Saturday starts with the Premier League clash between Southampton and Chelsea at St. Mary’s Stadium.
Thomas Tuchel has made an excellent start as Chelsea head coach, putting together a run of five straight wins in all competitions. Southampton, by contrast, have lost six league games on the trot, and will be desperately short of confidence.
We can only see one way this game ends, and that’s with an away win. Timo Werner broke a 1000-minute Premier League goal drought against Newcastle on Monday. We think his pace will be a real asset on the break as the Saints press forward, and he is a hefty 21/10 to score anytime.
Next up is the relegation clash between Burnley and West Brom at Turf Moor.
The hosts have managed to drag themseleves out of the bottom three, helped by their home form. They have only lost three times at home in their last 10, and those were to the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea. They will be ready for this very winnable clash.
West Brom are very poor travellers, and have conceded far too many this season for safety. Burnley should get plenty of chances going forward, and we’ll take Ashley Barnes to capitalise on one of these, at 23/10.
The highlight of the Premier League day is the Merseyside Derby, with Liverpool hosting Everton at Anfield.
The Reds had an excellent win in the Champions League midweek, and that could provide some much-needed confidence, but the fact remains before that encounter, they had lost five of their last seven games in all competitions, included three defeats at home. It’s true Everton have only won one of their last six matches, but we’re reluctant to take a punt on Liverpool at short odds.
Instead we’ll acknowledge Liverpool’s defensive weaknesses, and take a punt on Richarlison scoring today. He netted here last year in a 5-2 defeat, but was also sent off in the reverse fixture earlier in the season. That could be the perfect motivation to score today, and he’s a hefty 5/1 to do so.
The late game sees Fulham host Sheffield United at Craven Cottage. Both teams surely will treat this game as a must win, which could make this a more entertaining game that would originally be the case.
Fulham are looking lively in attack and they have had a decent few days, moving to within six points of safety after beating Everton on Sunday and then getting a draw at Burnley on Wednesday.
Part of the reason the Cottagers have started to look more threatening has been the introduction of striker Josh Maja into the side. He scored a brace against Everton and had chances against Burnley. We’ll look for him to score tonight, at 11/5.
Recommendations:
Werner (Chelsea), Barnes (Burnley), Richarlison (Everton) and Maja (Fulham) to all score anytime as a Yankee (prices from SkyBet)
