Free Premier League sports betting advice

Best EPL bets & analysis

By Matt Pitt

Manchester City (+110) vs. Tottenham Hotspur (+240)

Harry Kane

Manchester City go into the weekend’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur trailing the league leaders, Chelsea, by 10 points. Manager Pep Guardiola wrote off his team’s title chances following their 4-0 humiliation at the hands of Everton last week and they will be all but over should they fail to beat Tottenham on Saturday.

City find themselves ranked 10th in the form guide with three wins, two draws and one defeat in their previous six games. City’s defense has only kept four clean sheets in 21 games, but their attack has scored has only failed to score three times and has put the ball in the net in each of their 10 home fixtures.

Spurs take on Manchester City on the back of six straight wins, including one against Chelsea. During that six game spell, Spurs have scored 17 goals and only allowed three. England striker Harry Kane is in scintillating form and has six goals in his last four games, including a hat trick last time out against West Brom.

I cannot see City being able to stop Kane in the form he is in so I’ll be betting on the +130 on Kane to score at any time, but as this is a game that City cannot afford to lose. I can see Guardiola doing everything he can to shore up his defense so a high scoring game shouldn’t be on the cards.

Pick: 1-1 draw at +525 and Kane to score at any time at +130

Crystal Palace (+215) vs. Everton (+130)

Romelu Lukaku

Crystal Palace could drop into the relegation zone if any of the bottom three sides win this weekend and Palace fail to beat Everton.

Palace have been an absolute shambles this season, particularly in defense where they already conceded 40 goals and have kept only a single shutout. Their backline is about as useful as an ashtray on a Harley Davidson.

The Eagles entertain Everton this weekend and the Toffees are unbeaten in four games. Everton brushed aside Southampton to win 3-0 and then shocked Manchester City with a 4-0 victory. Ronald Koeman looks to have found a system that suits Everton and it is bringing the best out of Romelu Lukaku.

Lukaku took his Premier League goals tally to 12 for the season after scoring in each of his last three games. The giant Belgian is a player who scores in fits and bursts and must be relishing facing a defense that has more holes than Swiss cheese. Lukaku is +450 to open the scoring and +135 to put one past the Palace ‘keeper before the 90 minutes is over. At those odds and with everything else considered, that is like having a license to print money.

Pick: Romelu Lukaku to score first at +450

Stoke City (+450) vs. Manchester United (-165)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Stoke City may be unbeaten at home in their last four games but a worrying statistic seems to point at them losing to Manchester United this weekend.

After a dreadful start to the campaign, Mark Hughes has turned his team’s fortunes around, but when you look at Stoke’s results against team occupying the top six spots they are alarming.

Out of six games against top six sides, Stoke have drawn once and lost five, scored six and let in a staggering 20 including conceding four goals against Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City. Their only point against the current top six came courtesy of a 1-1 draw at Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground.

United were less than impressive in their 1-1 draw against Liverpool last week, but they are unbeaten in their last 12 games and have won three away games on the spin. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is now the joint top scorer in the Premier League with 14 goals after bagging 10 goals in his last 10 games.

Jose Mourinho has a full squad to choose from and while he may not be picking his best 11 players, he is picking 11 players who make the best team. As a fan of one of United’s fierce rivals it pains me to say this, but United could be on the brink of something very special under the Portuguese maestro’s guidance.

United’s away record is the second best in the Premier League this season and that spells bad news for the Trotters. Do not look anywhere other than a win for the Red Devils.

Pick: Manchester United win at -165