We hit on 2/3 bets in the recent mid-week round of EPL with the two wins coming at odds of $3 and $3.75 respectively. We’ll look to continue hunting out winners at good odds as we take a look at some of the key games in Week 18 of the English Premier League.
EPL Week 18 Betting Tips
Leicester City vs Crystal Palace (Saturday 11.30pm AEDT)
Leicester and Crystal Palace get Week 18 proceedings underway on Saturday night when they meet at King Power Stadium. The Foxes are coming off a great 4-1 away win over Southampton on the weekend and looked to have bounced back after a slow start to the season. They have no won their last four games in a row and sit in 8th position, eyeing off a top four spot and a return to the Champions League.
Crystal Palace secured a 2-1 win over Watford on the weekend to finally move off the bottom of the EPL table. They can now set their sights on moving out of the relegation zone, with five teams all within three points. After losing their first seven games of the season, Palace have now lost just two of their last 10 matches including three wins and five draws.
The Foxes have been scoring goals at will lately, and their 27 on the season so far is the best of any team outside the top seven. Leicester are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games against Crystal Palace and while Palace have drastically improved since the start of the season, we think the Foxes should be too good here.
TIP: Leicester to win - $1.91 at Sportsbet
Chelsea vs Southampton (Sunday 2am AEDT)
The Blues bounced back from a tough 1-0 loss to West Ham in Week 16 by defeating Huddersfield in the mid-week round on Wednesday morning. It was a dominant performance by Chelsea, maintaining 64% possession in the win. A top four spot will be the priority for the Blues now, after coach Antonio Conte conceded that his team can’t win the title this year after the West Ham loss.
After the loss to Leicester on the weekend, Southampton fall to 11th place on the table and have won just two of their last 10 games. They have a horror run coming up with Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham in their next four games so there’s a possibility that the stretch could continue.
Chelsea have won their last three Premier League games against Southampton, with the last of which being a 4-2 win at Stamford Bridge in April. They start as hot favourites for this match given Southampton’s recent woes. We think the fired up Conte should have his Blues ready to go here and given the extra depth Chelsea has, they should recover from the mid-week tie with the home field advantage better.
TIP: Chelsea -1 - $2 at Ladbrokes
Manchester City vs Tottenham (Sunday 4.30am AEDT)
The game of the round sees the red hot Manchester City facing off against Tottenham at home on Sunday morning. Manchester City sent out a statement to the rest of the league as they defeated United 2-1 in Week 16 before decimating Swansea 4-0 in the mid-week round. They are still unbeaten on the season, and are just one draw away from being completely perfect. They are already 11 points clear of their nearest competitor a few weeks away from the halfway point of the season and show no signs of slowing down.
Totenham, on the other hand, went through a tough stretch that saw them go winless through four games before winning their last two over Stoke and Brighton. They currently sit in fourth place, holding the advantage over a surging Liverpool and Burnley by goal difference only. Harry Kane continues to be a shining light for the Spurs, sitting behind only Mohamed Salah on the golden boot table with 12 goals.
Tottenham actually hold the advantage over Man City in recent history, going undefeated against the Sky Blues in their last four games. It’s a totally different City team this year, however, one that is extremely hard to bet against. It’s very rare that Tottenham are $6 underdogs, but given Man City’s form we think that is about right, back the home team to win by 2 or more here.
TIP: Manchester City -1 - $2.30 at CrownBet
Bournemouth vs Liverpool (Monday 3.30am AEDT)
Liverpool have lost just one match in their last ten and boast one of the most exciting offences in the league. Mohamed Salah leads the league with 13 goals while Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane have all been exceptional. Their 34 goals on the season is behind only the two Manchester teams for the best in the league and they’ll get a great opportunity to move into the top four when they face Bournemouth this weekend.
Bournemouth have had a fairly steady season so far this year, picking up points in almost half of their games with a 4-4-9 record through the first 17 games. However, with such a big log jam at the bottom of the table, they aren’t safe in 14th position, sitting just two points clear of the relegation zone. They’ll need to keep scraping points in big games like this if they wish to stay up for a 3rd year in the Premier League.
Bournemouth have won just one game out of 11 in all competitions against Liverpool, a 4-3 win in this exact fixture last season. Scoring has been the main theme between the two teams over their past few contests, with 11 goals coming in the last two games. With Liverpool’s recent dominance going forward, we think this could be another high scoring contest.
TIP: Total goals OVER 3.5 - $2.53 at Sportsbet
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