Jurgen hasn’t delved into the Transfer market and will make do with his excellent squad. It’s just hoped for all the Reds faithful that Virgil Van Dijk stays fit. Without Big Virgil Liverpool are not the same team.
At Anfield at the beginning of the season, Liverpool easily beat West Ham 4-0. Mo Salah, Daniel Sturridge and a couple from Sadio Mane gave Liverpool the goals to secure the first 3 points of a potential title-winning season.
Bet 365 offer West Ham at 7/1, the Draw at 17/4 and Odds On 1/3 for Liverpool to come away with all 3 points.
Bet 365 offer 7/2 for Liverpool to Score a Penalty and 7/4 for Liverpool to Win Both Halves.
Away Win 0-3
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