Show/hide article…
The Premier League is back, and so is Paul Merson with his midweek predictions…
There’s a full round of Premier League fixtures on Tuesday and Wednesday including some crunch matches in the top-four race.
Chelsea host Manchester City, while Arsenal face West Ham and Tottenham travel to Swansea on Wednesday night, following Manchester United’s game with Everton on Tuesday.
Read on to see what Soccer Saturday pundit Merson is tipping…
A few weeks ago everyone was talking about Everton being on the up, and then they go to Middlesbrough and draw 0-0. Then they get bigged up, go to Tottenham and are poor. Then they get bigged up again, go to Liverpool and are poor.
They are missing a few players, but I thought it was comfortable for Liverpool.
Sooner or later Man Utd are going to hit a few past a team. I think if Man Utd don’t win this, all their eggs are in the Europa League basket.
This is a big game. Burnley need to win, they’re on the old glass mountain with moccasin slippers on. They are sliding.
That’s seven games without a win. If they win this it takes the pressure off, but if they don’t, they then go to Middlesbrough on Saturday and they’re looking in trouble.
But they’re decent at home, and I actually think the Spurs game on Saturday was quite even. I’m going for a big three points for Burnley.
You can’t stop them now! I’m going for Leicester to beat Sunderland. I was really disappointed in Sunderland on Saturday, it was a game they really had to win.
David Moyes was saying they have to win five games, and surely that was one of them. Leicester are flying; Stoke had some chances at the end on Saturday, but I fancy the hosts here.
I think Watford can relax now. They had a very, very big result against Sunderland at the weekend, as it looked like they were struggling at one point, and now they’re back into the top half of the table.
West Brom will be a very difficult game, so I’m going to go 1-1. You never know what you’re really going to get with Watford, but with Troy Deeney, who should be back, I fancy them to get a result.
I just don’t see how Man City are going to contain Chelsea. They’re all over the place at the back at the moment. I think Chelsea will bounce back here.
Which Man City are we going to get? The great Man City from the first 15 minutes against Arsenal, where they ripped them to shreds?
I think there is still a title race, because I’ve got Tottenham to win, and then I fancy them to win again early Saturday against Watford, so that would be four points.
I think he gap will close over the next three or four weeks, but Chelsea to win here.
Liverpool struggle against the lesser teams at home, but if they can win this, back-to-back wins, they’ll cement their place in the top four.
Philippe Coutinho is back in form, and he looked superb on Saturday against Everton. He’s the key to them against these sides near the bottom of the table.
I like Slaven Bilic, I think he’s a good manager, but it’s just one of those seasons. West Ham are struggling at the moment, and you’d expect Arsenal to win this game with the way the Hammers are playing.
The last 20 minutes against Man City for Arsenal was like an Emirates Cup game, like Austria v West Germany in the World Cup many years back. It was like: “That’s a draw, we’re both happy with that.” Neither side wanted to lose.
West Ham are struggling, so I’m going with Arsenal.
Marco Silva has not lost a home game in three years. That is some record.
I thought Hull were fortunate on Saturday; they went 1-0 down against West Ham, never looked like scoring, and then they suddenly scored, got on the ride and went on to win the game.
This is a massive, massive game. Boro needed more than a draw at Swansea, especially with Rudy Gestede’s chance at the end, he’s just got to score with that chance. I’m going to go with another draw.
Swansea v Boro was a weird game; the draw was good for nobody. You look at Swansea, that was the game they had to win, to put a bit of distance between them and the bottom three with Spurs at home coming up.
I’m going to go with Tottenham. It was a professional performance at Burnley. It was difficult at first but they turned it on.
I’m going to go Palace here. They’ve got some really, really tough fixtures coming up, and they need to win this. They have the hardest run-in, so they need to get a gap between them and the bottom three.
If they win this, I think they’ll be OK. Because then, Sam Allardyce can set his side up not to lose against the big teams.
You don’t want to go into those games against the bigger teams needing to win. He’s the best in the business at getting draws against those big teams.
Reckon you can do better?
There’s a massive £250,000 up for grabs in the latest edition of Super 6. All you have to do to scoop the prize is predict the scores of six selected matches on Tuesday night. It’s free to play so get your entry in for the chance to win. ENTER HERE
Sky customers can now upgrade to Sky Sports and get 12 months for just £18 per month. Upgrade now!
Go to the original article…
...fruitfully mustered by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!