The Premier League season makes its comeback after a long World Cup break and while we weren’t short of entertainment in its absence, its return will certainly be welcomed. Which teams will continue their momentum, and which will be left behind?
We preview the highlights of the traditional Boxing Day Premier League fixtures below.
Brentford v Tottenham
With many of Tottenham’s top players playing important roles in the Qatar World Cup, namely Harry Kane, Richarlison and Son Heung-min, and less of Brentford’s first team called up for duty, it remains to be seen whether or not the post-World Cup hangover will remain and hinder clubs’ chances of landing on their feet in the restart of the domestic season.
While Spurs may struggle the most on this front, they still have many players they can call on in the event of poor performances of their star players. Regardless of the possibility of a poor restart, Spurs are the heavy favourites going into the match, which is no surprise given their fourth-place position in the league, and they are expected to withstand the pressure from the Bees with odds of a 10th win of the season for Kane and his men at 17/20.
Despite missing the vital penalty in the quarter final that saw England knocked out of the World Cup, Harry Kane had a good tournament and though he didn’t score many, showed just how valuable of an asset he is with a number of high-quality assists. Harry Kane to assist a goal and Heung-min Son to assist a goal is 16/1 with a quality long shot, 65/1 for Harry Kane to assist a goal in each half.
Brentford who have been dangerous this season have the quality of Bryan Mbeumo and Ivan Toney up top, with the latter 7/1 to be assisted by Mbeumo or Yoane Wissa. Ivan Toney is 13/10 to score at any time himself and looking at the quality attackers of the two sides, both teams to score at 8/11 could be a good punt.
Leicester City v Newcastle
After winning 3-0 in their return fixture from the World Cup against MK Dons in the Carabao Cup this week, Leicester will go into this game with confidence, but the incredible position of Newcastle United who are having their best season of recent years under Eddie Howe, means that it might be a hard one to budge for any side.
Newcastle are the strong favourites in the tie at 23/20, though Leicester are in with a good chance of causing an upset at 9/4. It will likely be a game of attacks with both sides capable of scoring numerous goals when they play their best football. Jamie Vardy who scored in the tie with MK Dons might fancy himself to score and at 21/10 to score at any time, we are sure some punters will fancy him too.
There is a good chance that this could be a high scoring affair with odds of 17/20 that we will see more than 2.5 goals with Newcastle coming out on top in the betting to score first in the tie at 7/10. Both teams will be more than eager for a win with Leicester in the mindset of not letting their standards fall to that of the beginning of the season and Newcastle keen to continue their incredible run and push themselves higher up the table. It could be an exciting one with odds of 4/6 that we will see a goal in both halves.
Arsenal v West Ham
The team everyone has their eyes on and comfortably holding top spot in the league, Arsenal, are five points ahead of their main title rivals Manchester City in the race for the 2022/23 Premier League trophy and will be expecting no less than a win in their first match back after the World Cup break.
16th place West Ham have been worse than poor this season and looking at their form and league position it is hard to see how they come away with any more than a lucky point in this crucial game for the Gunners.
Arsenal are 1/2 to win and will undoubtedly see this as a chance to step on the gas and really put pressure on Man City going into the second half of the season.
Though missing their star striker Gabriel Jesus, Arsenal hold plenty of firepower and may turn up the heat if West Ham don’t get into the game early. It is only 8/11 that we will witness over 2.5 goals and 15/4 that a total of three of them will be Arsenal goals.
West Ham are 11/2 to keep a clean sheet and will likely struggle if their defence continues leaking in the way it has in the first half of the season. They will need to score numerous goals against the Gunners to get a win here and their key threat of Michail Antonio at 10/3 to score anytime, might not possess enough to unlock the Arsenal defence sufficiently enough to trouble the result.
Arsenal are 11/8 to score in both halves and it is Eddie Nketiah who is the favourite to score first in the tie at 9/2, and Arsenal’s biggest threat at 9/5 to score at any time. Gabriel Martinelli could also get on the score sheet at 2/1 to score at any time.
