Spurs to come unstuck at Sunderland

28Dec 2012

England - Premier League

The games are coming thick and fast over the Christmas period and Paul Robinson is back to guide you through the best fixed odds bets that Betfair have to offer for this weekend's Premier League action.

Sunderland v Tottenham

Back Sunderland @ 3.2 (11/5)

Back Sunderland to win 2-1 @ 11.0 (10/1)

Sunderland take on Spurs in the lunchtime kick off on Saturday and as both of these two are in good form, I think home advantage could prove the difference.

I thought the Black Cats could get a result against City and despite my prediction of a draw going array, I was correct in my belief that they had turned the corner after a poor start to the season. Martin O'Neill's side are up to 13th in the league thanks to three wins from four and the defence seems to have tightened up again with all three of those victories yielding clean sheets.

Adam Johnson's goal may have been a touch fortuitous against his old club, but it was his second in three games at the Stadium of Light and he, Stephane Sessegnon and James McClean have started helping Steven Fletcher with the goals.

Tottenham are in fourth place courtesy of taking 16 points from a possible 21 and the dynamic, Gareth Bale, announced his return to full fitness with a hat trick at Aston Villa on Boxing Day. AVB's side will find the Sunderland defence much harder to breach though and their season has been quite topsy turvy thus far, with a couple of poor results popping up just when you think they're favourites to take the final Champions League place.

I can see the North Londoners grabbing a goal as they do have plenty of quality in the final third, but I doubt they will get too much joy and I'm still not convinced by their back four, so a 2-1 correct score looks like a decent bet in addition to a home win.

Everton v Chelsea

Back Everton @ 2.8 (9/5)

Back Everton to win 2-1 @ 9.5 (17/2)

Our second game of the weekend is similar to the first as it features a pair of in-form sides where I think home advantage will again prove decisive.

Everton are in fifth place, below Spurs on goals scored only. David Moyes' team seem to have put their run of draws behind them as they've now won three of their last four. The 2-1 victory over Wigan on Wednesday was their third 2-1 in recent weeks and the Toffees haven't shown any sign of missing the suspended Marouane Fellaini thus far.

Steven Pienaar and Leon Osman have been chipping in with the goals while the Belgian remains unavailable and Nikica Jelavic remains out of form. They are unbeaten at Goodison in 13 league games now, with nine of them being victories, including ones over Manchester United and Tottenham.

Chelsea are flying again with six wins in their last seven in all competitions. They put a total of 13 goals past Leeds and Aston Villa and while they netted only once against Norwich last time, the boo boys have been all but silenced by Rafa Benitez.

I still have my concerns about their mentality when the going gets tough though, as when they are unable to play their football, they seem to get bullied out of the game, as evidenced by the second half at Upton Park and the World Club Cup Final. Everton away isn't a game where you're going to get a free ride and I can see them folding under what will surely be intense spells of pressure from the home side.

As mentioned earlier, Everton's wins have been by a 2-1 scoreline recently and I think it could be overpriced at 9.5 (17/2) for a repeat on Sunday.

QPR v Liverpool

Back Liverpool @ 1.9 (10/11)

Back Liverpool to win 2-0 @ 8.0 (7/1)

These two teams both lost on Boxing Day but I strongly fancy Liverpool to come out on top when they meet this weekend.

QPR are back on the bottom of the pile after they lost 2-1 at home to West Brom. Harry Redknapp may have improved them enough to earn their first win of the season against Fulham, but they still look almost certain to go down.

Rangers are devoid of quality in all areas of the field and they are making individual mistakes as well which are costing them goals. Rob Green was the latest as he tipped the ball into his own net after coming under minimal pressure from the attacker. They have played nine league games at Loftus Road so far this term, won one, lost four and drawn four. They have kept just one clean sheet and scored only eight goals themselves.

Liverpool fell to a 3-1 defeat at Stoke on Wednesday and after grabbing an early lead, the defence played very poorly and conceded three pretty sloppy goals. I'd expect Brendan Rodgers to have torn strips off his back four, Skrtel and Agger in particular and they should be looking to prove a point against QPR.

On the plus side for Liverpool, the goals have at least been flowing again, with Steven Gerrard, in particular, stepping up to the plate. The captain has now netted in each of his last three and he has taken a bit of the pressure off Luis Suarez's shoulders.