Premier League Predictions & best bets: Liverpool to miss opportunity to beat Man City
Watch West Ham vs Arsenal, Aston Villa vs Chelsea & Liverpool vs Manchester City all live on Sky Sports; Play Super 6 to win £250,000!
Saturday 30 November 2024 18:22, UK
Our football betting expert Jones Knows is back to provide more Premier League insight ahead of the weekend.
West Ham vs Arsenal, Saturday 5.30pm, live on Sky Sports
With Liverpool and Manchester City locking horns this weekend, if, like me, you still think Arsenal are the best team in the Premier League then now is the time to back them at 100/30 with Sky Bet for the title before that price vanishes.
I'm still a believer that this is their time having gone close before and they possess the ruthless streak to put winning runs together built around one of the best defensive units ever seen in the Premier League. That defence can lead them to another win to nil victory here.
The 6/4 on offer is a nice boost on the Arsenal outright price on a team that have won to nil on the road on nine of their last 19 matches. I can see a typical Arsenal away performance built on being defensively focused, sapping the energy out of the game before striking when on top.
SCORE PREDICTION: 0-1
Chelsea vs Aston Villa, Sunday 1.30pm, live on Sky Sports
It is now just one clean sheet in Aston Villa's last 17 Premier League games after Crystal Palace, led by Ismaila Sarr, managed to score twice at Villa Park. They have now conceded a whopping 31 goals in that period to a per game average of 1.82. Only Wolves and West Ham have conceded more goals in that time.
Trending
- Can Liverpool be caught? Neville assesses Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City hopes
- Man City latest: Guardiola 'didn't expect' sacked chants at Anfield
- Papers: PSG offer Chelsea surprise swap deal for Nkunku
- 'I lost all respect' - Verstappen slams Russell after Qatar confrontation
- Salah: Contract situation is in my head | Sturridge: Show him the money!
- Transfer Centre LIVE! Fulham's Pereira left out for 'technical decision'
- Reaction to Liverpool's BIG title statement LIVE! Rate the players...
- Rashford and Zirkzee give Amorim perfect PL start at Old Trafford
- Liverpool one step closer to PL title with emphatic win over Man City
- Bellingham and Mbappe net as Real close in on Barcelona with Getafe win
The problems facing Unai Emery are similar to the ones at Manchester City in terms of the high-quality of chances they are shipping in transition. Once teams are through the midfield press, it's relatively easy to beat the centre-backs in one-for-one duels. Chelsea are packed full of players to do just that - including Nicolas Jackson, who is proving doubters like me wrong regarding his final actions in front of goal.
He has 17 goal involvements in his last 20 Premier League and is 5/6 with Sky Bet to score or assist against what is a very generous Villa defence.
SCORE PREDICTION: 3-1
Manchester United vs Everton, Sunday 2pm
Ruben Amorim already looks to have more grey hairs than when he arrived in Manchester.
If he didn't know the size of the task ahead of him, he does now after two disjointed performances that laid bare the huge problems within this United squad. He's inherited a very passive midfield, creativity and energy is in short supply in the final third and Onana is having to make too many big saves.
Amorim has already seen his team ship 10 shots on target in two matches and although Everton have netted just once in their last four, they are creating chances, averaging five shots on target per game in that run. Iliman Ndiaye has fired two on target in that run and is without doubt Everton's brightest spark, capable of high quality. He looks a temping proposition to have a shot on target at Evens with Sky Bet.
SCORE PREDICTION: 1-1
Tottenham vs Fulham, Sunday 2pm
There is a pattern emerging for Tottenham after a midweek European fixture in that they have lost the next Premier League game. Brighton, Crystal Palace and Ipswich all took advantage of perhaps some heavy legs in the Spurs camp as Ange Postecoglou's tubthumping football is hard to sustain twice a week.
And considering I've got Fulham as lively outsiders for a top-four finish this season - that went well against Wolves last weekend - I've got to play the visitors here at the prices. Fulham on the draw no bet market at 12/5 with Sky Bet looks one to seriously consider.
SCORE PREDICTION: 1-2
Liverpool vs Manchester City, Sunday 4pm, live on Sky Sports
This is an enormous opportunity for Liverpool. How Arne Slot's gameplan copes with the expectation upon them to win this game will tell us plenty about their true title capabilities.
That expectation is shown in the betting markets where Man City are going off outsiders in a Premier League match for the first time in 287 Premier League games - a run stretching back to when they were beaten 2-1 by Chelsea in 2017.
It's been a remarkable fall from grace and Slot's team do have the direct attackers to seriously hurt City in transition if they rinse and repeat what Tottenham did last weekend. The outright prices look right to me though with, if pushed, the high-scoring draw my idea of a correct score play at the prices.
A better punting option comes with Josko Gvardiol, who is 13/2 with Sky Bet to record an assist in a game where City should be capable of creating big moments.
Gvardiol's influence is becoming very key in the final third, not only from a goalscoring perspective where he's a very tidy finisher but also from a chance creation point of view.
He created eight chances in the defeat to Tottenham - the most of any player in a single game across that Premier League weekend. The defender is very keen to join the attacks down the left and gets himself into dangerous areas. That is shown by the numbers showing he's created 17 chances in his last six starts. An assist is coming.
