PREMIER LEAGUE: The Striker previews four Festive games in the Premier League – all with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
MANCHESTER CITY V EVERTON
12.30pm As always we have a huge Boxing Day on BETDAQ Betting Exchange! It’s headlined by the Premier League and we have some excellent fixtures with plenty of interesting markets. We kick the day off with Manchester City hosting Everton, and once again all eyes are on Pep Guardiola given the terrible run City have been on. It’s actually hard to believe how poor City have been recently, and how pretty average sides are playing through them with ease. It’s remarkable that Pep Guardiola has seemingly no answers to this situation either; it just goes to show a manager isn’t much without the players. Everton managed to stop Arsenal and Chelsea winning in their last two games and that might make plenty of punters consider now putting City in their Boxing Day Acca. In fairness; one win in eight Premier League games would stop you putting City in any Acca never mind the recent Everton results! Nevertheless, with home advantage City come into the game as the red-hot favourites. Pep Guardiola’s men are trading 1.36 with Everton 9.6 and the draw is 5.9 at the time of writing. That 1.36 is a few ticks higher than usual for City, but who could blame the market.
Obviously there are plenty of layers around City at the moment. It’s hard to have any faith in them, and as I said prior to their loss away to Aston Villa; you just look at their prices at the moment and it’s hard to back them. The 1.36 is another price here that I want to avoid, despite the obvious gulf in class between the sides. Everton have done well to stop Arsenal and Chelsea recently too; it will be interesting to see how much they can create going forward. City have had a huge amount of issues at the back on this run, and I’m not quite sure Everton will be able to take advantage of that – it feels like their best chance of a result is another 0-0 draw; but it’s hard to see them keeping a clean sheet here to be honest. I expect Everton to approach this game very negatively however, and Under 2.5 goals looks a nice option at 2.57 for small stakes. City have clearly been struggling for confidence and Everton have been very well set-up recently – they can frustrate City here for a large part of the game.
The Striker Says:
One point win Under 2.5 goals at 2.57 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/MciEvr
NOTTINGHAM FOREST V TOTTENHAM
3pm We have a very busy afternoon with five fixtures kicking off at 3pm, and by far and away the most interesting fixture is Nottingham Forest hosting Spurs in my opinion. Let’s be honest, whatever you think about Spurs it’s never dull! We had an absolute thriller last week in the Carabao Cup Quarter-Final with Manchester United, and then four goals in the first half against Liverpool at the weekend, the game finished 6-3 in the end! It’s just never boring with Spurs under Ange Postecoglou! This should be a very interesting game – Nottingham Forest have been playing some excellent football this season and they must be full of confidence after winning again at the weekend. That left them sitting just inside the Top Four; absolutely incredible for them really. It wasn’t so long ago that they came up from the Championship, spent a load of money and had a tonne of players in their squad – everyone was saying they would go broke if they went back to the Championship but here they are. Forest games have been very entertaining affairs too; so far they have been getting away with things at the back this season but they have been conceding a reasonably high volume of chances.
They actually have a higher average xG conceded than Spurs this season, but then again a lot of Spurs problems are self-inflicted – how about those goalkeeper howlers against United! Another six goals shipped against Liverpool at the weekend. Although it is very frustrating for Ange Postecoglou, I feel he has to stay the course. Spurs still have the second highest average xG in the Premier League this season. We have an open betting heat here; Nottingham Forest are the favourites at 2.44 with Tottenham 3.0 and the draw is 3.85 at the time of writing. I don’t have a strong opinion on the match odds market here; I feel this game absolutely screams goals! Spurs have had a lot of drama in their recent games and it’s hard to not see action at both ends of the pitch here. Over 2.5 goals is trading 1.53 and that looks a cracking position in my opinion. I’d have it closer to 1.4, and I feel it’s worth a Five Star NAP at the odds!
The Striker Says:
Five points win Over 2.5 goals at 1.53 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/NfoTot
WOLVES V MANCHESTER UNITED
5.30pm We have another intriguing fixture and market here as Wolves host Manchester United. It’s been a tough week for Ruben Amorim; United crashed out of the Carabao Cup last week against Spurs and the two goalkeeper errors papered over the fact they were 3-0 down. They then lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth at the weekend, and while Bournemouth are playing some very nice football this season that type of result is always hard to take with home advantage. Obviously the whole Rashford situation isn’t helping things, and it looks like he’s on his way out after being left out of the squad again at the weekend. We’re going to have some big opinions on the United price here in my opinion – there’s going to be a lot of debate whether or not the price is value! Manchester United are trading 2.0 with Wolves 4.1 and the draw is 3.8 at the time of writing. While it’s hard to trust this United side at the moment, Wolves have been so poor this season it’s hard to have much faith in them either. Although a win at the weekend over Leicester was very badly needed, and that was a huge boost in their chances of staying up.
Away from home, that was a hammer blow to Leicester as well as much needed point for Wolves. They still sit in the relegation zone however, and their stats are still poor. They have the fourth worst attacking figure and the fifth worst defensive figure – it’s easy to see why they are sitting in the relegation zone to be honest. I’m happy to stay out of the match odds market here – Ruben Amorim just doesn’t have the talent in this United squad to carry out the tactics he wants, they just lack the quality and it will take multiple seasons to work through this. With Wolves it’s hard to have faith in them that you want to lay United – the reality here is we have two sides leaking goals this season and we should see mistakes at the back here. Over 2.5 goals is trading 1.68 and although I’m not going to go crazy with the stakes here, I do feel it’s worth a confident bet. Both sides have been poor at the back so I’d be surprised if we didn’t see goals here!
The Striker Says:
Three points win Over 2.5 goals at 1.68 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/WlvMun
LIVERPOOL V LEICESTER
8pm We finish Boxing Day with the shortest price of the day as Liverpool host Leicester. It’s almost impossible to see past a comfortable home win here after Liverpool put six goals past Spurs at the weekend while Leicester lost 3-0 at home to Wolves. That loss was a huge blow for Leicester who has been getting results under Rudd van Nistelrooy – you only have the look at the big shift on their price to get relegated to know what a blow that was. While Leicester are odds on to go down, Liverpool are odds on to win the title. Arne Slot has Liverpool playing some fantastic football – probably the best start to a Premier League career for a manager to be honest. Liverpool come into this game as the red-hot favourites; they are trading as short as 1.12 with Leicester 28.0 and the draw is 12.0 at the time of writing. I think this is a case of how many goals can Liverpool score rather than will they actually win, and we’ll have to look around the side markets for some value. The goal and handicap markets are the obvious place to start – especially with Liverpool banging in goals for fun.
Leicester have had problems at both ends of the pitch – they have the third worst attacking figure and the second worst defensive figure. Their average xG conceded is very high at 1.84 and that’s not a figure you want to bring to Liverpool away! Liverpool have banged in 24 goals in their last nine Premier League games, and the market is expecting more goals here. Over 2.5 goals is trading as short as 1.28, but with Both Teams Not To Score trading odds on the market is expecting Liverpool to do most of the work. Leicester have an average xG created of only 1.09 this season and that’s hardly going to trouble Arne Slot’s men who have been so improved at the back this season. Although that is a tempting bet, I like Over 3.5 goals at around 1.6. Liverpool have been in such good goal scoring touch recently, and if they get an early goal here I can see Leicester trying to fight fire with fire. We should see another very entertaining Liverpool game.
The Striker Says:
Two points win Over 3.5 goals at 1.6 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/LivLec
