sportsbanter.com.au Tips:

Week 17 of the Barclays Premier League comes to us midweek with the league now hotting up for the festive season. Get used to it too as over the next few weeks we are treated to a smorgasboard of EPL action before we have a 10 day break in the middle of January.

Over the weekend we had some cracking matches, culminating in the match of the round between Manchester City and Arsenal this morning at the City of Manchester Stadium, and what a match it was. The scoreline may have only read 1-0 to Manchester City but that doesn’t tell the real story. Countless chances, unbelievable saves from both goalkeepers, a controversial disallowed goal for offside against Arsenal which would have levelled the scores, and an even more controversial penalty turned down by referee Phil Dowd for a blatant handball.

Courtesy of the Telegraph.co.uk

Let’s just hope we get the same sort of action in this run of midweek games.

The matches kick off tomorrow morning our time and rather than a detailed preview like we’d normally produce, time restrictions have forced us to go with a shortened version of the preview for these midweek fixtures, I promise we’ll produce a bumper holiday version of our EPL preview for the weekends matches!

Of all the matches this week, probably the most crucial to the makeup of the top 4 is the Tottenham v Chelsea match on Thursday morning. Chelsea could only manage a 1-1 draw with Wigan over the weekend, while Tottenham had a narrow 1-0 win over Sunderland this morning. 

A win for Chelsea here would propel them back into third place ahead of their London neighbours.

All of the other top 4 contenders have relatively easy matches to contend with but this time of year has been known to throw up some surprises, so I wouldn’t bet against an upset or two over the course of the next few days.

sportsbanter.com.au Tips:

Wolves v Norwich City – #wolvesvncfc – Draw
Blackburn  Bolton – #brfcvbwfc – Draw
Aston Villa v Arsenal – #avfcvafc – Arsenal
Man City v Stoke City – #mcfcvstoke – Man City
Newcastle v West Brom – #nufcvwba – Newcastle
Everton v Swansea – #efcvscfc – Everton
Fulham v Man Utd – #ffcvmufc – Man Utd
QPR v Sunderland – #qprvsfc – QPR
Wigan v Liverpool – #wiganvlfc – Liverpool
Tottenham v Chelsea – #thfcvcfc – Chelsea

Banter’s Best Bets:

Wolves v Norwich City – Draw @ $3.40
Blackburn v Bolton – Total Game Score Over +2.5 @ $1.70
Aston Villa v Arsenal – Arsenal @ $1.75
Man City v Stoke City – Total Game Score Over +2.5 @ $1.45
Newcastle v West Brom – Newcastle @ $1.90
Everton v Swansea – Total Game Score Under +2.5 @ $1.75
Fulham v Man Utd – Man Utd @ $1.65
QPR v Sunderland – Total Game Score Under +2.5 @ $1.75
Wigan v Liverpool – Total Game Score Over +1.5 @ $1.25
Tottenham v Chelsea – Total Game Score Under +3.5 @ $1.33

Last week you could say it was a pretty routine week in the Barclays Premier League with all of the big guns, bar Liverpool, getting themselves on the winners list.  

Week 15 promises to be an absolute cracker with the main attraction this weekend being the clash between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. To add to that, this weekend marks the 125th anniversary of Arsenal Football Club as they tackle Everton at the Emirates Stadium. 

Early on Tuesday morning our time we will be treated to a monster of a match with two of the heavyweights and the two richest clubs in the league going toe to toe. The fortunes of both clubs could not be any more different going into this match either, both clubs had comfortable wins in the Champions League midweek, but Chelsea qualified for the knockout stages and Manchester City were unceremoniously dumped out despite their win.
 
With the Europa League beckoning for City, I just wonder whether this will be the week where they finally lose that unbeaten record. The players will be feeling down and Mancini will have struggled to get their focus on this game, Chelsea’s players will no doubt be on a high after securing qualification and they have been in fantastic form over the last few weeks with Drogba and Mata the two stand out players. That combination seems to be gelling quite nicely and they’ll need both of them to fire at Stamford Bridge.
 
As we saw with Arsenal last year, a massive disappointment can lead to an implosion and City’s coaching staff will need to be wary of this so as not to undo all of the good work they have done in the league so far. I have a feeling that this game could end up in a draw though, however there should be plenty of goals and I’ll stick my next out and predict 2-2 as the final scoreline. 
 
On Sunday morning Australian time, we’re treated to seven games which can all be caught on Fox Sports. All matches kick off at 2am and can be caught on two different channels including five of them on Viewers Choice.

