Premier League Tipsheet: Four tempting weekend bets from 8/11 to 12/1

• Chelsea to extend recent home form

• Man City set to test Magpies

• Tottenham to compound United's woes

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Chelsea v Fulham (Sat, 12:30) - Goals amidst crisis

How to make sense of Chelsea's circus of a season?

Languishing in a mid-table position that bluntly reflects who they are right now, the Blues have kept only one clean sheet in the league since early October, conceding 1.8 goals per 90 in the process.

They have a tendency to come unstuck in the second half of contests, shipping in 67.7% of their goals against after the break.

Partly excusing their woes, they have consistently been decimated by injuries, for all that they possess a substantial squad.
The pluses are few and far between but are notable, nonetheless.

Cole Palmer is an obvious positive, the 21-year-old bagging eight in 12 and at times on another level entirely to those around him.
Pochettino's strugglers are also decent front-runners, yet to lose any game in which they have gained an advantage.

It's also pertinent that they are unbeaten in six at home across all comps.

Even with Nicolas Jackson unavailable and Christopher Nkunku a doubt a home win is fancied here given Fulham's terrible record on the road. The Cottagers have conceded 13 in their last four away from Craven Cottage.

Going for goals, however, puts us on safer ground. Their last 20 league games combined have produced 3.9 per 90.

Newcastle v Man City (Sat, 17:30) - Testing times

Erling Haaland is 50-50 to feature but Kevin De Bruyne is back, doing Kevin De Bruyne things in a half-hour cup cameo at the weekend that saw him carve out a sumptuous assist.

Will the brilliant Belgian be given 60 minutes at St James Park? If so, his 10 previous goal involvements in this fixture must be a consideration.

Newcastle always give City one hell of a test in the North-East, and furthermore will be stimulated by a one-sided bettering of their neighbours Sunderland in the FA Cup, but their recent slump in the league cannot, and should not, be overlooked.

Five defeats in their last six speaks of a team that is injury-ravaged and fatigued and that is evidenced further by the sheer volume of shots they have faced in those losses. Not even relegation fodder typically concede 21.8 attempts per 90 across several games.

And now they must take on a revived City and a forward line containing Julian Alvarez, who has averaged 2.8 chances per 90 this term, and Jeremy Doku with 0.6 assists per 90, and Phil Foden, who has created the most chances from open play in the top-flight since Christmas.

It will very conceivably be the Magpies facing one hell of a test on Saturday.

Everton v Aston Villa (Sun, 14:00) - Villans not the villains

Ollie Watkins has scored or assisted every 92.7 minutes in the league this term and has to be considered the main goal-threat at Goodison. It doesn't bode well for the Toffees that his last three strikes have all come away from the Midlands.

Villa of course are flying, with only a tepid second-half performance at Manchester United dampening what has been an explosive run that dates back to Bonfire Night.

That was the last time they failed to get on the score-sheet and with two goals per game from their last four away outings the Villans represent a serious danger to Everton enduring four defeats on the bounce here.

If Watkins is the main man in the frame to make this happen look out too for Leon Bailey, the winger boasting eight goal involvements from 12. On six of those occasions he's come off the bench as a highly impactful super-sub.

Everton suffered a horrendous Christmas period that balances out what was a spirited response to the Premier League docking them points.

Four resilient wins - all to nil - have bled into three consecutive losses and amidst all of the Jekyll and Hyde offerings their discipline has unquestionably taken a turn for the worse.

In their first ten leagues games, Sean Dyche's side averaged 1.4 cautions per 90. That has since doubled to 2.8.

By way of contrast, only Chelsea and Sheffield United have picked up fewer bookings than the visitors.

Man United v Tottenham (Sun, 16:30) - Not fit for purpose

Five months deep into a malfunctioning campaign is there anyone out there still waiting for United's front-line to click? For Hojlund to start scoring? For Rashford to rediscover his form from last season? For Garnacho to produce with any degree of regularity on his undoubted threat?

If there is it conjures up an image of a man standing in the pitch-black, looking at his watch and wondering where his midday bus is.

Between them the aforementioned trio, along with Antony and Martial, are scoring at a rate of a goal every 597 minutes in the Premier League, and all for a team that has accrued a perfectly reasonable shot tally. There are more nuanced ways of saying this - just as there are numerous reasons for it - but simply put, United's attack this season is not fit for purpose.

It's a significant shortfall that goes some way to explaining why the Reds have lost 48.2% of their games in 2023/24 across all comps.

No doubt Erik Ten Hag's men will look to Bruno Fernandes to again provide some inspiration, the Portuguese schemer one of the very few bright sparks in recent months. No player has created more chances in the top-flight since August and it's hardly his fault if so many of them have gone to waste.

Spurs have their own problems, little of which are of their own making. An extensive injury list has been greatly exacerbated by Son Heung-min, Pape Sarr and Yves Bissouma leaving for international commitments.

It leaves them minus a reliable goal source and deprived of a lot of enterprise in midfield. So much therefore rests on Richarlison extending fine form that has seen him fire five in five.

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