Premier League Week 18 Preview

First up in the Christmas chaos are league leaders Chelsea and how-did-that-happen fourth placed team, West Ham. Given how close it is to kick-off time now, the following, sadly for you, dear reader, will be slightly lighter by way of in-depth analysis and razor sharp forecasts. One imagines all will agree that, although slightly stuttery lately (relatively speaking, of course), Chelsea should win this.

Late news just in suggests that star man, Eden Hazard, won’t be available for this one and although Chelsea have a squad the envy of most, the loss of the Belgian will be a nice festive fillip for the Hammers. Such is the form of Big Sam’s charges this season, that a result for them here wouldn’t be quite the Christmas miracle it would otherwise be. So, Chelsea to win but do give some thought to the odds of 9/2 for the draw from Betfred and and 19/2 for the Festivus miracle win from Boylesports.

This one will probably be shunned by all but their respective fans. Since peaking a tad bit too early in their early season win over Man Utd, it’s been a stump-legged struggle over broken glass and shards of shattered dreams for Leicester.. A quick glance at their EPL form since reads W0 D2 L10; unless something different happens quickly, there is only one destination for this team. Spurs are on a tidy little run themselves, three wins from their last three already sees them with more wins this season than Leicester. It would seem, then, that the only likely result here is the Spurs win and Betvictor are offering better than evens with a price of 6/5 for that outcome.

Another match that can likely be filed under ‘partisans only’, this could be duller than an afternoon spent with a dead duck. However, it is another match with a better-than-evens price for the likely winner. This column believes that Sunderland will prevail; not because they are great or even good. It’s just that Hull are awful and Steve Bruce isn’t so much a manager as a weird-looking beetroot pretending to be a person. Also, Sunderland do, on occasion, score the odd goal and one should be enough to do the humane thing and put this game out of its misery. Paddypower, amongst others, are offering 21/20 for a Sunderland win.