EPL Preview - Saturday/Sunday
After a week of European cup competition, which sent shock waves around the UK, the focus shifts back to the EPL title race this weekend. Only, league leaders Chelsea, will not feature as they battle Spurs for their first trophy (of what they hope is several by season’s end) at Wembley on Sunday in the League Cup.
This promises to be a huge weekend in English football with clubs jockeying for top four position on one end and avoiding relegation worries on the other.
West Ham United vs. Crystal Palace
Last weekend, West Ham were victims to a 2-goal fightback and last minute equalizer at Tottenham Hotspur taking their tally to 4 draws in their last 6 matches. Sam Allardyce has done an admirable job keeping them in the top half of the table despite all the noise from the outside. Crystal Palace come in sitting five points clear of the relegation zone. Statistically speaking, it is tough to separate these two since the new year, even though West Ham come in as slight home favorites. If West Ham find the back of the net, it is likely to come from Stewart Downing $6,300 (5 goals, 7 assists in all competitions) and/or Diafra Sahko $7,900 (9 goals all competitions). James Tomkins $2,000 is a nice play if West Ham can keep Crystal Palace off the score sheet.
Burnley vs. Swansea
Burnley getting a result at Chelsea last weekend may have been the biggest surprise but they have still yet to grab three points from a game since a win at home vs. QPR in early January. Swansea got an equally impressive result sinking Manchester United at home, 2-1. Burnley are absolutely desperate for points as they fight for top flight survival, while Swansea’s away form has left a little to be desired thus far this season. The odds say that Burnley are very slight favorites at home, however boosted by the win last weekend, Swansea will like their chances. I have my eye on Swansea GK Lukasz Fabianski $3,800 if these two cancel each other out in a low scoring stalemate or a narrow Swansea road win.
Manchester United vs. Sunderland
If the defeat in Wales wasn’t enough last weekend, United were further dejected by the scene of Robin Van Persie leaving the stadium on crutches. He will miss some time so the question that now begs answering is whether or not Falcao $8,700 can come in and help United fend off top four challengers in Liverpool, Arsenal and Southampton. The chance we took on Marouane Fellaini $4,900 last weekend failed to pay off but I still like the fact he’s priced relatively low and is spending more and more time in goal-scoring positions. I’m not saying he’s a definite selection but the risk may be worth taking considering he has played the full 90 minutes in four of United’s last six EPL matches and rarely loses aerial battles. Angel Di Maria $9,200 has 20 and 17 FPTS in his last two matches respectively and looks to be the surest thing from the United side.
Stoke vs. Hull
For the first time this season, Hull have won two EPL matches in a row, but visit Stoke with a dreadful away record this season (two wins in thirteen matches). Winter signing, Dame N’Doye $6,000, is already providing Hull with fast dividends in the form of 2 goals and 1 assist in his first three EPL matches. With that said though, Hull’s away form shouldn’t be taken lightly, and from the Stoke side of the ball, Victor Moses $6,600 has had a consistent 4-game stretch of 8, 8, 12, 19 FPTS and looks to be a solid play for tomorrow’s game.
Newcastle United vs. Aston Villa
Aston Villa make the visit to St. James Park this weekend in a world of problems. Consider that they’ve scored the fewest goals in the league (13) and have lost six straight league matches. Out of those thirteen goals scored, only four have come on the road paving the way for strong plays among Newcastle’s defensive unit. GK Tim Krul $4,900 has the third highest cost at his position given the aforementioned statistics. From an offensive standpoint, there isn’t much that points to sure fire picks given recent form. Remy Cabella would have gotten a decent look but he misses out with a knee injury.
West Bromwich Albion vs. Southampton
Southampton will have felt hard done by their 2-0 defeat to Liverpool last week after being on the wrong end of a few questionable refereeing decisions. It will be important to monitor Starting XIs in this match as Saido Berahino $7,400 (WBA’s leading goal scorer) is questionable with an injury and Dusan Tadic $7,700 of Southampton has not played 90 minutes since February 1st. Ryan Bertrand $4,800 returns from a lengthy suspension and averages nearly 10 FPTS per game as does Ejero Elia $6,000 for Southampton. The Saints come into this match as a slight away favorite with a draw appearing a likely outcome but one has to wonder how much longer they can stay in the fight for a Champions League place next year.
Liverpool vs. Manchester City
The early Sunday match features two teams wanting to get back to winning ways after tough midweek matches in Europe. City were largely dominated by Barcelona in the first half of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg and were frankly very fortunate to only have lost 1-2. Liverpool were eliminated from the Europa League at the hands of Turkish side Besiktas on penalties after a tough 120 minutes and squad fitness will be of concern for Brendan Rodgers. Meanwhile, City has a fully fit squad and Yaya Toure $7,500 will be raring to go having been suspended for the Barcelona game. I also like Joe Hart $5,000 after saving a Lionel Messi penalty and the fact that Liverpool played a late game on Thursday in Turkey. Also, keep an eye on Wilfried Bony $7,700 to see if he gets an opportunity to partner up with Kun Aguero $10,100 up front for CIty. Aguero’s last three matches have yielded 16, 20, and 27 FPTS respectively. For Liverpool, I’m still intrigued by Daniel Sturridge’s relatively low price of $7,500. Manuel Pelligrini came under fire for his tactics against Barcelona so it will be interesting to see if he makes changes with Toure’s availability.
Arsenal vs. Everton
Arsenal have been the subject of ridicule and criticism since their shocking 1-3 defeat at home to Monaco in the Champions League. In particular, Olivier Giroud $9,400 and GK David Ospina $5,200 received the brunt of the blame (of course excluding Arsene Wenger) and their starting places could come into question. In the Europa League, Everton continued their superb form and are through to the Round of 16 with Romelu Lukaku $8,100 looking to bring his goal scoring prowess of the Europa League to this game on Sunday for Everton. On the Arsenal side, Mesut Ozil $8,200 will try and break out of a 2-game funk and it will be interesting to see if Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain $4,900 gets more minutes after his sensational strike on Wednesday. Tactically, this game has the feeling of being more “up and down” as usual. There should definitely be goals.
FOR KICKS…
For those taking advantage of the multiple league offerings Mondogoal has and because I can never get enough of my beloved La Liga, here’s what I’m thinking about entering the weekend…
● Barcelona travel to 19th placed Granada and I like the price tag on Luis Suarez ($13.6m) considering his two goals in Manchester and the fact that Messi is listed at a sky high $27.6m. Granada have one win in La Liga since September 20th so the Barca defensive unit are also very much in play.
● Malaga, who play at home to Getafe, also look intriguing to me after their shocking 1-0 win at Camp Nou last weekend. Getafe saw manager Quique Sanchez Flores resign midweek so there’s a lot of uncertainty there that could weigh on the squad, but Pablo Sarabia ($11.0m) has been a bright spot in that team.
● Sunday’s lineup of games are certainly more intriguing with the Basque derby (Eibar vs. Athletic Bilbao), Atletico Madrid traveling to Sevilla, and Real Madrid at home to Villarreal. Gareth Bale ($11.6m) is surprisingly low and could warrant a play. Villarreal return to Spain after a Thursday night win in Austria in the Europa League and also have to think about the second leg semifinal against Barcelona coming up.
● Sevilla have scored 3 goals in each of their last two matches. Striker Carlos Bacca is at $9.9m.
● The Basque Derby sees Eibar come in with 5 consecutive defeats and Athletic having been eliminated from the Europa League on Thursday night. Some of the Athletic defensive options look intriguing considering Eibar’s recent form.