Another Premier League round brings a number of interesting duels. Two matches that definitely deserve your attention are Crystal Palace vs. Southampton and Huddersfield vs. Leicester!
Frank de Boer got fired as manager of Crystal Palace, a team that takes on Southampton this Saturday. Two and a half hours later starts another interesting clash, Huddersfield vs. Leicester. The former Premier League champion is hoping for a big win against newbies in the top English flight.
Crystal Palace vs. Southampton
Three-Way: 1: Crystal Palace +210; X: +237 Draw; 2: Southampton +167
Spread 0: Crystal Palace +119; Southampton -120
Total +2.5: Over +137; Under -143
CRYSTAL PALACE
Big news coming from Crystal Palace, with Frank de Boer leaving the managerial post! After four defeats in a row, Crystal Palace management decided to part ways with the Dutchman. Roy Hodgson is most likely to become their next manager, but it probably won’t happen before the weekend, when this team plays against Southampton.
In that game, Crystal Palace will be under a lot of pressure to win their first points of the season. This team has lost all of the matches so far, without scoring a single goal. That’s definitely a big surprise, given the fact that they have a number of quality players in their squad.
The bad news is that a few of them are injured and will miss the Saturday’s clash. Wilfried Zaha is away since early summer, and so is Bakary Sako. Connor Wickham and Pape N’Diaye Souaré have been away for several months due to more serious injuries.
Good news is that there are no fresh injuries ahead of this clash. Whoever gets appointed as the new Crystal Palace manager will probably start with the same 11 as de Boer did in the previous round, when they played against Burnley.
The final score was 1:0 Burnley, but Crystal Palace played much better than then the opponent. In fact, they dominated the whole match, having the ball in their possession for almost two-thirds of the time. On top of that, Crystal Palace had 23 goal attempts, compared to only 4 of Burnley.
Obviously, Crystal Palace has the quality to win points against Southampton. The question is can they snap out from the horrible form.
SOUTHAMPTON
Same as Crystal Palace, Southampton also can’t be too proud of their recent form. They did earn 5 points so far, but their expectations are much higher. Last season, this team finished in the 8th spot, which is what is their goal for the 2017/2018 season as well.
Southampton is without a win for nearly a month. The last time they won three points was when they played against West Ham. This season, Southampton scored only 3 goals in total, all of which happened in the West Ham clash.
In the previous Premier League round, Southampton lost on their own turf to Watford, 2:0, something that must be morale-crushing for their players. A thing that’s giving them confidence is that almost all of their players are 100% fit. The only player who will miss the game is Virgil Van Dijk, who’s been out for a while now. In fact, the central defender hasn’t played a single game in the new season of the Premier League.
Crystal Palace vs. Southampton – Match Prediction
The home side is desperate to get some points as soon as possible and even a single point would mean a lot to them. Unfortunately for Crystal Palace, their next opponent is far from being a weak side, so their job is not going to be easy.
That said, it seems that the outcome is very hard to predict. That’s why I think it’s better to focus on goals. We shouldn’t see too many of them, hence my pick is Under 2.5.
MY PICK: Under 2.5 Goals (-143)
Huddersfield vs. Leicester
Three-Way: 1: Huddersfield +240; X: +247 Draw; 2: Leicester +150
Spread 0: Huddersfield +138; Leicester -133
Total +2.5: Over +114; Under -119
HUDDERSFIELD
This season, Huddersfield is making history – this is their first-ever spell in the Premier League. Despite being dubbed as one of the main favorites for relegation, this team has been playing very well so far. In fact, they’re on the 6th spot on the table, after 4 rounds. So, far, they’ve managed to beat Crystal Palace and Newcastle and play draw with Southampton. Last Monday, they lost their first match in the Premier League, to West Ham 2:0.
Despite playing at one of the smallest venues in the whole league, Huddersfield has been great in home matches. Last season, for example, they won 15 out of 23 home games in the Championship. To be fair, most of those wins came against much weaker sides. In fact, Huddersfield had a lot of problems playing against teams from the top half of the table.
Huddersfield management was very busy this summer, signing a number of new players. Actually, they spent almost 40 million Euros on transfers during the transfer window. Probably the best deal they made was the signing of Steve Mounie, who came from Montpellier for €13M. The towering striker has been one of their best players, scoring two times so far.
Still, their main players are those who were in the team in the 2016/2017 season. The best thing is that all of them are fit and ready for the clash with Leicester. Actually, Huddersfield manager, David Wagner, has all of the players at his disposal, apart from defender Jon Stankovič. But, to be frank, Stankovič probably wouldn’t be his top pick even if he was available.
LEICESTER
The former Premier League Champion had a pretty tough schedule recently. They played against several heavyweights – Arsenal, Manchester United, and Chelsea, so it’s not a surprise that they’re very low on the table. The Foxes have only 3 points so far, which they earned by beating Brighton at home.
Leicester definitely has the players capable of winning points, especially against weaker sides such as Huddersfield. All of their players are fit and ready to go, meaning that their manager, Shakespeare, can choose the best 11 for this clash.
So far, their best player has been Jamie Vardy, who’s scored 3 goals already. Another attacker who has been in a fine form is Okazaki. The Japanese striker has scored a goal less than Vardy. There’s another player in Leicester’s offense who deserves attention – Kelechi Iheanacho. Since his move from Manchester City, Iheanacho had a few problems with injuries, but it seems that he’s ready now to show he is worthy of his €27.7M transfer.
Leicester’s biggest problem this season is their seemingly leaky defense. Still, I believe the reason why they allowed 8 goals are not that they have bad defenders – they just faced many superior opponents. That said, I doubt that Huddersfield has what it takes to break Leicester’s defense.
Huddersfield vs. Leicester – Match Prediction
It’s sure that neither side will lack motivation in this duel, but I believe the decisive factor will be the player quality. Leicester City simply has better players than Huddersfield.
The former Premier League champion should not have any problems winning all three points. I think we’re going to see a few goals in Huddersfield’s net. Furthermore, I’m not sure that the hosts will be capable of scoring against Leicester. Because of all this, my pick is going to be Leicester to win.
MY PICK: Leicester to win (+150)
