Premier League Matchweek 31 preview: Will the title contenders drop points?

A massively important Matchweek 31 sees both Manchester City and Arsenal with tough games as we close in on the final five matches of the season. Will either drop points?

We preview both of the league leaders’ fixtures as well as Aston Villa’s clash with Newcastle.

Aston Villa v Newcastle, Saturday – 12:30

This is a huge tie for two teams in some of their best form this century, with Eddie Howe’s Magpies looking to cement their position in the top four and Unai Emery’s Villans looking like a real threat for a place in Europe next season.

Newcastle currently occupy third place and Aston Villa sit in sixth having won their last four games on the bounce. Newcastle have won their last five and take a lead of nine points over their opposition coming into the game so the odds of 11/10 favouring the team in the top four are understandable.

Villa are 13/5 for the win so looking at the odds this should go the way of the team from Tyne and Wear. As we know, it is never that simple in the Premier League and in the form they are in, Villa will give any side a tough game. They have just beaten Chelsea 2-0 and Emery looks to have found the best in Ollie Watkins who has now scored 12 goals in the Premier League this season, two behind his record with eight games to go.

Watkins is 19/10 to score at anytime though he may struggle against a defence of this calibre given Newcastle have the best goals against record in the league so far this season.

His counterpart Alexander Isak is another striker having a fantastic season in the Premier League, having looked the real deal early in the season before succumbing to an injury that saw him side-lined for months.

Since, he has proven to be the striker we all hoped he was, scoring eight times in just 13 appearances so far. The Sweden talisman is 19/20 to score at any time and 5/1 to score two or more.

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Manchester City v Leicester City, Saturday – 17:30

Every single game left this season can potentially make or break the title race for Manchester City and Arsenal and this one is no exception as any dropped points from now to the end of the season will certainly come to haunt either side.

As good as Manchester City are and as good as they were in the match against Bayern Munich that saw them win 3-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday night, Leicester are still a formidable force with arguably the best attack in the bottom half of the table currently.

Any side can be a banana peel in the Premier League and despite City’s heavily favouring odds of 3/20, expect this to be a close affair, at least for a period of the game.

Leicester’s star player James Maddison is 6/1 to score at any time in the game and Leicester are 9/1 to score in both halves with enhanced odds, both high returning punts. However, the bet that could be an easy win is Erling Haaland to score a hattrick at 6/1 with enhanced odds.

It is not often that you say a hattrick could be an easy winner, but the Norwegian superstar has already bagged six this season, what would one more be?

Though this will be a hard match for City, they are likely to flex their muscles after a very convincing win against tough opposition in the Champions League this week and could end up delivering a thrashing. City to win 4-0 or 5-0 at 13/2 is our pick.

West Ham v Arsenal, Sunday – 14:00

Speaking of banana peels, this fixture has the potential to cause Arsenal some real problems as they aim to hold onto the six-point gap separating them and second place Man City at the summit of the English topflight.

Arsenal are 4/7 to win the match having not lost in the Premier League since halfway through February, and West Ham, at just 24/5 for victory, have been struggling at the bottom of the table for the majority of the season, despite taking the odd important win when they’ve needed it.

After the bruising draw to Liverpool last week that saw them 2-0 ahead, Arsenal could go into this game with more anxiety than they have experienced this whole season as the final straight to the final day rapidly approaches.

Therefore we are backing both teams to score here at 4/5 with West Ham playing their best football at home this term. Another of our picks is the total match goals over 2.5 at 8/11 as we anticipate West Ham to score first, spurring on an Arsenal, not at their best, to come back and take a narrow victory.

Taking all into account, we like the look of a high returning Arsenal to win 2-1 at 15/2. It has proven difficult for us to pick goal scorers in this one so we have gone with Arsenal to score in both halves at 6/4.

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