This Time Next Year - Weekend Preview | 4th & 5th January 2025

This Time Next Year.. Weekend Preview | 4th & 5th January 2025

By Stuart Court January 2, 2025 #ThisTimeNextYear

Hello and welcome to the inaugral post from the new 'This Time Next Year' blog. Today we're looking ahead to the fixtures this weekend in the English Premier League. In future there'll be a review of our previous posts looking back at how we did with our predicions and tips.

At first glance there's some good games to preview so let's get straight into it.

Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United

So what version of Spurs are we going to see this weekend? Predicting their results this season has been a frankly impossible task. Losing at home to Ipswich and beating Man City home and away in such a short space of time are just 3 examples of this. It doesn't get any easier this Saturday lunchtime either as Eddie Howe brings his Newcastle side to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium with the Toon in great form winning their last 5 matches in all competitions and scoring bucket loads of goals to boot.

During that run of form, Alexander Isak has been flying with 6 goals and a couple of assists along the way. It's tough to see a very poor and injury ravaged Spurs defence preventing him at least getting chances to extend that run and I was surprised to see his odds to have 2 or more shots on target at over evens.

Looking at the game itself, Newcastle go into match as favourites with the bookies at 5/4 whilst the draw is 11/4 and Spurs just under 2/1. I think the draw being a shade under 3/1 is huge and wouldn't be at all surprised to see this end in a scoring draw.

Aston Villa v Leicester City

Villa Park should be the scene of Aston Villa adding to their unbeaten run on Saturday afternoon. 3 wins and 3 draws in their last 6 shows they're very difficult to beat and I fully expect this run to continue with another comfortable win added to the list.

Leicester have Drawn 1 and Lost 4 of their last 5 but still had 15 shots on target in that terrible run of form so I think it's a good call for there to be a few again in this game. Villa will be looking to win comfortably and Ollie Watkins will be desperate to score as he looks to cement his place in the first team whilst Jhon Duran is missing through suspension.

I know it's famous last words but this should be one of the more straight forward predictions of the weekend. I expect Villa to start quickly and be ahead by half time and then push on again after the break. There's value to be had if you agree in terms of Villa to win both halves (2/1) and even Villa to score 4+ goals (3/1).

Bournemouth v Everton

Bournemouth are unbeaten in their last 7 games including impressive wins against Tottenham and Manchester United. I was among many that vocally criticised the appointment of Andoni Iraola last season but we've all had to eat our words and humbly apologise. The Cherries find themselves in 7th place at present and let's be fair, that's an unbelieveable return for a team that are always told to just avoid relegation.

Everton are coming in off the back of a 2-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest but that's no embarrasment these days and prior to this the Toffees were unbeaten in 4 including draws against Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea as Sean Dyche finally seemed to be working his defensive magic. However, the loss just 4 days will still be fresh in their mind and visisting the Vitality to take on an inspired Bournemouth side won't be easy.

Neither side score a lot of goals and as such I'm drawn to the Both Teams To Score market. Or in this case, Both Teams NOT To Score.

It's difficult to make a case for this game being 2-2 by half time or even full time. As such, I'm going for a closely contested Bournemouth win.

Crystal Palace v Chelsea

Crystal Palace head into this weekend having lost just 2 of their previous 9 games and both were to Arsenal. Nothing to be ashamed about. Creditable draws against Man City, Newcastle and Aston Villa along with wins against Southampton, Brighton & Ipswich have helped boost the Eagles up the table away from the releagtion zone.

Enzo Maresca takes his Chelsea side to Selhurst Park on Saturday hoping they can put a very poor Christmas period behind them. 1 point from their last 3 games seemed an unlikely return given their run of 8 wins in a row prior to the dip in form, but even more so when you take into account the teams they've drop points to. Everton (0-0), Fulham (1-2) and Ipswich (0-2).

Jefferson Lerma had 2 shots on target in his last game and as such I was surprised to see him availale at 2/1 for just a single shot on target in this one.

A tough call this one but I quite like the odds and value of Palace extending Chelsea's miserable Christmas period.

Manchester City v West Ham United

Man City finally put together a good performance last time out with a comfortable 2-0 win away to Leicester. Coupled with the sight of Erling Haaland getting himself back on the scoresheet ending his scoreless run of 4 games, it should all lead to a comfortable home win on Saturday afternoon.

