Steve Davies
Soccer
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It’s a Happy New Year to soccer fans everywhere and it’ll be a particularly happy one for Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola if his team can win on the road at Arsenal and stretch their lead in the English Premier League title race.
City kick off 2022 with the early game of the day on Saturday in London and they are rock-solid favorites. But English Premier League fans will have noticed that Arsenal in great form and it promises to be a fantastic matchup.
We’ve got a bet from Arsenal as part of a 3-game parlay to hopefully see you successfully into the new betting year, which pays at +653 odds with FanDuel Sportsbook.
Be sure to check out the rest of our Premier League soccer predictions and remember to gamble responsibly.
Manchester City ML (-195)
Tottenham ML (-165)
Crystal Palace ML (+210)
Parlay odds: +653
Manchester City ML (-195) over Arsenal, 7:30am ET
A couple of months ago, there wouldn’t even have been a debate. Manchester City at Arsenal? Well, City will win it and win it easy.
But that was a couple of months back. City haven’t done anything wrong since then – in fact they are looking more and more like retaining their Premier League crown. But it’s Arsenal who have suddenly started to motor and they take on the reigning champs feeling good about their prospects.
Arsenal, coached by Mikel Arteta who was a student of City coach Pep Guardiola, are 4-0 since losing at Everton and have scored 14 goals in those four wins. They are flying but Arteta will be sidelined after testing positive for Covid.
It’s also worth pointing out that wins over the likes of Southampton, Leeds and Norwich were to be expected. When they’ve played the big boys it’s been different. Chelsea hammered them, Liverpool hammered them and so did City themselves, back in August, with a 5-0 triumph at the Etihad Stadium.
Much has happened since August – but not enough to think City won’t show why they are the best side in England once again.
Tottenham ML (-165) over Watford, 10am ET
Tottenham will feel they missed a trick at Southampton on Tuesday, when they played against 10 men for all of the second half – Southampton’s Mohamed Salisu was sent off – but could only tie 1-1.
They created enough chances to win two games but Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane had off days and Southampton defended stubbornly.
Watford are nowhere near as stubborn. They led West Ham 1-0 on Tuesday, only to concede four times in a 4-1 loss and, like Norwich, they are just giving up way too many goals.
Tottenham may have misfired once but they won’t do it too often and should be able to exploit Watford’s soft defense.
Crystal Palace ML (+210) over West Ham, 12:30pm ET
Crystal Palace lost 3-0 at Tottenham on Boxing Day but they were unbeaten in their previous 4 London derbies and may have the edge over West Ham at Selhurst Park.
Wilfried Zaha has been Palace’s main man for several seasons and he should be fully fit and eager to make amends after serving a one-match ban for his red card at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Eagles coped well without Zaha, beating bottom club Norwich 3-0, while West Ham eased to a 4-1 win at struggling Watford on Tuesday. However, the Hammers lost two Premier League games either side of Christmas Day and will need to find a quick response if they are to have any hope of staying in the race for Champions League qualification. Solid defense was key to West Ham’s early-season success but injuries to first-choice stoppers Aaron Cresswell, Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna have made them easier to play against.
Palace should get their chances and they can rely on either the brilliance of Zaha or Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher to get them the victory.
Make sure you check out the rest of our EPL picks and predictions for the weekend
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