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Football Journalist
Saturday 13 April 2024 18:49, UK
Jones Knows takes aim at another exciting Premier League weekend, offering up his insight and betting analysis as he sees Palace scoring at Liverpool.
Any opportunity we get to back both teams to score around Evens should be gobbled up this season in the Premier League. It’s a bet that has landed in 62.9 per cent of games – a huge increase on the average from the last five seasons of 50.66 as the goal rush in this league continues to flow at never-before-seen levels.
Well, the price is 5/6 with Sky Bet here and looks a confident selection.
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Liverpool have allowed the opposition to score at least one goal in 15 of their last 18 matches across all competitions and looked like the Liverpool of last season on Thursday night in their mind-boggling 3-0 defeat to Atalanta.
If their midfield structure crumbles in similar fashion, then Crystal Palace’s attacking players do possess enough quality to punish them. Jean-Philippe Mateta is thriving under the new boss, scoring five goals in his last nine Premier League appearances while the dynamic duo of Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise could be reunited in a Palace starting XI for the first time in 11 Premier League games. They can find a way to goal.
Fulham have won once away from home in their last 15 Premier League games – a 2-1 win over Manchester United in February.
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It’s a dismal run of results that included trips to Burnley, Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest and Wolves. On what we’ve seen in recent weeks West Ham are a better functioning outfit than any other those four so it actually makes their win price of 11/8 with Sky Bet look quite generous.
Further confidence can be taken in a home win as Lucas Paqueta is guaranteed to start following his booking in Leverkusen that rules him out of Thursday’s second leg.
As we’ve referenced before, when he plays, West Ham’s attacking output thrives. Since the start of last season, West Ham average 1.6 goals per game with him in the team and 0.6 without while their points-per-game ratio increases from 0.6 to 1.6 per game with the Brazilian in the starting XI.
After bagging penalty duty off James Ward-Prowse in the win over Wolves, his prices in the goalscorer markets make appeal with 100/30 with Sky Bet on offer for him to score. That’s a nice angle but a juicier way to get a Paqueta masterclass onside would be to back him to score or assist in a West Ham win at 11/4 using the Bet Builder with Sky Bet.
With Bayern Munich on the horizon, Arsenal may want this match done and dusted by half-time. Since returning from their Dubai winter break, Arsenal have been synonymous with fast starts. They have scored 20 goals in their 11 first halves – that’s seven more goals than any other team – and that statistic is backed up by their expected goals figure in first halves (14.78) which is also the most of any team for that period.
Aston Villa aren’t expected to put up much resistance with Arsenal priced up at 1/5 by Sky Bet but adding that first-half goals angle into the mix to boost the price could be a way to play this. You can get to 4/5 if you back Arsenal/Arsenal in the half-time/full-time market. This game may play out like Arsenal’s recent win over Luton, where they roared into a 2-0 first-half lead before putting their cue on the rack to preserve energy.
Everton at 7/2 with Sky Bet? Yes please.
Sean Dyche’s team are everything Chelsea are not. Streetwise, defensively secure and reliable.
This match sets up perfectly tactically for Everton to sit deep and frustrate the hosts, who have had huge problems turning mass possession into results against the lesser likes. There’s an over reliance developing on Cole Palmer too, which is masking their problems – he’s scored or assisted 50 per cent of Chelsea’s Premier League goals since his debut.
Stop him and you stop Chelsea. Dyche will have a plan.
I’m advising going fishing for a big-price winner here too, with that Everton win price in mind.
With the Toffees desperate for points, adding Everton player cards to the Everton win makes sense with the likelihood of time wasting and cynical fouls very much at play in the latter stages.
Jordan Pickford (5/1 with Sky Bet) will be running down the clock at every opportunity. He was carded in wins over Arsenal and Bournemouth last season and has been booked three times this season. Also, James Tarkowski (3/1 with Sky Bet) has been looking more uncomfortable than usual in recent weeks when asked to engage with the opposition up the pitch, picking up a card for late challengers in his last three Premier League games.
Adding both players to be carded to an Everton win results in a 80/1 shot using the Bet Builder.
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