Steve Davies
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One Manchester giant kicks off Saturday’s English Premier League schedule, and the other giant will bring it to a close – and by the end of the day City and United could be a huge 24 points apart in the standings.
Manchester United hosts the early game (7:30 am ET) – as improving Southampton visits Old Trafford, while Manchester City plays in the late game (12:30pm ET), at struggling Norwich.
We’ve got bets on both of those games as part of a 4-game parlay to hopefully see you successfully through Saturday’s slate. It pays +1185 odds with DraftKings Sportsbook.
Be sure to check out the rest of our Premier League soccer predictions and remember to gamble responsibly.
Over 2.5 goals in Man Utd vs Southampton ML (-160)
Crystal Palace ML vs Brentford (+195)
Watford or tie double chance vs Brighton (-135)
Man City ML & over 2.5 goals vs Norwich (-185)
Parlay odds: +1185
Manchester United vs Southampton over 2.5 goals (-160) 7:30 am ET
It’s almost a year ago that Southampton last visited Manchester United in the English Premier League and famously lost 9-0. Don’t expect anything like that kind of result on Saturday, but we should again see plenty of goals.
The last 7 league meetings between these clubs have produced an average of 4.4 goals per game, skewed admittedly by last season’s result at Old Trafford, but still indicative of the fact that these teams pack a punch.
Southampton has found the net in each of its last 9 games, and scored at least 2 goals in 6 of those, including Wednesday’s 3-2 win at Tottenham.
Crystal Palace ML vs Brentford (+195), 10am ET
Brentford, playing its first season in the Premier League following promotion, got off to a dream start, but now life in the top division is becoming a serious struggle for them. The Bees, as the London side are known, have lost 5 in a row, conceding 2 or more goals in each of them, and are tumbling towards a relegation fight.
Crystal Palace, which has star man Wilfried Zaha back from the Africa Cup of Nations, is a tough team to beat this season and its only defeats since before Christmas have been against top-7 teams. Take Palace to record another win.
Watford or tie double chance vs Brighton (-135), 10am ET
Former England head coach Roy Hodgson has been in charge of Watford for only 2 games but already they look a more organised team. Watford was conceding way too many goals under Claudio Ranieri, but veteran coach Hodgson has stopped the rot, with just 1 goal given up in his 2 games in charge.
Brighton doesn’t score many anyway – Albion has scored 23 goals, the exact same number as Watford – so there’s every chance Hodgson’s team can shut out the visitors. And with the firepower Watford has – Josh King, Ismaili Sarr and Emmanuel Dennis are exciting forwards – they can at least avoid a loss.
Manchester City ML & over 2.5 goals vs Norwich (-185) 12:30 pm ET
“We’re not the best team in the world,” said Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola after watching his team surge 12 points clear of the field on Wednesday night by beating Brentford.
Okay, they may not be, but they’re more than good enough to retain their EPL title and more than good enough to take care of improving Norwich. Norwich is on a good run, taking 7 points from its last 3 games, but the league leaders are in a different class. They’ll be the best team in Norwich on Saturday, we can say that much. Take City to win a high-scoring game.
Make sure you check out the rest of our EPL picks and predictions for the weekend
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