England Round 16
- Thread starter spkutano
- Start date
Arsenal vs Everton Preview:
Possible starting lineups:
Arsenal:
Raya; Partey, Saliba, Kiwior, Timber; Odegaard, Rice, Merino; Saka, Havertz, Trossard
Everton:
Pickford; Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Mangala, Gueye; Ndiaye, Doucoure, McNeil; Calvert-Lewin
Arsenal will try to continue the winning series when they welcome Everton to the Emirates on Saturday. The Gunners are currently third with 29 points. They are six points behind the leaders Liverpool, but the Reds have a match in hand, one that was postponed against Everton. Arsenal are in excellent form at the moment. The Gunners won 3:0 against Monaco in the Champions League. Bukayo Saka was the key name on that match as he had a direct hand in all three goals. What is interesting to be mentioned, all three goals came from open play. Arsenal now have five wins and just one draw on the lasts six matches in all competitions. Unfortunately, the draw came last weekend when Arsenal played 1:1 at Fulham, missing a golden opportunity to cut the difference to the leaders Liverpool. However, Arteta insists the race for title is far from a foregone conclusion. The Spaniard has some additional injury issues as Riccardo Calafiori, Gabriel Magalhaes and Oleksandr Zinchenko are rated as doubtful, while Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain sidelined. Teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly impressed against Monaco, but Timber is expected to start at left-back.
The last few seasons are not very good for Everton fans. They have high expectations, but the results are not at desired level. The Toffees were deeply involved into the relegation battle last season, but managed to survive. The former Burnley manager Sean Dyche is most deserved for the "success" as Everton remained in the top-flight division. The actual season also started poor, though the last results are better. They have just one defeat on the last four matches in the Premier League. In the last clash they beat 4:0 Wolverhampton and the players confidence is higher. Dyche has some injury issues ahead of the match. Important defender Michael Keane should be back from a knee complaint in time for this match, but Chermiti, James Garner and Tim Iroegbunam are all expected to miss the trip to the Emirates. Key striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin should lead the line, despite the fact he is going 10 matches without scoring a goal in the Premier League. By the way, he is linked with a January transfer move to Arsenal, as Arteta is desperately looking for attacking options.
Arsenal vs Everton Prediction:
Arsenal are clear favorites in this clash. Everton won 4:0 against Wolverhampton and the players confidence is higher. However, the victory against one of the the weakest sides in the Premier League should not be overrated. The Toffees are struggling against favorites. They suffered two heavy defeats at Tottenham and Manchester United, losing both matches with 4:0. The quality is on Arsenal side and I expect to win at least with two-goal difference.
Arsenal vs Everton Pick: Arsenal -1.5 AH @ 1.71 with Pinnacle
Manchester City vs Manchester United Preview:
Possible starting lineups:
Manchester City:
Ederson; Walker, Dias, Simpson-Pusey, Gvardiol; De Bruyne, Kovacic; Bernardo Silva, Foden, Nunes; Haaland
Manchester United:
Onana; Mazraoui, De Ligt, Martinez; Diallo, Ugarte, Mainoo, Dalot; Bruno Fernandes, Garnacho; Hojlund
It's time for the "Manchester derby", a derby with big tradition. The first meeting between the two teams occurred on 12 November 1881, when West Gorton – who would later become Manchester City – hosted Newton Heath – who would later become Manchester United. The game finished 3:0 in favour of the Heathens (United). At that time, the clubs were just two of many fledgling sides in the Manchester area, and the fixture had no special significance. The first league meeting between the teams came in the season 1894/95 season, when Manchester City lost 2:5 at Hyde Road. The first meeting between the clubs to take place at the highest level of English football occurred in December 1906, a 3:0 City win in a First Division match.
Just two months ago it seemed Manchester City will dominate in English football for another season. And then something strange happened, something nobody was expecting. The key player Rodri suffered a knee injury and from that moment Manchester City collapsed. They were eliminated from the League Cup after losing to Tottenham, but the next results were even worse as City lost four matches in a row in the Premier League. Man City were beaten by Bournemouth, Brighton, Tottenham (again) and Liverpool. They are also poor in the Champions League, collecting just one point from the last three matches. They lost to Sporting in Lisbon and Juventus in Turin, while the 3:3 draw with Feyenoord at Etihad was particularly painful. City had a 3:0 lead until the 75th minute, but allowed three late goals and dropped two points. Guardiola is still without long-term injury victim Rodri, while few more are also struggling with injuries.
