Tales Top Tips

Look at this, it’s like a practice Christmas run with all these midweek matches to look forward to. The games will start coming thick and fast now which is good news for some, and not so good news for others…

Burnley vs Stoke City

Every part of me is screaming “Burnley win” for this one, but life can be unpredictable at times. There is no logical reason why Stoke will have suddenly grown a pair of balls and be intending to put in the classic Tuesday night in the snow performance against Sean Dyche’s men. All roads point to Burnley winning. So why am I thinking that a worldy from one of Stoke’s slackers will settle the game?

Burnley 0 – 1 Stoke City

Crystal Palace vs Watford

Christian Benteke owes Palace big-time after the weekend and Marco Silva knows his Watford team need to bounce back as well. I’d go as far as saying that Palace actually do not deserve to be bottom under Roy Hodgson and his passionate defence of Wilfried Zaha recently has made me like him again. Yes Roy, you are finally forgiven for Iceland. But, bad news for Palace. Big Mama is injured until the New Year and Christian Benteke is a confidence player with rock-bottom confidence. Palace will still be bottom come the weekend.

Crystal Palace 0 – 1 Watford

Huddersfield Town vs Chelsea

You know what, a manic performance from Huddersfield might put Chelsea in line for back-to-back defeats. Huddersfield are decent at home and Chelsea are possibly already thinking about Barcelona in February as they know their Premier League title defence is over. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Terriers nicked this. It’s all about how you spend your Mounie and the big man is back.

Huddersfield Town 2 – 1 Chelsea

Newcastle United vs Everton

If my memory serves me well, Rafa and Big Sam don’t get on that well. It’s probably something to do with Big Sam’s dislike of foreign managers or something and Rafa probably sees Big Sam as a long-ball merchant. I’m with Rafa on this one. This will be a terrible, terrible game to watch and it could well be a bore draw.

Newcastle United 0 – 0 Everton

Southampton vs Leicester City

I would, in true Kevin Keegan style, love it if Leicester came to St Mary’s and battered Southampton with a performance full of attacking flair. Even now, yes even now, I am annoyed with how Claude Puel got treated on the South Coast and he has made a fine start at Leicester so come on Claude, stick it to them. That said, Charlie Austin, Nathan Redmond and Jake Stephens are in good form.

Southampton 1 – 4 Leicester City

Swansea City vs Manchester City

No wonder Paul Clement was relieved to get a win at the weekend, knowing City were up next. Pep’s men will roll into town and he might well rotate in a rested Sergio Aguero. Rotate in Aguero for crying out loud. It doesn’t seem fair on Swansea. Having been a little stifled at Old Trafford City will be looking forward to getting the freedom of Wales for 90 minutes and this will probably come down to how many they feel like scoring.

Swansea City 0 – 5 Manchester City

Liverpool vs West Bromwich Albion

I have a sneaky feeling that West Bromwich Albion might just get it at Anfield. Pardew isn’t capable of setting a team up to stop Liverpool in full flow and if the Reds’ strikers feel like actually scoring this time (maybe pretend it’s a Champions League match?) then Ben Foster could have a very busy evening. I would imagine Klopp might suggest not touching anyone in the box though.

Liverpool 6 – 0 West Bromwich Albion

Manchester United vs AFC Bournemouth

I think Jose might attack in this one. Not just pick attacking players and defend I mean, actually attack. Bournemouth have a soft underbelly a bit like Stoke City, but it rarely gets called out as it’s Eddie Howe, right? We could see United score four without having Pogba on the pitch.

Manchester United 4 – 1 Bournemouth

Tottenham Hotspur vs Brighton & Hove Albion

I think Spurs might have just woken up again. It could be a long night for Chris Hughton against his former club. Providing Tottenham concentrate on the task in hand (getting the ball to Harry) and not Juventus then they should coast home.

Tottenham Hotspur 3 – 0 Brighton & Hove Albion

West Ham United vs Arsenal

David Moyes has already beaten one big London rival in the last seven days, can he do it again? God, imagine if he did. I’d have to almost admit he is making an actual comeback. If he can get back-to-back match-winning performances out of Marko Arnautovic I will go on a West Ham podcast and apologise to Moyes personally. Arsenal to win.

West Ham United 1 – 3 Arsenal