West Ham have won 2 of their last 7 games but they were only against Wolves and Southampton who were both struggling at the time. The 5-0 home defeat against Liverpool on Sunday will have been another thoeretical nail in Julen Lopetegui's coffin. Despite Liverpool topping the league and playing some great football, the inability of the hammers to deal with the Reds at any stage of the 90 minutes will have been food for thought for the owners.

The fact City haven't been on top form recently really has led to there being some fantastic odds on their games. City to win to nil at 13/8 seems like big odds when you consider that an in form City would see those odds far closer to Evens perhaps even odds on.

Difficult to see the Hammers getting any good news from this one. Their only bright light recently has been Jarrod Bowen and after it was confirmed he has a fractured foot, they'll be without him for a while now too.

Southampton v Brentford

St Mary's plays host to two teams completely out of form on Saturday. Brentford have just 1 point in their last 5 games whilst Southampton have just 2 points from their last 10. Despite the terrible form, Saints haven't been put to the sword in most of those games losing 6 by just a one goal margin.

The Bees visit the south coast hoping to put an end to their recent losses to Chelsea, Arsenal, Forest & Newcastle. The most recent of which was the 3-1 home defeat to the Gunners on New Years Day.

Whilst there shouldn't be too much in this game the extra 2 days of rest and preperation for the Saints does make me lean towards a close fought home win, but the lack of form and complete inability to get 3 points on the board is stopping me from doing so.

Brighton v Arsenal

Brighton still find themselves in the top half of the table despit their form taking a downturn in recent weeks. 5 draws and 2 defeats in their last 7 show that whilst they're scoring enough goals they're simultaneously failing to keep the opposition out.

Arsenal arrive at the Amex on the back of a superb December. Despite the loss of Bukayo Saka to injury during a 5-1 win at Crystal Palace, the Gunners have won the 2 games following including an impressive performance at the Gtech on New Years Day dispatching Brentford 3-1 from a goal behind.

Looking at the teams recent form it's easy to just go for an Arsenal win but there's very little value in that. The amount of goals scored and conceeded in both camps has drawn my eyes to the over goals markets.

I expect Arsenal to kick on with another victory on Saturday evening but not without conceeding along the way.

Fulham v Ipswich Town

Fulham head into this Sunday lunchtime kick off on a 7 game unmbeaten run including recent draws with Arsenal and Liverpool as well as a superb comeback win at local rivals Chelsea. They were unlucky not to get another 3 points on the board in their last game when Bournemouth scored a last minute equaliser to prevent the Cottagers moving up into the top 6.

Ipswich are coming off the back of a superb performance in beating high flying Chelsea 2-0 on Monday and that followed a spirited 1-0 defeat at the Emirates a few days before. Liam Delap is the stand out player for Town and at 9/2 it's fair to say there's potentially some value if you think they can pull off an upset at Craven Cottage.

Fulham have comeback from behind to win in 3 of their last 4 victories and I could easily see that happening again this weekend with cool 6/1 odds available for that to happen. However, if you want a slightly safer bet, Fulham to win with BTTS looks tasty at 9/4.

Despite Ipswich's last 2 outings, I can't make a case for them to win on Sunday. Fulham are a strong all round outfit and if they can find the net at home, I don't see them conceeding too many.

Liverpool v Manchester United

The last time Liverpool lost was the shock home defeat against Nottingham Forest back in early September. Forest have since gone on to show that was no one off performance and Liverpool have won 13 and drawn 3 in the league since then. It's fair to say it shook them up. The Reds have scored 14 in their last 3 games and simply looked like scoring every single time they attacked at the London Stadium on Sunday.

What has happened to Manchester United? Ruben Amorim's arrival was never going to change the club's fortunes overnight but I think everyone expected better than this. Not even Amorim will have been aware of the monumental task he has ahead of him to try and turn that club around.

There are regularly penalties in games between these two and looking at the odds there's value in there being another one this time around.

Unless a completely different United turn up it's almost impossible to see them getting anything out of this game. Liverpool are scoring at will and playing with so much confidence and as a result the only result I can see here is a very comfortable home win.

All in All..

A good weekend of games to look forward to and some real value around if you look for it. No matter whether you agree with me or you don't, feel free to comment and let us know how you get on.