Jake Apperley
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European Soccer continues on Thursday with a mouth-watering clash in the EPL as Chelsea host Manchester City. If Man City fails to beat the Blues, Liverpool will be crowned EPL champions. It will also mean Man City has to give Liverpool the guard of honor when they meet next Thursday, so there’s huge additional motivation for The Citizens.
I’ll go through my favorite three-team parlay, but if you are interested in knowing our picks for all games in the EPL and La Liga, visit our Free Soccer Picks homepage. If you’re in the state of New Jersey, Indiana, Colorado or West Virginia I would highly recommend claiming the offer below from BetMGM!
Manchester City Moneyline (-130)
- The Citizens have won five of the last six meetings with Chelsea across all competitions
The extra motivation of not wanting to give Liverpool the guard of honor on home soil next Thursday plays a big part here, can you imagine the embarrassment for the City players? City has had it pretty easy so far with a 3-0 victory over Arsenal after David Luiz’s car crash cameo. A 5-0 demolition of Burnley followed, which I turned off at half time, it was that much of a training exercise. City has such a big squad they rotated heavily against Burnley, and I expect the players who featured against Arsenal to come back in so they’ll be fresh. The Citizens have won five of the last six meetings against Chelsea across all competitions, while the hosts have struggled against the ‘big six’ at Stamford Bridge this season – losing two, drawing one and winning one.
Over 2.5 Goals – Southampton vs. Arsenal (-134)
- Over 2.5 goals hit the net in three of the last four meetings between Southampton and Arsenal
Arsenal has big injury problems in defense. We all saw Leno’s injury against Brighton, he’ll be on the sidelines for a while joining Calum Chambers (knee), Cedric Soares (face), Sokratis (thigh), Pablo Mari (ankle) and David Luiz (suspended). This leaves Arteta with a backup goalkeeper between the posts and only two senior center-halves who are fit. Danny Ings has an outside chance at winning the Premier League Golden Boot; he’s three behind Vardy as it stands and was on the score sheet in the season opener against Norwich. This fixture usually sees goals, they drew 2-2 earlier in the season, and Over 2.5 goals were scored in three of the last four clashes.
Over 2.5 Goals – Real Betis vs. Espanyol (+104)
- Over 2.5 goals have been scored in 87% of the hosts’ home matches this season.
Off to Spain for the last leg of Thursday’s parlay, Real Betis will host rock bottom side Espanyol, and I’m expecting goals. Real Betis were extremely unlucky to lose their last match 1-0, they generated 1.75 expected goals but couldn’t convert on the night. Betis average 1.93 goals per game at home and should have success against Espnayol’s defense, which has been weak since the return. They conceded three goals against Levante last time out, and although Getafe didn’t score in the opener, they allowed a whopping 2.71 xGA (expected goals against). A couple more stats which make me like goals here are, there’s been over 2.5 in 87% of Betis’ home games, and both teams have scored in 14/15 of those matches.
