PREMIER LEAGUE: The Striker previews ASTON VILLA v MANCHESTER CITY, WEST HAM v BRIGHTON and CRYSTAL PALACE v ARSENAL all with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
ASTON VILLA V MANCHESTER CITY
12.30pm It’s the last Premier League Saturday before Christmas, and we have a cracker ahead on BETDAQ Betting Exchange! We have three very interesting markets – all away sides are the favourites, but you can pick holes in all three of them. We start the day with Aston Villa hosting Manchester City, and once again all eyes are on Pep Guardiola given the desperate run City are on at the moment. It was like they almost collapsed in the last 15 minutes against Manchester United last weekend – they looked totally drained of any confidence, and although Aston Villa haven’t been playing the best football this season, it’s not surprising that City aren’t odds on favourites. Manchester City are trading 2.16 with Aston Villa 3.5 and the draw is 3.9 at the time of writing. If you told Aston Villa fans they would have been two points behind City in December they would have been very excited; but as it turns out that leaves Villa sitting in seventh coming into this weekend! They have had some excellent results in the Champions League, but they only have an average xG created of 1.36 in the Premier League this season.
That’s a very average figure, closer to the bottom of the attacking table than the top. City have clearly been suffering recently – injuries and lack of form have seemingly left the squad hitting a wall all at the same time. It’s actually hard to have confidence in them at the moment. They still have the best attacking figure in the Premier League, but the average has been decreasing each week recently. Their average xG conceded is going up too, and the 2.12 just doesn’t make much appeal here. City have had huge issues at the back, with sides seemingly able to play through them with ease at times. Although the Villa attacking figure doesn’t inspire too much confidence, Both Teams To Score looks a nice position at 1.57. I’m keen to keep stakes small here however; it’s hard to pinpoint just what is going on with City at the moment – it just seems a confidence issue at the moment along with the obvious injury worries too but it’s hard to have too much faith them against the better organised sides. You know Emery will have Villa well set up too! I’m happy with a one point stake.
The Striker Says:
One point win Both Teams To Score at 1.57 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/AstMnc
WEST HAM V BRIGHTON
3pm We have three games kicking off at 3pm, and in my opinion West Ham hosting Brighton is easily the pick of them. We’ve had a lot of drama around these two clubs recently, and we should have a very interesting game too. West Ham have had all their manager drama – a win over Wolves and a draw with Bournemouth seems to have eased the pressure on Julen Lopetegui but when you start seeing “X has X games to save their job” you know that never usually ends well. Brighton have faced a lot of criticism since their 3-1 loss at home to Crystal Palace. Rumours of a club night out before the game are hardly going to get many fans on your side. That left Brighton without a win in four games, and it was hardly the toughest fixture list either – Southampton, Fulham, Leicester and Crystal Palace are all sides Brighton should be beating given they are aiming for the European spots. After finishing a very strong sixth and getting Europa League football in 2022/23, they could be looking at back-to-back mid-table finishes to be honest. It’s not a surprise that we have such an open betting heat here.
Brighton come into the game as the favourites at 2.46 with West Ham 2.96 and the draw is 3.85 at the time of writing. Looking at the stats, this should be a very entertaining game. Both sides have been creating a decent level of chances going forward; there’s only 0.02 between them on xG figures in mid-table. Where they have both struggled is at the back – West Ham have been quite poor in this area, but both sides have been very sloppy. They are both conceding more goals than they should be based on their xG figure, but this isn’t a new story with both clubs either. I feel this game absolutely screams goals, and Over 2.5 goals jumps off the page at 1.58 in what should be a very open and entertaining game, with plenty of mistakes at the back! I feel we’re getting so much value here, it’s worth a Five Star NAP!
The Striker Says:
Five points win Over 2.5 goals at 1.58 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/WhuBha
CRYSTAL PALACE V ARSENAL
5.30pm We finish Saturday with another intriguing game as Crystal Palace host Arsenal. It’s always funny how the fixture list throws out these situations a couple of times a season, but the sides meet again quickly after playing each other on Wednesday night in the Carabao Cup. Palace had a brilliant start away from home as they took the lead after four minutes, but Arsenal battled back well to win 3-2 in the end. Arteta opted to rest some players so it was a job well done all around for Arsenal. That was a nice bounce back after a bitterly disappointing weekend – I know they played at the same time but with Liverpool dropping points, it must have been gutting to only draw with Everton. Arteta has faced a lot of criticism lately for being quite negative – in my opinion Arsenal were conceding a lot more chances at the start of this season compared to last season and he has worked to sort out those issues. That has come at a cost attacking, and while they now have the second best defensive figure, they are clearly not creating as much as last season. This should be an interesting game.
Crystal Palace have been getting a lot of results lately – they have only lost once in their last eight Premier League games. They’ve beaten Spurs here and drew with Manchester City on that run too. The 3-1 win over Brighton was pretty good last week, and in fairness to them they gave Arsenal a good game midweek away from home. Arsenal come into the game as the odds on favourites at 1.64 with Crystal Palace 6.2 and the draw is 4.3 at the time of writing. I had a small lay on Arsenal at 1.45 midweek, and although we didn’t collect I still feel we made a nice value bet. The game was a lot closer than those odds reflected, and Arsenal actually drifted out to 1.75 before kick off on the team news. We can expect a usual strong XI here, but I still feel that the 1.64 is a little too short. Once again, I feel Palace will make this game closer than the odds suggest and I’m happy with a small lay on Arsenal from a value point of view.
The Striker Says:
One point lay (liability) Arsenal to beat Crystal Palace at 1.64 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/CrlArl
