The English Premier League continues this weekend, so take a look at our tips and predictions for the Manchester United vs. Crystal Palace and Stoke City vs. Southampton matches. With plenty of picks and markets to choose from, don’t waste your time and join the action at Get More Sports.
Manchester United vs. Crystal Palace
Three-Way: 1: Man United -400; X: +750 Draw; 2: Crystal Palace+2200
Spread -2: Man United -109; Crystal Palace +106
Total +3: Over +104; Under -106
MANCHESTER UNITED
The Red Devils are in a fantastic form; they won five consecutive matches, including the most recent 4:1 thrashing of CSKA in Moscow. United already settled the game in the first half an hour thanks to Romelu Lukaku’s brace and Anthony Martial’s penalty. The former Monaco forward recorded astonishing three assists as well, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored his first goal of the season, and even though they were without a few important players, Manchester displayed a great performance. They are welcoming the worst team in the Premier League currently, and Jose Mourinho’s team is a huge favorite to continue the winning streak.
Man United played ten games so far in the 2017/18 Premier League season, recording eight victories, a draw, and defeat, with a goal difference of 29:6, which means 3.5 goals per contest, something unusual when comparing it to the previous campaign. United won all five home games and conceded only one goal, scoring 17 in the process, and Crystal Palace is looking for a miracle to avoid a blowout at Old Trafford on Saturday. The Red Devils won the last four meetings with the Eagles at home, allowing zero goals and scoring seven, so Palace should consider themselves lucky even to get a goal here.
Romelu Lukaku continues to terrorize opposing defenses; he is the team’s top scorer with ten goals, while Martial and Marcus Rashford have five each. However, with those three assists in Moscow, Martial is now the second-best assist-maker with five, just behind Mkhitaryan who has six assists to his name. Jose Mourinho still cannot count on Paul Pogba (thigh) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (knee), while Marcos Rojo, Marouane Fellaini, and Michael Carrick are also sidelined. At least, the “Special One” will have Phil Jones and Eric Bailly back into contention after the defensive pair served suspension against CSKA.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Sacking Frank de Boer and appointing Roy Hodgson resulted in only one positive so far; Crystal Palace won the Carabao Cup match against Huddersfield and progressed to the 1/8 finals. However, the former England manager lost both Premier League games, failing to score in the process, which is certainly not an upgrade on De Boer, as Palace remains the only team in the league that didn’t score a single goal. Their last defeat was a 0-5 disaster at Manchester City, and the Eagles even failed to have an attempt on target, so the efficiency is their primary problem.
Crystal Palace played eight matches in the 2017/18 Premier League season so far, winning just two of them (both in the Carabao Cup), and suffering six losses. They scored only three and conceded 14 goals, which is a bit over two goals per contest on average. The Eagles lost all three away games in the campaign; scoring zero goals and allowing seven, five of which were at Etihad against Man City. Excluding the extra time win at Old Trafford in the League Cup six years ago, Palace is without an away victory against Man United in the last 13 years, and the things are not looking good for them at the moment.
James McArthur is the team’s leading scorer with a pair of goals to his name, while Christian Benteke struggles to find the net, and that is the most frustrating thing for Hodgson and Palace’s fans. The Belgian suffered a knee injury at Etihad, to make everything worse, and will miss the next six weeks. The Eagles don’t have another classic No. 9 on the squad, and Hodgson is looking for a new striker on the market. There are rumors that Carlton Cole could be the man to step in, and the former West Ham forward is currently a free agent, while Rickie Lambert is also in the frame. Connor Wickham and Wilfried Zaha are still injured and unavailable, so Crystal Palace could continue to struggle in front of the goal.
Manchester United vs. Crystal Palace – Match Prediction
Palace is looking lost at the moment, and changing the gaffer would not help them, so I think they will suffer another catastrophe at the Old Trafford. With the in-form Lukaku against them and Mkhitaryan and Martial who are playing excellently at the moment, I believe the Eagles will concede minimum three goals.
MY PICK: Over 3 goals (+104)
Stoke City vs. Southampton
Three-Way: 1: Stoke City +204; X: +240 Draw; 2: Southampton +170
Spread 0: Stoke City +119; Southampton -118
Total +2.5: Over +129; Under -128
STOKE CITY
The Potters are in an awful form of late after suffering three consecutive defeats and are without a win in the previous five matches. The most recent home loss to Chelsea is particularly painful as Stoke didn’t play bad at all, but conceded four goals and scored none, which must be devastating for Mark Hughes and the fans. There are a lot of talented players in their squad, and it’s only a matter of time when they start to display good performances, and this duel with Southampton could be the opportunity for them to shine.
Stoke played eight matches so far in the 2017/18 Premier League campaign; winning two, with two draws and four losses. They scored nine and allowed 12 goals, which is just over 2.5 goals per contest on average, but considering Southampton’s inefficiency at the moment; this encounter shouldn’t bring plenty of goals. The Potters are evidently better at home this season; except for that heavy defeat to Chelsea, they have a pair of victories (including that one over Arsenal), and a draw with Man United. However, they managed to beat the Saints only once in the last five years at bet365 Stadium, so the visitors surely have a decent chance on Saturday.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Peter Crouch, and Joe Allen are currently the team’s scoring leaders with two goals each, while Allen and the left-back Erik Pieters recorded a couple of assists to their respective names as well. Stephen Ireland is a still long-term absentee with a broken leg, while Geoff Cameron is out with a thigh injury. Bruno Martins Indi is struggling with a groin injury, and he is questionable to feature, while the captain Ryan Shawcross is near to return as he’s recovering from a lower back injury.
SOUTHAMPTON
The Saints are playing in a hot and cold form this season; they are currently I the 11th position in the English Premier League with eight points out of six games, and they already out of the Carabao Cup, so now, Southampton can fully focus on the Premier League. Mauricio Pellegrino’s guys were arguably better than Man United in a 0:1 home loss last week, but lack of calmness and confidence in front of goal proved to be costly for them as they succumbed to the defeat. The inefficiency remains the biggest problem as only two teams scored fewer goals than Southampton at the moment – Crystal Palace and Swansea.
Southampton played seven matches in the 2017/18 Premier League campaign so far, recording two wins, two draws, and three losses, with a goal difference of 4:7, which is only around 1.5 goals per contest on average. With these numbers, it’s hard to expect a high-scoring affair at bet365 Stadium on Saturday, but maybe it is the right time for the Saints to start scoring on a regular basis. They do have a bunch of quality players who are just being unlucky thus far, that’s all, so I think they will bounce back pretty soon.
With four different players who scored a goal each, the Saints lack a real goal-scoring leader on their team, but Manolo Gabbiadini, Dusan Tadic, and Shane Long should pose the biggest threat to Jack Butland’s goal in this encounter. Pellegrino’s doesn’t have serious injury-related issues prior to this tilt, as the only sidelined player is the left-back Matt Targett, who is dealing with an ankle injury and is unavailable to participate here.
Stoke City vs. Southampton – Match Prediction
Stoke failed to score in the last two outings, while Southampton is surprisingly inefficient, but I believe that all will change on Saturday, so I expect to see goals on both ends.
MY PICK: Both teams to score YES (-105)
