The 2021-22 English Premier League season is upholding tradition and coming down to the wire with three key races shaping the storylines: the race for the title, the race for the top four, and the race to avoid relegation.
Liverpool steamrolled a depleted Manchester United team 4-0 in the midweek, once again sending now second-place Manchester City onto the back foot, while elsewhere Man U, Arsenal, and Tottenham are all fumbling key opportunities to bolster their top-four position.
With all of the craziness going on throughout the league, here are the best bets for the weekend.
Top Match-Winner: Newcastle United (+110)
Not enough can be said about the job that Eddie Howe has done at Newcastle; the once relegation-stricken side has turned in good performances against top sides and moved up to 14th in the league table with a chance to move into the top 10 with a win.
The club has a much better defense, which has helped them spend more time on the ball and create more attacking opportunities. They have also won back-to-back games after suffering an embarrassing 5-1 loss to Tottenham.
Norwich City looked alright against Man U’s porous defense, but now that they are playing a more serious team— which is weird to say— they will likely struggle.
Norwich also knows it is destined for relegation, so even if they hope to avoid the drop, the mental fatigue should weigh them down and allow Newcastle to get a result.
Top Over/Under: Brentford / Tottenham Over 2.5 Goals
Facing Brentford is no longer an easy prospect for Premier League teams. All of a sudden, they have beaten Chelsea 4-1 and West Ham 2-0 and are in great form in front of goal; their opponent in Tottenham has a World Class partnership of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son up front, who has helped the team score nine goals in their last three matches.
Top Asian Handicap: Manchester United +0.25 (+104)
It seems like neither one of these teams wants to make it into the top four with the way that they are playing. Man U will likely return Cristiano Ronaldo after a tragic off-field incident caused him to miss Tuesday’s Liverpool match, and he alone should help them grab a goal.
Arsenal has lost four of five league matches and has injury concerns, so while a draw is totally possible, that would result in at least a half-win for Man U Asian handicap bettors.
Parlay: Manchester City (-1000) / Leicester City (+175)
Manchester City against Watford— what really needs to be said? The consensus-best team in the world needs to win every game from here on out to guarantee a league title, and that starts with a win against 19th-place Watford.
City has too much talent across the board and will, in all likelihood, beat Watford by at least three goals en route to a comfortable victory that allows them to rotate the squad and take a mental break.
Leicester City has been victimized by injuries and not quite been the same intimidating outfit, but they have still found a way to knick results. Aston Villa, meanwhile, has lost four straight league matches and only scored two total goals in the process.
The safest bet there is the more in-form Leicester.
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