Sundays following a week of European football are often the ones that genuinely deserve the ‘Super’ tag. This weekend is no different.
We have the Carabao Cup final late on Sunday afternoon to go with two Premier League matches before it, featuring three of the league’s top five teams. Oh, and a fair few superstars in action - check out our thoughts below...
Crystal Palace vs TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Tottenham can go into the top four with a draw. Crystal Palace could be in the bottom three again by the time this match kicks off. The Eagles have taken just a pair of points from their last four matches in the league, and are right in the midst of this immensely tight relegation dogfight.
Solid home form will give Roy Hodgson a smidgen of optimism. Only one defeat in 10 at Selhurst Park is something. The trouble is, the former England manager has next to no options. He could have 10 first team absentees, including the talismanic Wilfried Zaha.
Mauricio Pochettino has no injury concerns. Spurs are unbeaten in nine, beating Arsenal and Manchester United and drawing with Liverpool in their last three league matches. This is not the team you want to be facing with a depleted squad, especially when Zaha could have been such a threat on the counter.
Spurs’ away form has not been great though. The north London club have drawn their last five competitive away matches, but that does include the 2-2s at Anfield and Juventus Stadium.
Palace have been a little unfortunate of late, but the continuing poor form of Christian Benteke is a real concern. Alexander Sorloth needs to produce this weekend even with minimal service or the hosts could be relying on a penalty once again.
I think a rested Spurs will win this one pretty comfortably.
TIP: Tottenham to be winning at half-time and full-time @ 23/20
Manchester United vs CHELSEA
The lead-up to this match will be about the barbs fired by Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho. Remarkably, though, this is not just about two middle-aged men having a childish spat, but there’s an important football match due to take place at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.
In theory, Chelsea can overtake Manchester United this weekend. It would take a significant goal difference swing, however, so moving level on points is more likely.
This is a vital period for both clubs, with United seemingly on the wane and Chelsea recovering from their early-2018 blip. Conte’s side were superb against Barcelona in midweek, while Manchester United were typically uninspiring away at Sevilla.
The rumoured difficulties between Mourinho and Paul Pogba continue to loom over the club and it will be interesting to see if the Frenchman did enough off the bench on Wednesday to earn a start.
United have a very strong home record this term, winning 10 of 13 and conceding just five. Despite that, Mourinho may well return to a back three to matchup with the visitors, and I expect Conte to name one of Alvaro Morata or Olivier Giroud from the start after leaving the centre-forward pair on the bench in midweek.
This is a meeting of two teams going in different directions right now. Just a couple of weeks ago, Conte was the man under the cosh and Chelsea’s season on the verge of crumbling, but at the moment I’d be surprised to see the Blues lose this one.
TIP: Chelsea to win or draw @ 4/6
*Odds subject to change - correct at time of writing*
