Finally, it’s everyone’s favourite time of the week especially if you’re a football fan. Yup, you guessed it, it’s the weekend. And of course, that means, where we the fans, get to be experts by predicting the wrong scores and results so here’s my take.
Friday
Leicester City v Brentford
Leicester have lost 10 of their 13 league games under Ruud Van Nisterlrooy. Something is telling me that he will be out of a job next weekend if they fail to win against Brentford or West Ham. They’ve conceded 32 goals and only scored 10 in the 13 league games he’s been in charge of. 10 defeats in 13 games is relegation form but do they have a chance against Brentford, no.
Brentford are in decent form with 3 wins in their last 6 league games. With only 5 goals conceded and 10 scored in their last 6 games, I can only see one winner in this game and that’s Brentford. No surprise there, Brentford look like a much better side and to be honest, they are. They should be winning this comfortably.
Prediction: Leicester City 0 — 2 Brentford
Note: I wrote this before the Leicester – Brentford game but never posted on time. Brentford won the game like I thought they would.
Saturday
Everton v Manchester United
With David Moyes back at Everton, Everton look good for a mid-table finish. They’ve won 4 of their 6 league games under the Scott and look favourites for the United game.
Ruben Amorim must be thinking what has he got himself into. United have lost 8 of their 14 league games under Amorim, taking a colossal 14 points from a possible 42. This is the worst United team in Premier League history and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Prediction: Everton 1 — 0 Manchester United
AFC Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Andoni Iraola is man of the moment, he’s got Bournemouth chasing the Champions League places. Bournemouth are in great form with 1 defeat in 13 league games. I’m certain they’ll be in Europe next season. Not sure if it will be the Champions League or the Europa League but they’ll definitely be in Europe.
Another manager struggling in the Premier League is Vitor Pereira. The Wolves boss has seen his side win only 3 of their 9 league games since he took charge. With an inform Bournemouth next, I don’t see Wolves getting anything positive from this.
Prediction: AFC Bournemouth 2 — 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arsenal v West Ham United
Arsenal are a well oiled machine aren’t they. They haven’t lost in the league since the start of November when they were away to Newcastle. Still missing main man Bukayo Saka but that’s not stopping them from chasing the league leaders.
West Ham haven’t experienced the new manager bounce since Graham Potter took charge. They’ve managed to pick up a world beating 4 points from a possible 15. If it weren’t for the fact that there are 3 teams fighting for their premier league survival that are worse than them, they would be candidates to go down. But lucky for them, Wolves, Ipswich, and Leicester are still in the Premier League. But next season, you never know. I don’t see West Ham getting a good result at the Emirates.
Prediction: Arsenal 2 — 0 West Ham United
Fulham v Crystal Palace
Marco Silva’s Fulham are ticking over nicely. He’s an underrated manager who I think, with a top striker that can get 15+ league goals a season, could get into Europe. Without that striker, I don’t think they’ve got enough to finish top 7. This weekend, I don’t see them having enough of a goal threat to take all three points against Palace.
Another manager going under the radar is Oliver Glasner. With only 2 defeats in their last 8 league games, Palace look good for a mid-table finish this season on about 40-45 points. Glasner has done a good job since he took over from Roy Hodgson. But they don’t score that many goals averaging just over 1 per game. I don’t think they’ve got enough goal threat to beat Fulham despite having a forward with 11 league goals so far this season.
Prediction: Fulham 1 — 1 Crystal Palace
Ipswich Town – Tottenham Hotspur
6 defeats in their last 10 league games, 8 points from a possible 30 is relegation form. Kieran McKenna needs to get more out of this team if they’re to stay up. They don’t score enough goals despite having a forward with 10 so far this season and they concede to many. They have the fourth worst defensive record in the league. But, there’s hope for 3 points at least this weekend. They’re playing Spurs, and Spurs are playing crap despite their last 2 results. So there’s hope.
Ange Postecoglou’s team have scored 79 goals so far this season in all competitions with 49 of them coming in the league. Making them the fourth highest scorers in the division. Spurs either win or lose in the league and I’m expecting them to somehow lose this one. This is a game where they should be blowing the opposition away and winning 3 or 4 nil but they’ll somehow screw it up.
Prediction: Ipswich Town 2 — 1 Tottenham Hotspur
Southampton v Brighton & Hove Albion
Ivan Jurić’s team has nothing going for them. They can’t score goals, they can’t stop conceding goals, and only 4 points from a possible 27 since he took charge. Nothing looks good for this team. They have 3 winnable games in their fixture list until the end of the season. They’ll be playing Championship football next season but will he still be there.
With 1 defeat in 8 league games Fabian Hürzeler’s side have re-ignited their charge for Europe. I don’t think they’re good enough to finish in the top 7 this season. But, this coming game gives them a good chance of getting right in the mix. They, like Fulham, need a goal scorer if they’re to have any realistic chance of making Europe. If they had a goal scorer they would batter Southampton this weekend.
Prediction: Southampton 0 — 2 Brighton & Hove Albion
Aston Villa v Chelsea
Unai Emery has worked wonders since he arrived at Villa. He’s turned them from a poor team in a Champions League outfit. But, with only 3 wins in their last 10 league games, being a Champions League outfit for another season is looking less and less likely unless they win the Champions League. Which I don’t see happening.
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca will be looking to improve the teams fortunes. Chelsea have won only 2 of their last 9 league games and with a difficult trip to Villa Park, that doesn’t look like it’s going to be improving anytime soon.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2 — 2 Chelsea
Sunday
Newcastle United v Nottingham Forest
Eddie Howe will be hoping that Newcastle aren’t about to start losing steam having lost 3 of their last 6 league games. They have 3 big games coming up starting with Forest and then Liverpool and Brighton. Newcastle should have enough to win this game but even if they win I don’t think they will finish the season in the Champions League places.
With 2 defeats in their last 6 league games Nuno Espírito Santo’s Nottingham Forest will be hoping that their push for Champions League football isn’t about to start running out of steam. If Forest are to get a positive result, Chris Wood will play a pivotal role.
Prediction: Newcastle United 1 — 1 Nottingham Forest
Manchester City v Liverpool
Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City side knocked out of the Champions League this week by Real Madrid now take on a Liverpool side that hasn’t lost a league game since September. But City can believe they have a chance against Liverpool this weekend. Having lost only once in their last 8 league games it looks like City have finally figured out how to play without Rodri. But, against top quality opposition, Manchester City seem to be getting found out. Will this continue this weekend, let’s hope so.
Liverpool have only lost 1 league game so far this season and have scored in every game apart from the 1 – 0 defeat against Nottingham Forest. If Salah turns up like he has done so many times this season, he’s going to get on the score sheet. I don’t think this is going to be a walk in the park but I do believe Liverpool will win the game.
Prediction: Manchester City 1 — 2 Liverpool
And that, everyone, is my expert opinion on this weekends games. Will Arsenal close the gap at the top. Will Man United be closer to the relegation zone (let’s hope so). Will Van Nisterlrooy be out of a job, and can Ipswich climb out of the bottom 3.
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