With the season reaching it's conclusion there are a lot of vital matches taking place across Europe this weekend as well as the inevitable dead rubber games where teams with little to play for are already thinking about their summer holidays. I am obviously going to focus on the matches where 1 or both sides have something to play for with the less important matches being ignored. Saturday's haven't beeen great and it's clear that I need to limit my focus to fewer games and spend more of my time studying the facts, rather than writing my previews and thats exactly what I'm doing this weekend. I'm also going to ignore La Liga entirely and there may only be a few selections from across the European leagues. Here are my short previews, predictions and best bets for the best of the action in the Premier League. 12:45 Southampton V Tottenham - Prediction 1.1- Best Bet - No bet
Former Saints boss Poccehtino returns to his former club Southampton with his Tottenham team in the live lunch time fixture that is pretty tough to call with only 1 point separating the 2 sides who are both "chasing" Europa League football. It remains to be seen whether Spurs actually want to claim that prize but in any event, both sides are are in average form and with it being the early kick-off, I'm going to give it a miss. 15:00 Newcastle United V Swansea City - Prediction 1.2- Best Bet - Swansea to win, draw not bet @6/5 Two teams with little to play for and for me it's a no bet although on current form, the Swans must have a chance to win here with Newcastle in terrible shape. While an away win is quite possible, I doubt I will invest too much here. 15:00 QPR v West Ham United - Prediction 1.0- Best Bet - QPR to win @11/8 Now it's not often that I would advise a bet on a side that have lost their last 6 home games but that's exactly what I'm suggesting here. 6 successive home defeats doesn't look good for QPR but those defeats came to 6 of the top 8 in the division and they have performed well in many of those matches, most recently in their unfortunate 1.0 loss to Chelsea. QPR will probably see this as a must win if they are to escape the drop zone and luckily for the R's, they come up against a Hammers side that seem to be on their summer holidays already. Allardici's men have lost 4 of their last 6 on the road and I fancy QPR to make that 5 from 7 and keep alive their hopes of survival. 15:00 Stoke City v Sunderland - Prediction 1.0- Best Bet - No bet Sunderland are awful and in big trouble at the bottom and this looks like a home win on paper but with Stoke safe and Sunderland desperate, It's not impossible that the visitors will grab a point. No bet for me. 15:00 Burnley V Leicester City - Prediction 2.2- Best Bet -BTTS @5/6 A true relegation 6 pointer as on form Leicester travel to Burnley, looking to record a 4th successive victory. 1 month ago it all seemed lost for The Foxes as they propped up the division, a full 7 points from safety but following a fabulous run of 3 victories, they now find themselves with every chance to pull off a pretty great escape. Burnley themselves are in all kinds of trouble, bottom of the table and without a goal in 4 and while the form suggests an away win is possible, I don't expect Sean Dyche's men to give up without a fight in what is surely their last chance to escape the drop. The 2 sides played out a 2.2 draw in October and while Burnley are clearly struggling for goals, I expect them to raise their game against a Leciester side that have kept only 2 clean sheets on the road all season, and have conceded at least 2 goals in 14 of 17 away games. I fancy a similar outcome here with BTTS @5/6 and a share of the spoils. 15:00 Crystal Palace V Hull City - Prediction 1.1- Best Bet - No bet The form and stats point to a home win for Palace against a rotten Hull side, but with nothing to play for, I don't fancy backing Palace for the win, especially given the must not lose situation that Hull find themselves in. Relegation now looks to be a serious worry for Hull who have failed to score in 5 of their last 7 away games while losing each of their last 3 in the league and with form so poor, it's hard to make a case for them here. If this match it had been a month earlier it would be a solid home banker but as it is with Hull in big trouble and Palace safe, I will be giving this fixture a miss. 15:00 West Brom v Liverpool - Prediction 2.2- Best Bet - BTTS @4/5, BTTS and over 2.5 @13/10 This is more of an instinct bet than one that particularly stands up to statistical analysis so you can take it or leave it. Both sides have leaked goals lately, and both are in inconsistent form so I'm going for an open game that could up in an entertaining draw. 17:30 Manchester City v Aston Villa - Prediction 2.1- Best Bet = BTTS @10/11 It might be through gritted teeth, or rather, gritted fingers, but you have to hand it to Tim Sherwood, he really has dramatically improved this Villa side who have not only climbed away from the imminent threat of relegation but have also engineered a remarkable cup final appeArance after last weeks fine semi final win over Liverpool. 5 wins from 8 games in all competitions is a pretty remarkable turn-around for a team that looked to be heading for the Championship under the charismatic and highly educated Paul Lambert. It would seem, on the face of it at least, that Villa have improved, simply by not having to endure any more of Lambert's negativity and while I am no fan of Sherwood, he has certainly had the impact that Villa's owners would have hoped for. City themselves have been ordinary for months now and while they did get back to winning ways against West Ham last time out, they are hardly going to blow this Villa team away in their current form. The hosts should claim the spoils but I fancy Villa to score again, as they have done so in each of their last 8 under Sherwood although it should be noted that City have clean sheets in each of their last 4 league games at home. BTTS is hardly a banker here, but I still quite fancy this outcome at attractive 10/11 odds. Bo's Best Bets Burnley v Leicester - BTTS @5/6 WBA V Liverpool - BTTS @ 4/5 Man City v A Villa - BTTS @ 10/11 QPR to beat W Ham @11/8 Comments are closed.
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