To kick things off we have Arsenal taking on Everton at the Emirates. Arsenal dished out a 4-0 thumping to Wigan last weekend and look to be in great form at the moment, the only concern with Arsenal is if they get a few injuries they do not look anywhere near the same side. Against Olympiakos midweek in the Champions League, Arsene Wenger fielded a side full of his back up players and young guns and they crashed to a 3-1 defeat. To add to their woes, they had backup keeper Fabianski and first choice left back Andre Santos seriously injured and both could miss the next couple of months.
 
Everton went down 1-0 to Stoke City last weekend when they really should have been winning a game like that at home. They dominated possession with 67% of the ball and had 14 shots, the only problem was that none of those shots were on goal. The fact that Stoke City played in the Europa League prior to that match goes to show just how poorly Everton played in that match and they’ll need to seriously up their game if they have aspirations of getting anything out of this match.

This match marks the first occasion that Mikel Arteta takes on his former club and what an occasion to do so, he will be pumped and should put in a performance in front of his new home fans.
 
With the celebrations of Arsenal’s 125th anniversary prior to the match, Arsenal’s players and fans should be pumped and I can’t see anything other than a home win here, you’d have to back van Persie to at least score one goal too!
 
Next up we have Bolton taking on Aston Villa at the Reebok Stadium after suffering a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Tottenham last week. Bolton currently sit in last place on the table and have conceded the most goals by any team this season with 34. Their home form has pretty much been atrocious with just the one win and 19 goals conceded.
 
Aston Villa went down narrowly to Manchester United last week with the match ending 1-0. They were without Charles N’Zogbia after he broke club disciplinary rules and was left out of the squad, the news didn’t get much better for them during the game with both Shay Given and Jermaine Jenas stretchered off the pitch. News this morning filtered through that Jenas had surgery and will be out for the rest of the season, the prognosis on Given is a hamstring tear, he’ll be out until January.
 
With Villa’s injuries mounting up I think Bolton may just be able to sneak a draw in this one, it would be their first of the season but surely they have to play out one at some stage, you’d think?

Liverpool head into their match against Queens Park Rangers having not beaten any of the promoted teams so far this season, with draws against both Norwich City and Swansea. They had a shock 1-0 loss to Fulham early on Tuesday morning and their season just seems to be going from bad to worse. They lost Lucas Leiva for the best part of the rest of the season against Chelsea, and against Fulham Luis Suarez decided to give the home fans the middle finger and has been charged with improper conduct, this is in addition to him being investigated for claims of racist comments made to Patrice Evra earlier in the season.
 
QPR had a 1-1 draw with West Brom last weekend and head into this one having given all of the other “top 4″ contenders a run for their money with a win over a 9 man Chelsea and a narrow 3-2 loss to Manchester City. They’ve been in better form away from home too so this could be another tricky one for a Liverpool side that looks devoid of any confidence. Despite this I’ll stick with a Liverpool win but I think it will only be a narrow one with my predicted score 1-0.
 
Old Trafford is the scene for our next match with Wolves travelling to Manchester to take on a United side that has not been in the best of form but as usual has somehow managed to come out of their last five games with four 1-0 wins and a 1-1 draw against Newcastle. They’ll head into this match without Chicharito as he looked to have seriously injured his ankle before being stretchered off against Villa last week, and Vidic has just been ruled out for the rest of the season with a ruptured anterior crutiate injury, I don’t think it could get any worse for United.
 
Wolves may not get a better chance to take down Man United as all of their focus this week would have gone into ensuring they qualify for the next stage of the UEFA Champions League. With United failing to do so though there could be a backlash and Wolves may bear the brunt of it. 
 
Wolves themselves are coming off a narrow win last weekend with goals from Steven Fletcher securing them a come from behind win over Sunderland so they should be full of confidence but the biggest stumbling block here will be the fact that Manchester United are unlikely to be beaten at home.
 
Despite their poor form and elimination from the UCL I think Manchester United will still have too much for a Wolves side that have struggled on the road so far this season.
 
Norwich City host Newcastle United at Carrow Road in an attempt to get themselves into the top half of the table. They currently sit in 11th place and a win could move them up to as high as 8th, Newcastle have dropped to 6th after being as high as 3rd at one point, no doubt a result of the two losses and a draw they have had in their last three games.
 
You could say that Newcastle’s form has been poor over the last  three weeks, however when you look at the fact that they have played Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea in those three weeks you can’t really blame them for coming out with just a point. They’ll want to get back in to the reckoning for a European place and they’ll see this as the perfect opportunity to do so.
 
I think Newcastle will get their season back on track with a win here and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few goals along the way.
 
