Premier League leaders look to have an obvious chance of extending their advantage this weekend as they play host to Bournemouth, whilst the biggest match of the week sees Liverpool travel to Chelsea on Friday Night. Meanwhile, other interesting matches from a betting point of view are West Brom vs West Ham, Watford vs Manchester United, and Southampton vs Stoke.
Chelsea fluffed their lines last week as they dropped two points at Swansea, whilst Liverpool showed what they are capable of by beating Leicester 4-1. On the back of that performance, Liverpool will head to Stamford Bridge full of confidence for a fixture they have an outstanding record in over the last 5 seasons with two wins and two draws, compared to a solitary win for Chelsea. Apart from that unbelievable loss to Burnley (28 shots and no goals) Liverpool have also looked solid on their travels so far this year, with a win at Arsenal, a draw at Spurs, and a confidence boosting 5-0 win at Burton Albion. Therefore, laying Chelsea looks the value-play.
West Brom will take confidence from having watched West Ham fall apart against Watford last weekend, but it’s the Hammers who have won the last 2 renewals. Their away from, in losing 3-1 to Manchester City and 2-1 to Chelsea, also suggests that they’re a better side than West Brom who have taken just 1 point from home games against Everton and Middlesborough.
Watford will be buoyed by their 4-2 win over West Ham, but United won’t be taking any prisoners after their title hopes took a dent with defeat against rivals Manchester City. United will also draw on a fantastic record against Watford that has seen them win the last 4 renewals of this fixture, including a 2-1 win last season. Meanwhile, Watford have already shown that they struggle against the Premier League’s best teams, with home defeats to both Chelsea and Arsenal already this season.
The bookies look to have priced this up as though Southampton are the same side as last season, which they certainly haven’t looked so far with just 2 points from 4 games, and they don’t deserve to be odds-on. Swansea also won here two seasons ago, and 5/1 looks too big about them. However, as only one of the teams has scored in 6 of the last 7 games between the two teams, the 10/11 for both teams not to score looks the statistical value.