Neil Richardson

6/15/2017 EPL: It's bonkers time over Xmas and the New Year - TopBetta Blog TOURNAMENTS RACING SPORT BET NOW DOWNLOAD TOPBETTA APP FOOTBALL / SOCCER EPL: It’s bonkers time over Xmas and the New Year By topbetta on Dec 23, 2016 ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT It’s coming up to the busy period of the year in the EPL where the 20 clubs get to play three games in eight days. It’s a blistering period where nine points are up for grabs with clubs leaping like salmon out of water up the table and away from doom. Or teams can come down with the Christmas decorations, plummeting towards oblivion. We’ve taken the three rounds of football and made our predictions to see how we believe the table will look post-Xmas and for some, it will make uncomfortable viewing. See how your side will fare. ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE PRE-XMAS: ROUND 17 AFL Round 13 betting preview A shortened round 13 of the AFL season kicks off on Thursday night, with six... LATEST HEADLINES Global Tote buys 26 Big Macs for $10 punter How The Global Tote works in punters favour TopBetta’s Two Winners on GT Mid tackles Wenty Park Global Tote: 100% market on Stradbroke Handicap Double the fun with TopBetta’s Two Winners on GT Mid https://blog.topbetta.com.au/epl-bonkers-time-xmas-new-year/ 1/5 6/15/2017 EPL: It's bonkers time over Xmas and the New Year - TopBetta Blog This is how the EPL looks now after Liverpool’s win in their derby against Everton. Chelsea is still six-point ahead and looking good, and strong, to continue their winning ways. Already we have a division within a division, with the top six teams jostling for the title and European football. Outside of that the rest of the league are fighting for honour or their lives. So, which are the big games over Christmas? BOXING DAY Pretty much a sea of games all over the show with no real standouts. Chelsea are at home to Bournemouth and should see off the south coast side; Liverpool should beat Stoke (but then you are never too sure about them); City travel to Hull for what will probably be a hard-fought three points for the Blues and Arsenal are at home to West Brom – but have the wheels come off for the Gunners? And where has Ozil got to? BURNLEY VS. BORO Arguably the biggest game could well be Burnley vs. Boro. A win for Burnley would halt a loss of two in a row after their defeat at Spurs on Sunday, in somewhat controversial circumstances. Sissoko came on as a substitute in the 62nd minute and seven minutes later should have been given his marching orders for a studs-up challenge on Burnley’s Ward. One minute later he feeds the ball to teammate Rose, who scores the winner. Uhoh. “I don’t want go on about the referee but Sissoko has to go off and he sets up the second goal – obviously I am very disappointed about that.” Dyche Spurs, in all honesty, did dominate the game with 30 shots on goal, with Burnley keeper Heaton having to make seven saves. Despite all this, earlier in the game the Clarets scored their first goal on the road but still have only picked up one point from 24 away https://blog.topbetta.com.au/epl-bonkers-time-xmas-new-year/ 2/5 6/15/2017 EPL: It's bonkers time over Xmas and the New Year - TopBetta Blog from home. If Burnley is going to hover above the drop zone, then they are going to have to create more chances to win games, especially when the next two home ones are against fellow relegation contenders Middlesbrough and Sunderland. Boro, on the other hand, picked up a comfortable three points with a three-nil victory over Welsh strugglers, Swansea. Negredo grabbed a brace to make it four for the season and four in four games; he’s certainly hitting form at the right time. Before this match, Boro had only scored 13 goals, but as the game wore on you knew they would score a few against a hapless Swans outfit. Most impressive was the 16-pass build up to De Roon’s 58thminute goal that sealed the points. Boro head down to Burnley confident of another win and a further boost up the table. Boro win @ $3.25 NEW YEARS EVE A massive game at Anfield sees’s Liverpool take on Manchester rivals City in a must-win for both sides if they are to stay in contention with Chelsea. So this will be a draw then. In other games, Burnley and Sunderland face each other in a six-pointer, and we have a north and south London derby as Palace travel up to the Emirates Stadium. LIVERPOOL VS. CITY Well if you had money on a Liverpool win