Tales Top Tips

Brighton & Hove Albion vs Crystal Palace

They hate each other these two, and I’m still not too sure why. I should know, most of my family are Palace fans, bless them. Both teams are in relatively good form coming into the match and Palace might actually be believing that they can get out of the relegation zone before Roy starts tucking into the Christmas turkey. He’s certainly got them playing a bit more like a team than that total football guy managed. Brighton played very well at Old Trafford but that counts for little when you lose 1-0. This could be a cracker of a match.

Brighton & Hove Albion 2 – 2 Crystal Palace

Leicester City vs Tottenham Hotspur

Hey, do you remember when Spurs were the best team the world has ever seen because they beat Real Madrid? Happy days that feel a very long time ago. Tottenham have barely won since then (admittedly, probably not even close to being an accurate statement) whereas Leicester look pretty well organised under Claude Puel who might actually be a better manager than the Southampton fans gave him credit for. How will Spurs react to only drawing to a team managed by Gary Megson? Well, you would expect and if they don’t want to make qualifying for the Champions League next season way more challenging than it actually needs to be, then they’d better start sorting themselves out.

Leicester City 1 – 3 Tottenham Hotspur

Watford vs Manchester United

The battle between one Portuguese manager who everyone wants at their club and the other Portuguese manager who tries to get himself linked to everybody else’s club to get a new deal with his current employer and/or an increased transfer kitty. I’ll let you work out which one is which. Just imagine the hyperbole if Marco Silva managed to get one over on Jose? It is looking like Watford will keep their man which would be wise – then he can move to a properly big club in the summer rather than moving to a not-very-big-club-that-is-properly-f**ked-right-now next week. Leave that to Allardyce.

Watford 1 -1 Manchester United

West Bromwich Albion vs Newcastle United

Let’s be honest, both managers would take a 0-0 here before kick off. Newcastle are in a tail-spin and Rafa is already warning the fans that he is unlikely to have any money to spend in January so they may as well start getting behind the current lot. Megson is just loving every second of being around “proper football” people again.

West Bromwich Albion 0 – 0 Newcastle United

AFC Bournemouth vs Burnley

I’d imagine Sean Dyche is still fuming inside but not showing it and Eddie Howe is still relieved that Swansea’s goal got disallowed at the weekend. It will be interesting to see how Burnley bounce back from a third Arsenal injury-time injustice in a row and it is always a lottery as to which Bournemouth will rock up.

AFC Bournemouth 0 – 2 Burnley

Arsenal vs Huddersfield Town

This either has Arsenal 5-0 or Arsenal spontaneously combusting written all over it. All the signs are there for Wenger’s men; a brilliant win in the Derby and then a battling win at a tough place to go. All the cliches add up to them now dropping points at home to a Huddersfield Town who must still be reeling a bit from losing to Manchester City. That said, Huddersfield get their points at home not on the road and Arsenal might, just might, have turned a corner.

Arsenal 3 – 0 Huddersfield Town

Chelsea vs Swansea City

Swansea are terrible. They are really, really bad. Even Wilfried Bony just starting to come out of his three-year-long hibernation at the weekend won’t be enough to get anything from this match. Conte is now clean shaven, so we presume that means he means business once again rather than starting to look the part for any sneaky little job interviews.

Chelsea 4 – 0 Swansea City

Everton vs West Ham United

One club in crisis greets a club that is trying to convince themselves that they are not in crisis. There is an irony in the fact that the last time Everton seemed to have any real direction and solidity it was when David Moyes was in charge. West Ham weren’t too bad against Leicester last Friday and if David Unsworth wants to leave Goodison Park on a high then he has to win this one. Otherwise, he will never manage again.

Everton 0 – 1 West Ham United

Manchester City vs Southampton

Southampton might have a little bit of false hope heading to Manchester, having scored four in a game as opposed to a month for the first time this season. There will be four goals in this game too, but Charlie Austin won’t be getting any.

Manchester City 4 – 0 Southampton

Stoke City vs Liverpool

If you were to name some matches you’d expect Liverpool to find a way of screwing up, a trip to Stoke would have to be on that list. Make no mistake, outside of moments of brilliance from some of their players Stoke are not a good side. Mind you, Liverpool’s defence is so lacking in confidence right now that they are going to bed listening to self-help audios. I’d love to see Liverpool go 2-0 up in this quite early, just to see what happens next.

Stoke City 0 – 3 Liverpool