As we begin the preview of the Boxing Day matches, Merry Christmas to our readers! It’s not for nothing that the EPL is the best football league in the world, as while the other leagues are on an extended break this Holiday Season, the EPL soldiers on, and goes into an even higher gear, with as many as 4 matches to be played by each team in just 10 days, which is awesome for football fans.
But, typically, the Holiday Season has always been hard for the teams in the EPL, as the incredible frequency at which the matches are played usually leads to many key players getting injured – which is why having a great squad is so very important. What’s clear is that apart from the top four or five teams, the rest don’t really have particularly strong squads of any sort, which could mean that the next 10 days could potentially ravage their sides, and have a brutal impact on their season, the severity of which will only be known in May.
This is particularly true for the smaller clubs such as QPR, Burnley, Leicester City, West Brom and others struggling to avoid relegation. If luck does go against them, and they end up losing key players, they might as well kiss goodbye to the Barclays Premier League by the time the Holiday Season is finished.
For the league leaders, who are now a top-3, rather than a top-2, because of the amazing performance by Louis Van Gaal’s Red Devils, this Holiday Season could well mean the difference between winning the league, or just having to settle for a spot in the Champions League. Win all 4 matches over the next 10 days, and the EPL is yours, it can’t be a simpler equation than that for Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City. It would be hard, but pretty much doable.
For the mid-ranking clubs, it’s a fight to the finish for the fourth and the last Champions League spot. The fight for this is well and truly on between Arsenal, the biggest surprise of the season, West Ham, Tottenham and, if they get their act together, Southampton and Liverpool. So, what we have are 3 or 4 mini leagues within one larger league.
We preview each of the matches to be played this Boxing Day on Friday, and offer our predictions. Read on!
Chelsea v West Ham
Don’t miss the first match to be played this Friday and it promises to be the best of the day. We have the league leaders taking on the biggest surprise of the season, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea versus Sam “Big Sam” Allardyce’s West Ham. The contrasts between the two managers and that between their teams couldn’t be higher. Mourinho has always managed teams that have competed for the highest positions in every league he has been a part of, while Big Sam’s main goal in his decades long managerial career has been to avoid relegation, no matter which side he managed, and he never really had much resources to be able dream of anything greater than that.
This season represents Big Sam’s best opportunity as yet to be considered as one of the top managers in the league, which he can, if his team continues their amazing run and qualifies for the Champions League. It’s a tough ask and in Mourinho, Big Sam faces his toughest challenge yet. For Chelsea, Diego Costa has been having a dry run, but the likes of Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabrigas are carrying as splendidly as ever. We really like Big Sam, but we expect beating Chelsea at the Stanford Bridge to be a “bridge too far” for West Ham.
The IndiaBet.org Team Prediction: Chelsea 2 West Ham 1
Everton v Stoke
Roberto Martinez, a young manager who everybody admires has found himself at the receiving end of a lot of criticism as his side Everton have criminally underperformed this season. It’s hard to find a fault with his team as the players work as hard as ever and seem committed to the cause. Perhaps, the issue could be that they lack in killer’s instinct and fail to finish off matches. Everton have lost 3 of their last 4 matches, including a terrible 3-0 loss at Southampton. They would really need to turn things around against a strong Stoke City side led by Mark Hughes, who would be smelling a victory here.
The IndiaBet.org Team Prediction: Everton 1 Stoke 2
Leicester v Tottenham
Tottenham have got their game together finally, after having being confused for much of the season. The biggest difference to Spurs has been having young English centre forward Harry Kane up front, supported by Eriksen and Chadli. Kane has been sensational and is being preferred to the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado, who are much more famous and certainly more experienced. We expect this to be another win for Spurs and we don’t really expect bottom placed side Leicester City to pose a threat to anyone in the league.
The IndiaBet.org Team Prediction: Leicester 0 Tottenham 2
Man Utd v Newcastle
Manchester United’s 6 match winning streak came to a slight halt last week as they were held to a draw by a fighting Aston Villa. But there were positives as Falcao made a start after a prolonged period out because of injury and Angel Di Maria, their best player, made an appearance from the substitute bench. Newcastle lost their 3rd straight match at home against bitter rivals Sunderland and so would be down on confidence. We expect an easy win for Louis Van Gaal’s team.
The IndiaBet.org Team Prediction: Man Utd 3 Newcastle 0
Crystal Palace v Southampton
Southampton finally won last week, beating Everton 3-0, after 4 consecutive losses. Crystal Palace lost by the same scoreline to Manchester City, which was to be expected. We expect Southampton to get their EPL campaign back on track, and for Graziano Pelle to get back on the scoring sheet after a brief dry spell. These are matches you would expect Southampton to win.
The IndiaBet.org Team Prediction: Crystal Palace 0 Southampton 2
Sunderland v Hull
Sunderland had their best moment of the season as they beat local rivals Newcastle United 1-0, which has certainly made their long suffering supporters very happy indeed, and given manager Gus Poyet a new lease of life. They would want to build on that by beating an underperforming Hull City, who simply can’t seem to get things right, having narrowly lost far too many matches this season for comfort. We expect a draw, though.
The IndiaBet.org Team Prediction: Sunderland 1 Hull 1
West Brom v Man City
Sergio Aguero is still out with an injury, but Man City’s campaign continues to go strong, nevertheless and we expect them to have an easy match tomorrow, turning over West Brom. David Silva, their most creative midfielder is back after an injury and Yaya Toure, their best player seems to be back in full form. Any result other than an easy Man City win would be a shocker.
The IndiaBet.org Team Prediction: West Brom 0 Man City 2
Burnley v Liverpool
Liverpool must win all 4 matches over the next 10 days to save their season from turning out to be one they would rather forget in a hurry. Brendan Rodgers would be aware of how critical the next 4 games would be to his managerial career, which has been quite promising so far. Burnley is just the sort of team that Liverpool should beat, and we expect them to do so as well. Any result other than that would be a real setback and would lead to several questions being asked about Rodgers future at Liverpool. But the creative trio of Sterling, Lallana and Coutinho should swing the match in Liverpool’s favour.
The IndiaBet.org Team Prediction: Burnley 1 Liverpool 2
Swansea v Aston Villa
The best thing you could say about Aston Villa is that, under Paul Lambert, they are one tough fighting unit, hard to break down. Even when they have lost, and they have lost quite a few, the defeats were quite narrow, they were never blown away by the opposition. Now that the recent results are turning out to be in their favour, they would be in a much happier place. Christian Benteke, their talismanic striker’s return has been the biggest turning point for them. While Swansea too are doing fairly well and have an effective striker in Wilfried Bony, we expect an away win for Aston Villa, as the momentum seems to be on their side.
The IndiaBet.org Team Prediction: Swansea 0 Aston Villa 1
Arsenal v QPR
Well, we will keep this preview short because there isn’t much to write about in this match. A certain win for Arsenal as the likes of Santi Carzola and Alexis Sanchez further stamp their authority. Arsene Wenger would want to win all 4 matches in the Holiday Season and guarantee a 4th place finish, at least, for his team.
The IndiaBet.org Team Prediction: Arsenal 2 QPR 0
Remember that the odds on a particular game are prone to changing quickly. The odds listed within this article are correct at time of writing – 12:35 (GMT+1) – 25/12/2014
Best of luck and a Merry Christmas to all,
The IndiaBet.org Team.