you would have been left biting your fingernails until the 94th minute when deep into injury time Sadio Mane scored the winner in the Merseyside derby. Sturridge hit the post, and it was Mane who reacted first to seal a 2-1 victory over rivals Everton. It was a big win for the Reds and who could tell looking at the celebration of Jurgen Klopp on the final whistle. Liverpool is still six points behind Chelsea, and with the Londoners at home to Bournemouth on Boxing Day (who should see off the Cherries) and Liverpool at home to Stoke the gap should remain the same come this fixture. Liverpool showed grit and determination to wear Everton down and grind out a victory, and that was possibly the correct result. “In the second half it was clear they couldn’t do the same. We were better, we didn’t give one chance away I think.” – Klopp City was another side that had to dig in and work hard to get the right result, as seen in their clash with title-chasing rivals Arsenal. The Gunners went in 1-0 up at half-time until the Blues came out looking a different side, with de Bruyne the instigator of a resurgent City. With the Manchester boys without their enigmatic, goal-scoring freak Aguero (who returns for this match) they required at least one player to step up and run the show, and de Bruyne duly did. City would have played Hull before this game, and we can’t see them not beating that sorry outfit. As for this one, bit tougher and we will settle for an uneventful draw. Draw @ $3.50 MONDAY JANUARY 2ND The final fixtures of the crazy period and the side at the bottom will more or less be relegated if we rely on tradition. Only three teams in 23 seasons have escaped relegation after being bottom of the EPL on Christmas Day: West Brom, Sunderland and Leicester and it will take a miracle at Christmas for Hull City not to be in that unwanted position. Over the three rounds they play Manchester City (H), Everton (H) and West Brom (A) and we cannot see them getting one single point. Swansea could gain a few points if they put their minds to it with games against West Ham (H), Bournemouth (H) and Palace (A) but not as tough as Sunderland’s games against United (A), Burnley (A) and Liverpool (H). https://blog.topbetta.com.au/epl-bonkers-time-xmas-new-year/ 3/5 6/15/2017 EPL: It's bonkers time over Xmas and the New Year - TopBetta Blog SPURS VS. CHELSEA The first big game of the new year though is Spurs vs. Chelsea in a good old-fashioned London derby, as North takes on West. Spurs would have taken on Southampton (A) Watford (A) and now have City at home. No real stumbling blocks in the first two games, unless Spurs get the Xmas heebie-jeebies. They overcame a resilient Burnley last round, in controversial circumstances, but in hindsight thoroughly deserved the victory. Chelsea should pick up maximum points before this game with wins over Bournemouth (H), and Stoke (H) so will still be astride the summit of the EPL. Last weekend they held off Crystal Palace one-nil to make it 11 wins from their last 11 games and with the team now winning 14 of the first 17 games of the season, Conte becomes the first manager in the EPL to achieve this result. Costa headed in his 13th goal of the season and he and teammate Hazard caused Palace all kinds of issues. Chelsea is the form side and have already beaten Spurs in the league this season (after coming from behind). Can they do it at the Lane, though? Spurs to win (awaits odds) So, where does your team sit after the Xmas/New Year period? Check our predicted league out below. Nothing major to report by the looks of it but let’s see how we go, hey?! PREMIER LEAGUE POST-XMAS RELATED ITEMS You must be logged in to post a comment Login LATEST HEADLINES AFL snippets: What to watch in round seven Gold Coast: Group 2 Hollindale Stakes preview TopBetta's gambling operations are governed by it's Responsible Gambling Code of Conduct and for South Australian residents by the South Australian Responsible Gambling Code of Practice. https://blog.topbetta.com.au/epl-bonkers-time-xmas-new-year/ TAGS NRL FEATURED AFL NFL PANTHERS Footy Forecast, episode eight: AFL & NRL betting preview BRONCOS STRIP HORSE RACING BRISBANE CARNIVAL COWBOYS SHARKS STATE OF ORIGIN EURO 2016 BRISBANE TIPS 4/5 6/15/2017 EPL: It's bonkers time over Xmas and the New Year - TopBetta Blog Think! About your choices. Call Gambling Help on- or visit NSW Gambling Help or Gambling Help Online. 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