The Premier League makes a welcome return on Saturday after the International break. First up are champions Manchester City who host Tottenham in the lunchtime kick-off.
Spurs have been down this route before, arriving here in buoyant mood last year to be thumped 6-0. They also suffered similar humiliation at home, conceding a further five as City waltzed through their non-existent defence. Will Tottenham make a game of it under Mauricio Pochettino?
Although Spurs trail City by just three points, this is really a match that the Champions should win if they are to keep tabs on Chelsea. Sergio Aguero scored three times against Spurs last year and is back to something like his best. He looks a decent bet to score in a home win.
Arsenal are currently residing in eighth place and they need a confidence booster at home to Hull. The dust has now settled on another defeat for the Gunners at Stamford Bridge and Arsene Wenger has begrudgingly apologised for shoving Jose Mourinho. There should not be too much to get fired up about in this one, although Hull may feel that they have a score to settle from last season’s FA Cup disappointment.
Burnley are starting to look like good things for relegation and a defeat at home to West Ham on Saturday would confirm that view. Sam Allardyce has pulled a rabbit out of the hat with Diafra Sakho who has scored in all five games so far for the Hammers. He could be worth combining with a Hammers victory, especially with Stewart Downing relishing his new role as midfield provider.
League leaders Chelsea travel to Crystal Palace for a game that they should win in a canter. Somehow they contrived to lose this match last year and it provides an opportunity to measure their progress since. Three points against Palace counts just as much as three against Arsenal and that is a lesson that they should have learned from last year. The bookmakers are growing to hate Diego Costa as he keeps coming up with the goods. He even scored for Spain in midweek and the omens are not good for Palace.
Everton must be scratching their heads when they look at the league table and see themselves one point above the drop zone. They have played some good football this season but their defence has been woeful. They need to tighten up against a slightly unpredictable Aston Villa side but should just edge it.
I would normally skip past Newcastle v Leicester but the Alan Pardew show re-starts at 3pm with more trials and tribulations expected. Papiss Cisse is the only man keeping Pardew in a job at the moment and he will be the key player again on Saturday. Don’t put it past him to pop up and save his boss for the third time in little over a month.
Southampton continue to astound and sit proudly in third position. They are at home to Sunderland but you get the feeling that the pressure will start to tell sooner or later. They needed a world class goal from Pelle to beat QPR and Sunderland returned to winning form last week. It may be worth taking the Black Cats to steal a point on Saturday.
QPR look as weak as Burnley at present and should provide Liverpool with a much-needed three points on Sunday while Stoke and Swansea has “draw” written all over it. The mega-bucks spent at Old Trafford have started to pay off and they can continue their upward climb by winning at the Hawthorns on Monday. Di Maria continues to impress and can get on the score sheet for the Red Devils.
Sergio Aguero to score and Man City win @11-8 Coral
Arsenal to win by one goal @11-4 Skybet
Diafra Sakho to score and West Ham win @5-1 Bwin
Diego Costa to score and Chelsea win @6-5 Ladbrokes
Everton to win by one goal @11-4 Skybet
Papiss Cisse to score and Newcastle win @15-4 Bwin
Southampton v Sunderland DRAW @3-1 Bet365
Liverpool to win by three or more goals @4-1 Skybet
Stoke v Swansea DRAW @21-10 Bet365
Angel Di Maria to score and Man Utd win @3-1 Paddy Power