Next up Swansea host a Fulham side fresh from a 1-0 victory over Liverpool on Tuesday morning. Swansea fell further down the table to 15th place after their demoralising loss to Blackburn at the weekend and their fans will be hoping for a much improved performance here at home.
 
Fulham’s game against Liverpool was always destined to be a low scoring one and just when it looked as though the game was going to peeter out to a scoreless draw, up stepped Clint Dempsey to slot home the winning goal 5 minutes from time. A huge boost to a side that is always there or there abouts when it comes to European places but have been poor to say the least this season, currently sitting in 13th place after that win.

I fancy a draw for this one, with Swansea seemingly a better side at home and Fulham picking up a bit of momentum I think both sides will cancel each other out and I can’t see there being too many goals here. 
 
The last Saturday game (Sunday morning our time) sees Wigan travelling to the Hawthorns to take on a West Brom side that are coming off the back of a 1-1 draw away to QPR. Wigan were thumped 4-0 by Arsenal and now occupy bottom spot on the ladder, while West Brom stayed in 14th place courtesy of the point they received.
 
Of all the games this weekend I have to admit that this is the one I’m probably least excited about, but it’s these sort of games that tend to surprise everyone and we end up with a cracking match much like the Blackburn v Wigan game a few weeks ago.
 
On form I can’t see there being too many goals scored here but it would not surprise me if I was proved wrong and both sides take advantage of poor defence from the other.
 
Sunday night / Monday morning sees two games played with the first being Sunderland v Blackburn just after midnight our time. Sunderland are reeling after the sacking of Steve Bruce just a couple of weeks ago and they will need new Manager Martin O’Neill to get out of the blocks quickly if they want to salvage their season.  They currently sit in 17th place, just one point outside of the relegation zone.
 
Blackburn have not had the greatest start to the season but last weekend they put 4 past Swansea and things might just be starting to look up for them. Although, the last time they put 4 goals past Arsenal they went on a shocking run afterwards which left them rooted to the bottom f the table, they’ll be hoping its not de ja vu on this occasion.
 
With Martin O’Neill now at the helm, I think Sunderland will be much more organised and efficient and I think they will start to move themselves back up the table, as good a manager as Steve Bruce is the club needed some freshness in the coaching staff to go along with the new players they bought in the offseason. I have a feeling they will get the job done against Blackburn at the Stadium of Light.
 
The last of the Sunday matches sees Stoke hosting a Tottenham side who are on an amazing run at the moment, winning their last 6 matches and they are unbeaten in 11 with 10 wins. Stoke City upset Everton 1-0 at the weekend and will be looking to keep building after a slow start to the campaign, they currently sit in 8th place but they are 5 points shy of Liverpool in 7th.
 
Tottenham smashed Bolton 3-0 last weekend and there is belief from inside the club that this could be the year that they finally announce themselves as one of the big boys. From outside the club they’ll always be seen as a small club though to be honest and their recent record has largely come about because they have no European football to be concerned with. 
 
Tottenham don’t have the best record against Stoke City and a few of Stoke’s players will no doubt want to show Harry Redknapp that it was a mistake to let them go. Despite this I think Tottenham might just have too much for Stoke at home, so I’ll go with a Tottenham win as much as it pains me to say.
 
Feel free to let us know your thoughts on this weeks matches, and any bets you think people should know about. See you in the comments section!

sportsbanter.com.au Tips:
Arsenal v Everton – #afcvefc – Arsenal
Bolton v Aston Villa – #bwfcvavfc – Draw
Liverpool v QPR – #lfcvqpr – Liverpool
Man United v Wolves – #mufcvwolves – Man United
Norwich v Newcastle – #ncfcvnufc – Newcastle
Swansea v Fulham – #scfcvffc – Draw
West Brom v Wigan – #wbavwigan – West Brom
Sunderland v Blackburn – #sfcvbrfc – Sunderland
Stoke v Tottenham – #stokevthfc – Tottenham
Chelsea v Man City – #cfcvmcfc – Draw

Banter’s Best Bets:
Arsenal v Everton – Arsenal @ $1.53
Bolton v Aston Villa – Aston Villa (+0.5) @ $1.54
Liverpool v QPR – Total Game Score Under (+2.5) @ $2.20
Man United v Wolves – Total Game Score Over (+2.5) @ $1.56
Norwich v Newcastle - Newcastle (+0.5) @ $1.52
Swansea v Fulham – Draw @ $3.20
West Brom v Wigan – West Brom @ $1.67
Sunderland v Blackburn – Total Game Score Over (+2.5) @ $1.80
Stoke v Tottenham – Tottenham (+0.5) @ $1.26
Chelsea v Man City – Chelsea (+0.5) @ $1.42