Bournemouth v Southampton

The Cherries welcome the Saints to the Vitality Stadium on Wednesday night, in a battle between two of the south coast sides. Since temporary boss Gary O’Neil has taken charge at Bournemouth, the team have been in excellent form. They remain unbeaten in six games, picking up two wins and four draws. This solid run of games could well hand O’Neil the opportunity at the helm, he’s currently trading at odds of around 1-4 (1.25) to be given the job full time. Now sitting comfortably in mid-table in 10^th position, Bournemouth will be keen to extend the undefeated run to seven, especially against one of their so called rivals. Last time out against Fulham, they drew 2-2 and were unlucky not take all three points after a controversial penalty was awarded to their opponents. Regardless, the positive signs were there yet again and I believe they’re well equipped to acquire more points here. In opposition, Southampton have been in miserable form away from St Mary’s. It’s now six defeats in seven on the road in the league and they’ve also failed to score in their last three away matches too. They did manage to stop the rot of four successive defeats on Sunday, having shared the spoils at home to West Ham in a 1-1 draw.

Dominic Solanke is the go to man at the moment for the home side, he’s had five goal contributions in five games, 2 goals and 3 assists. He’s keeping Welshman Kieffer Moore out the side at the moment and I’m expecting another big performance from Solanke here. Another key player for Bournemouth is Phillip Billing, the Danish attacking midfielder has had his fair share of attacking output too. It’s now three goals and one assist he’s amassed in the previous five games and this hot form may also continue. He’ll certainly be hoping so as he attempts to nail down his spot in the Danish squad for the upcoming World Cup. 

The three clean sheets in five matches for the home side has no doubt contributed to their healthy league position. Chris Mepham and Marcos Senesi have now played in four consecutive matches together and seem to be building a strong partnership at the heart of the defence. They are set to partner once more here with the hope of another shut out. 

Southampton have quickly found themselves near the foot of the table and currently sit in the relegation zone. The sudden slide downwards is no doubt down to the fact they’ve picked up just one point from a possible fifteen since September. Finding the back of the net has been one of their recent downfalls, now averaging just 0.4 goals per game in their last five. These are just a couple of stats that have enabled me to lean on the pick of Bournemouth double chance. Hassenhuttl may well be feeling the pressure of this poor run and has been backed into as short as 7/4 for the next PL manager to lose his job. On top of this, Bella Kotchap is set to miss this fixture after dislocating his shoulder at the weekend. I believe this to be a serious blow as he’s been one of only a few to have been putting in some great performances. 

All things considered, I’m not hesitating to take the Saints on here and the Bournemouth double chance pick gets my vote here.

Newcastle United v Everton

The fixtures are coming thick and fast in the Premier League as we delve into the game up in the North East on Wednesday evening. Newcastle have been one of the stand out performing teams so far this season and I’m expecting another strong performance. Now, up against a struggling Everton side that have been regularly inconsistent in what we’ve seen of them this season. The Geordies arrive into this off the back of an excellent point at Old Trafford at the weekend. They remain unbeaten in five and have lost just one of their ten games, an unfortunate last minute equaliser in their game at Anfield back in August. On the flip side we have the Toffees, they pose just a 20% winning strike rate with just two wins from ten and are one of the league’s lowest scoring teams. Currently, they are averaging just 0.8 goals per game and have been beaten on their last two outings.

With Newcastle starting to look like the real deal, I’m more than happy to take a home win as the selection for this game. Eddie Howe has instilled a solid foundation to his side and this runs right through the team. A notable statistic is that they’re currently only conceding 0.5 goals per game if we exclude the games against Liverpool and Manchester City. This eye opening data shows to us that the club are making huge strides in becoming one of the better sides in the entire league. From a defensive standpoint there’s every reason to believe a clean sheet can be obtained here. As I previously mentioned, the visitors have been struggling in front of goal too.

I can see the hosts exploiting the Merseysiders defence when the chance arises. Callum Wilson and Miguel Almiron have been the men in form in front of goal in recent weeks. The pair have struck four goals between them in the previous three game weeks, an excellent return. If we see the Toon Army managing to get on the scoresheet here, then I believe even one goal will be enough to see them collect all three points. 

Everton, as I touched on, have been in indifferent form for a while now. This trip up to St James Park comes after two losses on the spin and I find it hard to envisage them picking up anything from this encounter. Summer signing, Neal Maupay has found it difficult settling into the side, netting just once since his arrival. One positive is the potential return of Anthony Gordon, he’s the only Toffee to have notched two or more times in their campaign. Although, I find it hard to imagine that he’ll be creating many opportunities if lining up against Kieran Trippier. Lastly, Everton have failed to win 20 of their last 22 away matches in the league, a real poor run. This further cements the pick of a home win, so I’m backing Newcastle to win this one.

