Premier League preview: Thursday’s football including Liverpool vs Chelsea
Fulham vs Tottenham
It’s eight long years since Fulham got the better of Tottenham – and that was at White Hart Lane. You have to go back to 2008 for the last time the West London side won on home turf against Spurs in the Prem.
For all that, the Cottagers did hold this opposition to a draw when these sides met back in January – so can Scott Parker do a similar job on Jose Mourinho on Thursday?
Fulham have proven relatively hardy recently, with their only defeats since December coming against the Prem’s top teams. Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd and Leicester have all taken three points from Fulham; those four sides all currently reside in the top five of the league table.
Spurs are lagging back in eighth, but the Lilywhites were in impressive form against Burnley at the weekend, with Gareth Bale scoring a brace. If Tottenham play to their strengths you’d think they can take all three points here – assuming they can score, of course.
I realise that’s stating the obvious, but Fulham have only conceded a single goal in their last five league matches. That’s good. But Harry Kane has scored in every match he’s played in against Fulham, with six goals in four games. That’s bad (for the home side, at least).
Kane scored at the weekend, so he’s not struggling to find the net, and footballers tend to be well aware of their previous successes. H may just figure that scoring against Fulham is de rigeur. You can back Kane to score anytime and Spurs to win in the Wincast market at 41/20.
West Brom vs Everton
The Baggies won in quite notorious style against Brighton at the weekend. If Sam Allardyce can rely on the opposition to miss two penalties while seeing any goals resulting from free kicks ruled out by a dithering official, who knows, perhaps West Brom aren’t doomed just yet.
Who’s to say whether that scenario is viable or not. What we can tell you is that West Brom’s win against Brighton is only their third of the league campaign, so it could be a while before the next one.
Everton are in slightly better shape, beating Liverpool and the Saints in recent weeks, though since those two sides have deteriorated so alarmingly just lately, it’s difficult to know exactly what that proves.
Not to worry – West Brom are bad enough that even if Everton aren’t at their sharpest, they should be able to triumph here. Particularly since the Toffees are unbeaten in their last eight away games in the Prem. Back Everton to win and the excellent Dominic Calvert-Lewin to score anytime at 39/20 in our Wincast market.
Liverpool vs Chelsea
After triumphing against the mighty Sheffield United at the weekend, have Liverpool put their protracted wobble behind them? It’s tough to be too confident, given this match could be Liverpool’s fifth home defeat in a row, should Chelsea take the spoils.
Whether or not that’s a realistic possibility, you’d think this one will be tight. Since Thomas Tuchel took charge of the West London, only once have the team been involved in a match that featured more than three goals.
With encounters between big six sides tending to be tighter than a gnat’s chuff this season, another draw at 5/2 might be worth considering; if you want to double down on the dreariness, nil-nil is an 11/1 shot.
Slightly less pessimistically, under 2.5 goals in the Total Goals market is currently a 26/25 shot. That seems reasonable, given five of Liverpool’s last six home matches have seen two or fewer goals scored.
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