Arsenal vs. Everton

Arsenal  have been an unstoppable force as of late, and shouldn’t have much trouble against Everton.  The Toffees suffered a disappointing, yet somewhat unfortunate home loss to Stoke last weekend.  While I did lend my sympathy to Moyes’ boys with regards to the referees decisions being pretty one-sided, they still shouldn’t have allowed Stoke to shut them out at Goodison Park.

Then again, Everton never were known for ripping teams apart with an attacking style of play.  Their best hope against Arsenal would be to try and contain them, and hope for a quick break against the Gunners for a 1-0 win at The Emirates Stadium.  However, I don’t see this being a likely outcome at all, and it’s much more probably that Arsenal will thump in a couple of goals, and possibly concede one as they normally do, which is why my picks for this game are Arsenal to take it @ 1.50, and with a barrage of goals to for the high scoring payout @ 1.80. Quite a shocker that the bookies are being generous with the payout on the high here, especially given that Arsenal have produced 10 out of 14 high scoring games this season, and definitely worth dropping some dough on.

Bolton vs. Aston Villa

So a number of you might have noticed that I hadn’t tipped Bolton to produce a high scoring game last week.  Rest assured, that this had nothing to do with their failure to do so 2 weeks ago, my faith is still with them.  Their absence from The Punter’s Guide was a result of the bookies upping the ante for last week’s game between Bolton and Tottenham by placing the line at over/under 3.5 goals.  The result was a 3 goal game, courtesy of Tottenham.

The line has returned to its normal standard of 2.5 goals, and I expect to see Bolton resume continue their high scoring streak.  I will be honest, I’m not as confident about this bet paying out as well as in previous gameweeks due to Aston Villa’s annoying ability to suck the excitement out of a game.  Then again, their defense is quite terrible away, and Bolton’s isn’t much better, so there’s a fair chance that the over @1.80 should come through.

Stoke City vs. Tottenham

I must admit, I did not see Stoke taking last week’s game against Everton.  Hardly a convincing victory, but at the end of the day they pulled off the unlikely win.  What began as a strong start of the season for Stoke, has now turned into a series of inconsistent events.  I can hardly blame them though, given their lack of depth and busy schedule with the Europa League.  In any case, Stoke can be difficult to take down at home, when they choose to show up.  With a rested and fit squad, Sunday may be one of those days.

Tottenham’s winning streak has showed no signs of slowing down recently, and with a fully fit squad of their own, including the return of Van der Vaart, they will be looking to continue their rampage through the league at the Britannia Stadium.  There’s very little that I can add to what I’ve previously said about the Spurs, as they’ve been doing everything right  here and haven’t lost a Premier League game in months now.

The way I see it, no matter how strong a fight Stoke put up, Tottenham should break through and win here.  I’m tempted to place a wager on this one to be a high scoring game, but I could very easily see Tottenham scraping a 1-0 or 2-0 victory here, so I’d recommend a pass on that for now, and stick with Tottenham to win this at a very favorable payout of @ 1.90.

Swansea vs. Fulham

Swansea suffered a bit of a shock defeat last week at the hands of Blackburn, especially surprising given their decent defensive capabilities.  Then again, Swansea are hardly offer much solidity at the back whenever playing away from The Liberty Stadium.  Fulham on the other hand, have become a team I hate to get involved with.  There is no consistency with them whatsoever, and it's all the more annoying to see them get killed at home by teams like Everton, to subsequently bounce back with draws and wins against teams like Arsenal and Liverpool.

But, with that in mind, I figure now would be a good time to take advantage of Fulham's inconsistency and turn it against them.  The Cottagers have not won back to back EPL games this season, and Swansea have not lost back to back games.  On top of that, Swansea HAVE ONLY CONCEDED 2 GOALS AT HOME THIS SEASON.  All that taken into account, you can't go wrong placing a hefty wager on Swansea with the Asian Handicap @ 1.92. For those of you unfamiliar with this style of wager, it simply means to bet on Swansea to win, with a draw refunding the bet.  The only possible way to lose here is if Fulham get the win.