Manchester United are on the 13th place with 19 points. Some pundits are joking with the current situation and the fact United are closer to the relegation zone than to the first place. Indeed, at the time of writing, they are 16 points behind the leaders Liverpool, but only 10 separate them from the 18th-placed Ipswich Town, the first club in the drop zone. New manager Rubin Amorim, who replaced Erik Ten Hag last month, looks unable to change something. It is true they beat Viktoria Plzen in Europa League on Thursday, but two defeats in the Premier League are the most important result. Amorim has the majority of his players available, only Luke Shaw and Jonny Evans are struggling with injuries. The biggest problem for Amorim is the low level of the players confidence.
Manchester City vs Manchester United Prediction:
In normal circumstances City would be favorites, but now is different. Guardiola is without the key player Rodri. But there is more, Oscar Bobb and Nathan Ake are also long-term victims. The derby is also expected to come too soon for Manuel Akanji and John Stones. The situation in defense is critical, particularly because Josko Gvardiol is without confidence. Pep is forced to use some inexperienced players like Jahmai Simpson-Pusey or Josh Wilson-Esbrand. Man United, meanwhile, also showed weaknesses in defense. The Red Devils conceded three goals from Nottingham, two from Arsenal and new manager Amorim looks frustrated with the performance of his defenders. Considering these facts, I think this will be an efficient derby.
Manchester City vs Manchester United Pick: Over 3.5 goals @ 2.13 with Pinnacle
Southampton vs Tottenham Preview:
Possible starting lineups:
Southampton:
Lumley; Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Bednarek, Manning; Downes, Fernandes; Dibling; Armstrong, Onuachu
Tottenham:
Forster; Spence, Gray, Dragusin, Udogie; Kulusevski, Sarr, Bergvall; Johnson, Solanke, Son
Southampton will welcome Tottenham to St Mary's on Sunday night. The Saints are last on the table with just five points from the opening 15 matches. Manager Russell Martin is under huge pressure, but so far he survived. Interesting to be mention, the Southampton boss recently branded his team's five-point total "embarrassing". It is clear Martin need some positive result very soon or will be sacked. Southampton are eight points adrift of safety and have the worst attacking record in the Premier League with only 11 goals scored. The defensive record is equally bad, only the 19th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers have conceded more. The actual form is poor, they have accrued just the one point from their last five league fixtures. To be worse, Martin has some injury and suspension worries. Aaron Ramsdale, Will Smallbone, Juan Larios, Ross Stewart and Gavin Bazunu are all out injured, while Jack Stephens is suspended. On the positive note, Adam Lallana, Paul Onuachu and Jan Bednarek are back in contention to play.
Tottenham are 11th with 20 points at the time of writing. They are seven points away from the fourth place and the fans are not satisfied. Manager Ange Postecoglou came under big pressure and his job isn't safe anymore. And just three weeks ago everything looked different. The Spurs managed to beat Manchester City 4:0 at Etihad, one of the heaviest defeats in Pep Guardiola's career. Since that brilliance, the Spurs failed to win any of the next three matches in the Premier League, drawing 1:1 with Fulham and losing twice in a row, from Bournemouth and Chelsea. The last defeat was particularly painful as Tottenham had 2:0 after 11 minutes, but allowed four goals in the next period. There are multiple reasons for the collapse, but the injury situation is clearly the main one. Six, possibly seven important players are still unavailable for Postecoglou and that's a big handicap. He is definitely without Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Richarlison, while Ben Davies is highly doubtful with a thigh problem. On top of that, Yves Bissouma is banned due to yellow-card accumulation and Rodrigo Bentancur is serving a seven-match domestic ban for a racially insensitive comment about teammate Son.
Southampton vs Tottenham Prediction:
Southampton are the worst side in the Premier League, however they have a good record against the Spurs. The Saints have only been beaten in one of their last six Premier League home matches against Tottenham and have netted in each of their last 15 top-flight games against Spurs, their longest scoring streak against a single team in the history of the Premier League. Postecoglou has lot of injured defenders and I think this will be an efficient match. Both teams are easily scoring and conceding goals. I expect at least four now.
Southampton vs Tottenham Pick: Over 3.5 goals @ 1.78 with Pinnacle