This is the last Premier League weekend before Christmas, and the scheduling gods have thrown up quite a treat for Saturday evening – Manchester City versus Leicester.
These are the two sides most likely to challenge Liverpool’s lead at the top of the league, and both are in good form. City dismissed Arsenal with ease last weekend while Leicester’s long winning run was halted by a draw with Norwich.
The pressure is really on City, and Manchester United recently showed they could be vulnerable to fast counterattacks – cue Jamie Vardy. That said, this City side has responded to pressure in the past and we think they will do so again.
Kevin de Bruyne stunned Arsenal with two long range goals last weekend, and with Leicester likely to pack their defence he may have to shoot from distance again. He won’t lack confidence, and we’ll take him to net from outside the penalty area again today. This will help him also take the man of the match award.
The early game sees Arsenal travel north to take on Everton. Both teams have seen recent changes to their managers, with Duncan Ferguson seeming to have wrung more out of his Everton charges in his interim spell than Freddie Ljungberg at Arsenal. Mikel Arteta has just been appointed to the Gunners hot seat but this will be too early for him to have much impact.
We think Goodison Park will again be vibrating as this Everton team tries to fight its way out of trouble, and this may be too much for an Arsenal side that showed very little fight against Manchester City last weekend.
Arsenal have shown defensive frailties all season, and with Everton having very good crossers of the ball we look them to cause trouble at set pieces. Big central defender Yerry Mina hasn’t scored as many as his height would suggest, but he’s a nice price to do and we’ll take him to net today.
Recommendations:
Man City/Leicester: De Bruyne to score from outside the penalty area, and to claim man of the match award, 1 pt each, at 9/1 and 5/1 respectively, SkyBet and William Hill
Everton/Arsenal: Mina to score anytime, 1 pt, at 12/1, SkyBet
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