Liverpool v West Ham

Liverpool come into this game against The Hammers, full of confidence after a somewhat surprising victory over The Premier League Champions Manchester City on Sunday afternoon. Given the two team’s performance and results I believe everyone expected the blue side of Manchester to take home the three points. But an inspired display from The Reds stopped Haaland and Co from scoring and winning the game 1-0. It was the type of performance we usually relate to Liverpool in previous years but this season those types of performances have been few and far between.

As for West Ham a disappointing 1-1 draw away to Southampton stopped them from achieving their 3^rd win on the bounce after a disappointing start to the season with clean sheets starting to become an issue for David Moyes with only 2 all season and 1 in their last 5. 

Although Liverpool sit 8^th in the table in terms of their goal scoring output, only the top 3 (Arsenal, Manchester City & Tottenham) have scored more than the Reds this season and defensively, they have only conceded 3 more (12) than the highest ranked team in Newcastle who have only conceded 9 goals this season.

Liverpool are currently averaging 2.33 chances per game this season and achieved a 2.27 xG vs Manchester City on Sunday in their 1-0 victory showing the type of quality chances that they are creating.

The Reds have been dominant in this fixture in recent times winning 4 of the last 5 meetings against West Ham and I expect Wednesday night to be no different, with an average of 0.9 goals per game West Ham will need to put on a defensive masterclass to stop Liverpool from scoring and picking up any type of result from Anfield.

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Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur

Two of the current Top 5 meet at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening with the visitors sat comfortably in 3^rd with the hosts in 5^th. 7 points separate these two sides coming into this game with Manchester United needing to get back to winning ways after a disappointing stalemate 0-0 on Sunday at home to Newcastle United. 

Both sides have suffered one defeat in their last five coming in GW9 for both clubs. Spurs extended their home record to 8 games without dropping points in their 2-0 win over Everton at the weekend but as for their away record they’ve picked up 8 from a possible 15 points on the road this season scoring 7 but conceding 6 on their travels (5^th best away record in the league so far this season). 

As for Manchester United this will be their 5^th home this season with their previous 4 seeing The Red Devils pick up 7 from a possible 12 points, scoring 6 and conceding 4 at the Theatre of Dreams. An xG of 1.69 at home this season compared to Spurs’ 1.36 xG on the road shows we should be in for an exciting, end to end encounter in this one. 

Not to mention that the 5 previous meetings with these two have seen both teams find the back of the net in 4 of those five and only once has this fixture not seen 3 or more goals in those 5 meetings. 

I expect this one to follow that trend with United scoring 9 in their last 5 Premier League games with Spurs scoring 12 in the same number of games.

Fulham v Aston Villa

Fulham host Aston Villa at Craven Cottage, in a game which could have a serious bearing on the future of Villains boss Steven Gerrard. Villa have failed to win away from home in all their Premier League matches thus far. This patchy form has heaped pressure on the manager and I believe he may face the sack if losing this one. They are currently the second worst attacking side in terms of goals, having found the back of the net just seven times in ten games. The misfiring forwards, in Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins have contributed to their current downfall. Not a single player has managed to notch twice or more and I feel this could well continue against Fulham on Wednesday. On the other hand, the Cottagers have a goalscoring machine who is now back to full fitness after a very short spell out. Alexsandar Mitrovic is the man who has been firing on all cylinders all season long, sitting in 4^th position in the goal scorer standings. He’s been on the scoresheet a total of seven times and the Villa defence will have a job on their hands trying to stop the bullish Serbian here.

With Villa winning just once in eight matches in the league, I find it hard to imagine they’ll have a sudden change of fortunes, especially in an away fixture. As I mentioned there’s nobody contributing much at all in attack and although Fulham have a fairly leaky defence, the confidence of the entire Villa side is rock bottom at this moment in time. Adding to their woes, Lucas Digne, Boubakar Kamara and Diego Carlos remain sidelined, with the possibility of Tyrone Mings potentially missing after picking up an ankle injury at weekend. The away side may well be happy with even just a point from this fixture, this would play into our hands with the selection of Fulham double chance. 

The Cottagers return to the Premier League has been excellent so far, with the 11^th placed position displaying this. The home form has been key in the opening quarter of the season, losing on only one occasion when they were beaten comfortably by Newcastle 4-1. Besides this though, two wins and two draws have been their results. They haven’t struggled in scoring goals at this level either, now averaging exactly two goals per game at the Cottage. This is an ideal opportunity to keep this up against a struggling Villa side. Not just the previously mentioned Mitrovic has contributed; Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Joao Palhina have bagged two goals apiece. Set piece taker Andreas Periera has also been putting in some great performances in midfield, racking up two assists in the process. He can be a real danger man, alongside the pacy tricky winger Dan James.

This game could well end up a draw but if I favour any team then it’s certainly Fulham. Consequently, I’m going with Fulham double chance as the selection.

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