Brentford v. Tottenham Hotspurs
When the Premier League returns with Brentford hosting Spurs in a London Derby, most of the talk will be around one man – Ivan Toney. The Englishman has scored 10 league goals this season – the third most – and seemed set for a place in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the FIFA World Cup. Since he’s been left out, Toney has been charged with 262 breaches of the FA Betting Rules and he could be facing a very lengthy suspension. Toney responded to the heartbreak of missing out on the World Cup by netting a brace to end Manchester City’s 20-game unbeaten run in a memorable 2-1 win and iIt’ll be interesting to see how he responds to his latest obstacle.
As a team, this game will prove very difficult for the hosts. They haven’t beaten Spurs in their last 13 meetings in all competitions (D4, L9), a run stretching back to 1948. To make things worse, Brentford haven’t scored against the visitors in 5 games, with their last goal coming from Lloyd Osusu back in 1998 in the League Cup. Spurs, however, have had challenges of their own. They have won just 1 of their last 15 London derbies (D6, L8) with their last coming against Fulham in last year in March.
Spurs might also be missing a few key players for this fixture, which could be a problem for them. Harry Kane – second on the scoring chart – should be available for this match, with DejanKulusevski and Son Heung-min also expected to be available. But, Cristian Romero and Hugo Lloris, both of whom were in the finals of the Qatar World Cup, will still be on break with Ivan Perišić – who played in the Third Place match – also expected to be absent. Rodrigo Bentancur, who was the hero for Spurs in their late comeback against Leeds United, has been sidelined for a month while Richalison is also nursing a new injury and is expected to be out indefinitely. Antonio Conte will have a decent set of players still available for him, with Fraser Forster expected to make his league debut for Spurs in goal.
Both teams have excellent Boxing Day records and that could play a part in this fixture. Brentford have lost just 2 of their last 13 Boxing Day games, even though that came against Brighton in a 2-0 loss last season. Tottenham, meanwhile, are on a 15 game unbeaten Boxing Day run, with their last lost coming against Portsmouth back in 2003 – the best record by a English team in the top flight in the last century.
Prediction:
Leicester City v. Newcastle United
These two teams were in fine form before the World Cup break, and it’ll be interesting to see if theypickup where they left off. The Foxes started the season in terrible fashion and flirted with relegation for a while before a string of brilliant performances by James Maddison inspired a turnaround that has seen them rise to 13th in the Premier League with 4 wins in their last 5 games. They have 5 wins in their last 7 games in all competitions, with their only loss coming against Manchester City by a very respectable 1-0 scoreline. The most impressive thing about the Foxes’ fine 7-game run was the improvement in defense, which saw them keep 6 clean sheets in those 7 games (in all competitions). In fact, having conceded 22 goals in their opening 7 league games of the season, they’ve conceded just 3 in their last 8.
As good as the Leicester City turnaround story has been, Newcastle has an even better one. They’ve lost just one game in all competitions this season – a bitter 2-1 loss to Liverpool at Anfield, with the winner coming in the 98th minute. The Magpies are on a 5-game winning streak in the league and though they showed some rust against Bournemouth in the League Cup, they did just about enough to advance to the quarter-finals following a 1-0 win. Eddie Howe’s men have showed they can hang with the best as they aim to finish in the top four for the first time since the 2002/2003 season under the late Sir Bobby Robson, when they finished 3rd.
Leicester City has had the upper hand over the visitors in recent years though, admittedly, they haven’t faced a Newcastle side this stacked. The Foxes have won 9 of their last 13 games against Newcastle, with the Magpies getting 4 wins. This means there’s always something separating both sides when they meet following the absence of a draw in that game span. If Newcastle are to triumph in this game, the one man they would look to is Miguel Almirón. The Paraguayan has 8 goals and 1 assist this season and is having his best year since his move to England. He will, however, have to contend with the aforementioned James Maddison, who is having an equally brilliant season with 7 goals and 4 assists.
Prediction:
Aston Villa v. Liverpool
Both teams signed off for the World Cup break with two consecutive league wins apiece. One of Aston Villa’s was an impressive 3-1 win at home to Manchester United, when a quickfire double very early in the game left the visitors dizzy all day. Though they lost to the Red Devils when both teams met again just 4 days later in the league cup, that first victory was very important as it did breathe life into a season that seemed to be slowly dying under former manager, Steven Gerrard. New boss, Unai Emery has played more friendlies (4) than the norm during the World Cup break as he tries to get a better grasp of this new team but against Liverpool, he will have a major blow – the absence of Emiliano Martínez. The Argentine shot-stopper is still on a break following his country’s triumph in Qatar and in his place, Robin Olsen will be in goal. There are concerns about Olsen and his abilities. When the Swede came in for Emi Martínez against Newcastle, the scoreline was 0-0 and ended up being 4-0 with Newcastle running away with the game. When he played against Manchester United in the League Cup about a week later, he again conceded 4 as the Red Devils ended up 4-2 winners.
Liverpool will be heavily favored when they line up at Villa park. The Reds have had a shaky start to their league campaign where they’ve lost twice as many games this season (4) as they did last year (2) despite playing just 14 games. However, the extended break enjoyed by some of their biggest stars would work in their favor. Mo Salah and Andrew Robertson failed to qualify for the World Cup, while Roberto Firmino and Thiago Alcântara were not called up. Fabinho and Trent Alexander-Arnold barely featured for their respective clubs, while Darwin Núñezsuffered an early exit. This Liverpool side is well rested and hungry to right the wrongs of the first half of their season and against an Aston Villa side with a glaring weakness, it’s expected they’ll be looking to exploit that.
Prediction:
Arsenal v. West Ham United
With a 5-point cushion on top of the Premier League, The Gunners have been the best team in England thus far. Even better for them, one of their brightest stars, Bukayo Saka – who ranks #2 in assists (6) – had a brilliant World Cup and was arguably the best player in his position in Qatar. This ability to boss games on the world’s biggest stage, just as he had done in England, must have filled Mikel Arteta with a lot of optimism as he aims to bring the Premier League to the North London club for the first time since the Unbeaten Season in 2003/2004.
The one major headache for the Arsenal boss, though, is the injury to summer signing, Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian forward, who has 5 goals and 5 assists since his move from Manchester City, suffered a knee injury while in Qatar and is expected to miss up to 3-months following a successful surgery. Besides Jesus, there is a healthy squad for Arteta to pick from. Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka, who have been described as the machines that binds the Arsenal team, had early exits from the World Cup and should be well rested ahead of the resumption of the league. Xhaka is enjoying his most prolific season in attack since joining The Gunners. The Swiss Midfielder has 4 goals and 3 assists for Arsenal this season and has clearly enjoyed a more advanced role this season while his partner in midfield, Partey, has enjoyed his relatively injury-free start to the season.
For the visitors, 4 losses in their last 5 league games and an additional exit in the Carabao Cup to Blackburn Rovers has seen David Moyes come under some heavy scrutiny. The Scottish Manager led the Hammers to a 7th place finish last season but has his side just 1-point above the Relegation Zone this year despite spending the third most money in the summer in all of Europe (£162 million). West Ham’s biggest challenge has been in front of goal, where they’ve scored just 12 league goals in 15 games. They’ve failed to score in 7 of those 15 games and questions are already being asked about Gianluca Scamanca, their £31m signing from Sassuolo.
Prediction:
Visit BetKing and place your EPL bets today.
