Kicking off the last Premiership fixtures before Christmas is Aston Villa who are hosting Manchester City at Villa Park. Man City are currently 5th in the league two points ahead of Villa in 7th. Aston Villa are restoring some form following a blip earlier in the season and the hosts are unbeaten in their last four home games, following two consecutive victories over Southampton (1-0) and Brentford (3-1).
Villa Park has been somewhat of a forte for them this campaign having picked up 15 points from 21 available at home, with their only loss against Arsenal in August.
Man City on the other hand are experiencing their worst run of form since Stuart Pearce was in charge in 2006 as after their 2-1 defeat to local rivals United last weekend it means they have lost 8 of their last 11 games in all competitions.
This fixture promises goals, both teams have scored six of the seven previous encounters, with the visitors failing to keep a clean sheet in the last seven meetings.
Here are the current best odds for this 12.30pm game at various betting sites:
American Betting Sites: Aston Villa 9/4 Man City 11/10 and The Draw 14/5.
Gambling Sites That Accept Credit Cards: Aston Villa 9/4 Man City 11/10 and The Draw 13/5.
Gambling Sites Without Verification: Aston Villa 21/10 Man City 23/20 and The Draw 14/5.
Non UK Casinos: Aston Villa 23/10 Man City 6/5 and The Draw 13/5.
We have three 3pm Kick offs first we will look at Brentford vs Nottingham Forest being held at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Brentford have won their last two home league games scoring four goals in each of their victories beating Leicester 4-1 and more recently 4-2 against Newcastle. When it comes to head to head Brentford are unbeaten in all four of their Premier League meetings with Forest winning both home games against them and drawing two away from home.
Nottingham Forest have had a fantastic start to the season currently sitting in 4th in the table, their last two games beating Man United at Old Trafford 3-2 and more recently a 2-1 win at home to Villa. The away form for them has kept them in good stead with their only defeats coming against Man City and Arsenal.
Brentford have no new injuries and everyone who played in the Chelsea game at the weekend will be available for selection. Nuno Espirito Santo’s Forest will have Chris Wood leading the lines for them who has been paramount to their success this season scoring more than half of their goals this season.
Current Betting for the game has Brentford 5/4 Notts Forest 2/1 and The Draw 27/10.
Ipswich vs Newcastle takes place at Portman Road where the home side will be looking to pick up points in their fight to get out of the bottom three. Only Brighton have been hit harder with injuries in the Premiership this season so they will be hoping to strengthen their squad in the January transfer window as well as hoping for some players to come back from setbacks.
It made a change for Ipswich to be on the right side of a late winning goal at the weekend against Wolves but conceding late goals has been another one of Ipswich’s downfall having dropped 15 points from winning positions this campaign which is far too generous even if it is the season of goodwill and presents.
Six of their starting 11 were from the promotion squad from League One which also had such great success in the Championship last season. The togetherness shown in the winning goal celebrations shows what a special group of players led by a special manager and they’d hope to have more special moments throughout the rest of the season.
Newcastle had a convincing 4-0 win over Leicester at the weekend and will look to take three points from struggling Ipswich. The pace of 20 year old Hall gave Leicester so many problems down the left side and they will look to do the same on Saturday.
Current betting for the match sees Ipswich 15/4 Newcastle 3/4 and The Draw at 27/10. Our experts recommend betting Newcastle to win and both teams to score at 23/10 with Katana Spin.
Last of our 3pm fixtures for Saturday comes courtesy of West Ham and Brighton being played at the London Stadium. The Hammers currently sit in 14th and Brighton in 9th in the table. As mentioned earlier Brighton have a lot of injury problems but West Ham can’t seem to find consistency this season.
At home West Ham have had three wins in five and their only loss came at the hands of Arsenal. Their recent victory was a 2-1 win over Wolves which was a high pressure game for their manager Julen Lopetegui who was facing his old employers.
The last encounter these two sides met at the London Stadium it ended 0-0 but both sides will be thinking its a winnable game currently so goals will be scored its just a case of which way it goes.
Current betting for this match sees West Ham 19/10 Brighton 11/8 and The Draw 13/5. Our experts recommend betting both teams to score at best price of 1/2 with Freshbet.
Saturday’s televised 17.30 game comes from Selhurst Park where Crystal Palace host Arsenal in what will be the second time they meet in 3 days but this time the League. Two teams sitting at different ends of the table with Arsenal sitting in 3rd with 30 pts and Palace 15th with 16 pts.
Arsenal’s last two league games have seen them drop points with draws away at Fulham and more recently a goalless draw at home to Everton so they will be looking to get back on winning terms and close the gap on Liverpool who still have a game in hand.
Crystal Palace have picked up maximum points away from home the last two games with wins at Ipswich (1-0) and more recently Brighton (3-1) but getting 3 points on home turf seems to be their Achilles heel with two draws against Man City and Newcastle.
Only four points separate them from the relegation zone so victories at home need to be picked up in the coming games to avoid being in a relegation battle come the latter stages of the season.
Current betting for this match is Crystal Palace 5/1 Arsenal 6/10 and The Draw 3/1. Our experts recommend betting Arsenal to win and both teams to score at best price 9/4 with Seven.
