Man City are three wins away from securing their fourth straight Premier League title. For any other team, we’d worry about them coping with the pressure. Man City though, it’s inevitable. They have won six straight and are unbeaten in their last 32 matches across all competitions. Fulham will have to be at their best if they are going to get anything.
At their best, the Cottagers have proven to be difficult for big sides. However, we’re not sure they’ll have the motivation to be at their best here. Fulham are one of many teams ‘on the beach’ right now. They’ve won just one of their last seven matches. At home, where they’ve been strong, they’ve lost three of their last four.
Man City beat Fulham 5-1 when they played earlier this season. We’re expecting another similar scoreline on Saturday night.
Fulham: Leno; Castagne, Diop, Bassey, Robinson; Palhinha, Cairney; Iwobi, Pereira, De Cordova-Reid; Muniz
Man City: Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol; Rodri, Kovacic; Silva, De Bruyne, Foden; Haaland
While other teams have lost pace as the season went on and put the foot off their gas once they secured their safety, Bournemouth have finished the season strong. Yes, the Cherries lost last week to Arsenal, but that’s just their second loss in their last nine matches.
Brentford haven’t exactly finished the season strong, but the Bees have done just enough to avoid relegation. They’re 0-0 draw last week sums up where this squad is right now. Ivan Toney has not integrated like many expected he would post-suspension. The striker has gone ten matches without a goal and appears to already have his eyes on his next team.
The last meeting between these two ended in a 2-2 draw. With Brentford’s scoring trouble, we don’t see that happening again. Current form should hold and Bournemouth should win this one.
Bournemouth: Travers; Smith, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Ouattara; Cook, Christie; Semenyo, Scott, Kluivert; Solanke
Brentford: Flekken; Ajer, Collings, Pinnock, Reguilon; Damsgaard, Norgaard, Janelt; Mbuemo, Toney, Wissa
When some teams are relegated, they actually start performing better than they were pre-relegation because they no longer have the pressure of relegation looming over them. Sheffield United are not one of those teams.
The Blades have looked even worse post-relegation than they did before. They’ve given up 16 goals in their last four matches. Two of those games were against fellow relegation candidates Nottingham Forest and Burnley.
Everton drew 1-1 with Luton Town last week. On one hand, this shows that the Toffees are capable of dropping points to poor sides. On the other hand, Sheffield United are much worse than Luton. When you add in the fact that Everton are playing at home, we don’t see them losing.
Sean Dyche’s side have lost just one of their last eight home matches. Everton have kept a shutout in five of those matches. They should keep another shutout and get a win here.
Everton: Pickford; Godfrey, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Young; Harrison, Gueye, Garner, McNeil; Doucoure; Calvert-Lewin
Sheff Utd: Foderingham; Holgate, Trusty, Robinson; Bogle, Hamer, Arblaster, Brooks, Osborn; Archer, Brereton-Diaz
Brighton’s 3-1 win over Newcastle back in September was one of the club’s defining victories during their strong start to the season. They got another season-defining victory last weekend.
After a terrible month in April where they didn’t score an open-play goal, the Seagulls’ 1-0 win over Aston Villa showed they were still in the fight for a top-half finish. With all this being said, we don’t see Brighton winning against Newcastle.
Eddie Howe’s side have won four of their last five matches. They’ve scored four goals or more on three of their last four, and more than three goals in four of their last five home matches.
Brighton’s defence is down to bare-bones. Besides the Villa win, they haven’t been able to stop anyone. This should be a multi-goal victory for Newcastle.
Newcastle: Dubravka; Livramento, Krafth, Burn, Hall; Longstaff, Guimaraes, Joelinton; Barnes, Isak, Gordon
Brighton: Verbruggen; Veltman, Webster, Dunk, Barco; Gross, Gilmour; Buonanotte, Pedro, Adingra; Welbeck
Tottenham’s 4-2 loss to Liverpool last weekend all but secured that they will not be in the Champions League next season. However, the Lilywhites could qualify if they win out and Aston Villa slip up. Given that Spurs still have to play Man City, we don’t think that will happen. This week though, we see Spurs getting a win.
Burnley have looked surprisingly strong down the stretch. They’ve gotten good results against mid-table sides like Wolves, Brighton, and Manchester United. Against the big boys though, they’ve showed why they’re in 19th. Last week, Newcastle battered the Clarets 4-1 at Turf Moor.
Tottenham put five past Burnley the last time they played in the league. However, Burnley held Spurs to just one goal in the FA Cup. This one should end somewhere in the middle. 3-1 to Spurs seems like a fair result here.
| Bookmaker | Tip | Odds |
 | Half Time/Full Time - Tottenham/Tottenham | $1.87 |
 | OVER 3.5 Goals | $1.60 |
 | OVER 3.5 Goals | $1.56 |
Tottenham: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven; Emerson; Bissouma, Sarr, Bentancur; Kulusevski, Son, Johnson
Burnley: Muric; Assignon; O’Shea, Esteve, Vitinho; Cullen, Berge; Odobert, Brownhill, Larsen; Foster
Last week, we predicted West Ham would do well against Chelsea. They lost 5-0. In our defence, we did not realise just how ‘on the beach’ the Hammers are at this point in the season. Despite still being in the race for European places, West Ham look ready for the season to be over.
If anything proves this, it’s that the club have announced that David Moyes will not return for next season. West Ham ownership have decided not to renew his contract. Presumably they want to hire a more attacking manager for next season.
