Manchester City confirmed their status as the best Premier League side this season by defeating neighbours United in yesterday’s derby clash 2-1. Their goals came in either half from Silva and Otamendi, who netted his fifth goal of the season and made up for his earlier error that handed Rashford and United the equaliser. The win extended City’s lead at the top of the Premier League to 11 points and with Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool not winning at the weekend the gap between them and the rest of the league is only getting wider. Earlier in the day Arsenal had substitute Giroud to thank for not losing at Southampton as his 88th minute equaliser broke the Saint’s hearts after they had held on to their 1-0 lead for 85 minutes.
The Merseyside derby was also determined by a late equaliser and it was a controversial Everton second half 77th minute penalty scored by Rooney that cancelled out Liverpool top scorer Salah’s first half strike. Liverpool manager Klop was criticised for leaving out striker Firminho and attacking midfielder Coutinho from the starting line-up and it must have seemed even more confusing when he substituted top-scorer Salah for Firminho and then only brought on Coutinho with only ten or so minutes of normal time remaining. However, even without Firminho and Coutinho Liverpool still dominated possession and had numerous guilt edged chances to score and win the match numerous times over.
The domestic football action comes thick and fast this week and there is one Championship fixture tonight involving mid-table Reading and second place Cardiff at the Madejski Stadium and there are three Premier League fixtures on Tuesday night between Burnley and Stoke at Turf Moor, Crystal Palace and Watford at Selhurst Park and Huddersfield face Chelsea at the Kirklees Stadium. Burnley will be a popular choice with punters given their home form and Stokes woeful defending this season. The second round FA Cup replay fixtures also take place on Tuesday night involving non-league teams Flyde at Wigan and Woking at Peterborough. There are also seven Premier League fixtures on Wednesday night and the pick of the games are the London derby between West Ham and Arsenal at the London Stadium, Southampton against Leicester at St Mary’s and Swansea against leaders Manchester City at the Liberty Stadium
From a betting perspective its reasonable to think West Ham can get a result against Arsenal considering the way the frustrated and defeated Chelsea at the weekend. The Southampton against Leicester match screams a draw between two very evenly matched and in form teams and the Liverpool, Manchester United and Spurs treble is also worth considering as they face West Brom, Bournemouth and Brighton respectively and should dominate proceedings against weaker opposition.
