Manchester City’s relentless drive continue against Spurs
While Justbet offers Newcastle at $4.75 to beat West Ham
MANCHESTER City will be aiming to pile more misery on struggling Tottenham Hotspurs tomorrow, however, before that, top-four hopefuls West Ham will seek to end Newcastle recent run of good form when they host the Toons.
Event # 1 – EPL, West Ham vs Newcastle
After securing a point in a 2-2 draw with Leicester last weekend, West Ham will be aiming to return to winnings ways when they host in-form Newcastle at the Olympic Stadium tomorrow, Saturday, February 19. West Ham are currently fourth in the standing and holds the advantage in the race for Champions League football next season. Many pundits believe that West Ham’s top-four challenge would fade away in the second half of the season, instead, the teams around them keeps faltering, which has assisted the ‘Hammers’ in the race for the fourth spot. West Ham will be looking to maintain their two-match unbeaten run to strengthen their position in the league standing, when they host a rejuvenated Newcastle side that they defeated 4-2 earlier this season.
What a difference a month has made for Newcastle, as their recent excellent form have seen them moved out of the bottom three places in the league standing. Not only that, they also now boast a four-point advantage over Norwich who are in the final relegation spot with a game in hand. Since changing coach, with Eddie Howe now in charge, Newcastle have won their last three matches in the league and are unbeaten in five. Fans should expect an exciting affair when these two sides meet on Saturday as goals have been the order of the day in recent fixtures, as there have been an average of 4.4 goals per match in the previous five matches.
KEY STATS
• West Ham – have scored at least once in all 12 of their Premier League home games this season, the best such 100 per cent record in the competition this term. The Hammers have both scored and conceded in 16 Premier League games this season, with no side doing so more often.
• Newcastle – have won their last two Premier League away games against West Ham
– they’ve never won three consecutive visits at the Hammers in their league history.
• Both sides – following their 4-2 win on the opening weekend, West Ham are looking to complete the Premier League double over Newcastle for just the third time, previously doing so in 1998-99 and 2018-19. The betting tip. West Ham win and both sides to score.
Event # 2 EPL – Manchester City vs Tottenham – 12:30 Premier League leaders Manchester City hope to extend their advantage at the top of the table when they host Tottenham, a side in danger of losing ground to the other top four hopefuls. The well-oiled m a c h i n e o f Manchester City were able to rest star player Kevin de Bruyne, among others, as they thrashed Norwich 4-0 last weekend, which left them nine points clear of second-placed Liverpool in the standing. City travelled to Portugal in midweek to face Sporting Lisbon in Champions League action and duly thrashed the Portuguese side 5-0 in another dominant display. This impressive Man City side have not lost a single match in any competition since December 7, and based on the recent form of both sides, City should continue their recent dominance over a struggling Tottenham side against whom they have won three of their last four home matches, while keeping clean sheets in each of those wins.
An out of form Tottenham side won’t relish a visit to the reigning Premier League Champions, Manchester City based on their current form, having lost their last three matches against Chelsea, Southampton, and Wolves, and now are faced with a daunting task of going to the Etihad Stadium to put a stop to their winless run. The pressure is slowly beginning to build on recently appointed Coach Antonio Conte as Tottenham haven’t really improved as much as expected since he took over, and another heavy defeat this weekend looks almost inevitable.
KEY STATS
• Manchester City – have lost just one of their last 11 home league games against Tottenham (W8 D2), going down 2-1 in February 2016.
• Tottenham – Spurs have won three of their last four Premier League games against Man City (L1), as many as they had in their previous 13 against them. However, these last three victories have all been in home games.
• Both sides – following their 1-0 victory against Man City on the opening weekend of the season, Tottenham are looking to secure their first league double over the reigning topflight champions since 1986-87, when they beat Liverpool 1-0 home and away.
The betting tip. Manchester City win.