Luton Town’s Rob Edwards name may be on West Ham’s shortlist. His Luton are primarily a defensive side, but they can score plenty. They outshot West Ham and racked up more xG the last time these two sides played. However, they went down early and lost the match 2-1.
If Luton get an early goal, we can see them getting a good result here. Given West Ham’s lack of energy right now, we’re willing to bet on that happening.
| Bookmaker | Tip | Odds |
| Double Chance 2 - Luton WIN or DRAW | $2.05 |
| Both Teams To Score - YES | $1.50 |
| Double Chance 2 - Luton WIN or DRAW | $2.05 |
West Ham: Areola; Coufal, Zouma, Ogbonna, Emerson; Alvarez, Soucek; Bowen, Paqueta, Kudus; Antonio
Luton Town: Kaminski; Burke, Mengi, Osho; Onyedinma, Lokonga, Barkley, Doughty; Morris, Adebayo, Chong
Crystal Palace have the sixth best record in the Premier League since Oliver Glasner took over for Roy Hodgson in mid-February. His signing coincided with Michael Olise and Ebere Eze returning to fitness, so he can’t take all the credit. Whatever the case, Palace are firing. They’ve won four of their last five and just embarrassed Man Utd 4-0.
Wolves, meanwhile, are another team who are on the beach. Gary O’Neil’s only win in their last nine matches came against Luton Town. They’ve done a good job keeping things close in matches around their level though. The only teams who’ve beaten Wolves by more than one goal in their last ten matches are Arsenal, Villa, and Man City.
As good as Palace have been, we don’t see them blowing out Wolves here. We’re going for a draw in this one.
| Bookmaker | Tip | Odds |
| Draw No Bet - Palace | $1.77 |
| Both Teams To Score - YES | $1.60 |
| Both Teams To Score - YES | $1.61 |
Wolves: Sa; Semedo, Kilman, Toti; Ait-Nouri, Gomes, Lemina, Traore, Bueno; Hwang, Cunha
Crystal Palace: Henderson; Clyne, Andersen, Richards; Munoz, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell; Olise, Mateta, Eze
Nottingham Forest won last week 3-1 against Sheffield United. They just need four points to guarantee their safety this season. A loss here opens the door for Luton to leapfrog them in Matchweek 38 and for Forest to be relegated this season.
Chelsea, meanwhile, are surprisingly in the race for a Europa Conference League place. The Blues are on a run of two shutout wins and have lost one of their last twelve matches. More importantly, Chelsea have started to look like a team with a tactical identity.
Marc Cucurella drifting inside has been a godsend for Mauricio Pochettino’s side with Enzo Fernandez out and Gallagher sitting deeper has opened up a new dimension to Chelsea’s attack.
We’ve been waiting for the ‘Old Chelsea’ to show up after their 5-0 loss to Arsenal three weeks ago, but they haven’t. We think they won’t for the rest of the season either. This should be an easy win for the Blues.
Nottm Forest: Sels; Montiel, Boly, Murillo, Aina; Yates, Danilo; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood
Chelsea: Petrovic; Chalobah, Silva, Badiashile, Cucurella; Caicedo, Gallagher; Madueke, Palmer, Mudryk; Jackson
Man City fans will be in the odd position of rooting for their rivals Man Utd to get the win this weekend. Unfortunately for the Sky Blues, we don’t see any chance of that happening.
Man Utd were absolutely embarrassed by Crystal Palace last week. The Red Devils’ defence was cut apart by Olise, Eze, and Mateta. Trossard/Martinelli, Saka, and Havertz should do the same. We’d like to give you a more complex analysis than that, but we just can’t see any way where a centre back pairing of Jonny Evans and Casemiro can stop Arsenal’s front three.
Arsenal have scored multiple goals in six of their last seven Premier League matches. They’ve kept clean sheets in five of those seven. Old Trafford always gives Man Utd a chance, so we like their chances of scoring, but the Gunners will win this match.
Man Utd: Onana; Dalot, Casemiro, Evans, Wan-Bissaka; Mainoo, Eriksen; Antony, Mount, Garnacho; Hojlund
Arsenal: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu; Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Trossard
Liverpool’s 4-2 win against Tottenham means they are still in the title race. Well, it means they haven’t been mathematically eliminated yet at least. To the club though, it’s over. They’ve lost two of their last five and drama between Klopp and his stars have boiled to the surface.
It’s clear Reds have started to look forward to life under new manager Arne Slot. Players like Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez, and others have made hints about their future. All this to say that this match is not very important for many in Liverpool right now.
On the other hand, Aston Villa needs a good result in this match. Their 1-0 loss to Aston Villa means they still need to get points on the board to secure a Champions League place for next season.
Given the stakes and recent form, we’re backing Villa to get at least a draw here.
| Bookmaker | Tip | Odds |
| Double Chance 1 - Villa WIN or DRAW | $2.12 |
| OVER 3.5 Goals | $1.80 |
| Double Chance 1 - Villa WIN or DRAW | $2.13 |
Aston Villa: Olsen; Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne; McGinn, Luiz; Bailey, Rogers, Diaby; Watkins
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Van Dijk, Robertson; Elliott, Endo, Mac Allister; Salah, Gakpo, Diaz
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We have EPL betting tips and predictions for every Matchweek 12 fixture, including Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest, Man City vs. Tottenham.
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