Premier League Tipsheet: Five tempting midweek bets from 20/23 to 5/2

• Wolves to take the sting out of Bees

• Man City up against it at Goodison

• Arsenal set to halt Hammers recovery

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Brentford v Wolves (Wed, 19:30) - Freshness over-rated

The Bees last played ten days ago while Wolves are nursing knocks and strains picked up from their tremendous bettering of Chelsea on Christmas Eve. Craig Dawson is a doubt for this one and he's been key at the back.

If that suggests however that the hosts should be fresher, their advantage perhaps telling as the game progresses, think again, because Thomas Frank's side have form this term for dipping after the break, dropping points on seven occasions after being in front. They have converted just 13 times in the second period, with only Sheffield United and Burnley scoring fewer. A little shy of two-thirds of their goals conceded in 2023/24 have come in the second half.

Factor in too a sustained poor run that has seen them win only one in six, plus the absences of Kristoffer Ajer and Ben Mee in defence, and an away win starts to look appealing, even if Gary O'Neil's side have lost four on the bounce on their travels.

Matheus Cunha should be backed to do the damage, the Brazilian international firing four of his five this season away from Molineux.

Chelsea v Crystal Palace (Wed, 19:30) - A struggle shared

Only three teams across Europe's big five leagues - Almeria, Werder Bremen, and Empoli - have lost more games in 2023 than Chelsea. No side in the Premier League has missed more big chances this season (36). At the back, they have managed to keep just one clean sheet since the start of October.

The Blues under Maurico Pochettino are not merely in temporary crisis. They have slumped into a long-term malaise.

It's a stagnation admittedly not helped by injury woes, with Chelsea consistently unable to field their first-choice full-backs and having to wait several months before debuting their £55m summer signing Christopher Nkunku. The French star's consolation at Wolves on Sunday bodes well.

Here though they are without Enzo Fernandez and crucially too, Cole Palmer and Raheem Sterling, both suspended.

All of which should instill some belief in Palace that they might finally end a terrible record against their London superiors. Both home and away and across all comps the Eagles have lost their last 12 encounters.

The visitors though have problems of their own, winless in seven and with a nasty recent habit of conceding late-on. In five of those seven, Roy Hodgson's men have been undone by goals scored beyond the 80th minute.

A low-scoring affair awaits between two struggling sides just looking for some respite.

Everton v Man City (Wed, 20:15) - Back to reality

The Toffees' 2-1 defeat to Spurs at the weekend gave a false reading to an otherwise superb display in North London. They were the better side for the most part, putting in arguably their most complete performance of the season.

Prior to that, Sean Dyche's transformed and highly incentivized side won four on the spin, all to nil, and with goals coming from every area of the pitch they go into this thoroughly intriguing clash in the best of shape.

City, it's fair to say, were glad to take a break from domestic duties, flying to Saudi Arabia to be crowned world club champions. Phil Foden was the stand-out player in both of their commitments.

Whether Pep Guardiola's creation returns reinvigorated remains to be seen but certainly their league form in recent months has been patchy and startlingly uncharacteristic.

The Blues have won only one of their last six, conceding two goals per 90 in that period. They last kept a shut-out at Old Trafford way back in October and the former masters of seeing out games have started to concede late equalizers. It happened at home to Liverpool, Spurs and Palace, and away at Chelsea.

If the present set-up is persisted with they're going to be up against it here, with Everton's five-man midfield containing genuine attacking threat.

Brighton v Tottenham (Thurs, 19:30) - Hot shots

Both clubs are currently ravaged by injuries and other absences, but you wouldn't know Spurs are depleted right now given their recent results. A demolition of Newcastle and a comfortable navigating of Forest was followed by an impressive win over in-form Everton, a victory that required grit and graft.

Enjoying a purple patch, Richarlison has bagged four in a matter of weeks. It's also worth noting that Spurs have scored in their last 30 league outings dating all the way back to early March.

Brighton's dependance on the full extent of their squad is more obvious, with a succession of draws ticking them over until they're back to strength. Five of their last nine have ended 1-1.

No matter the circumstances, what we'll always get from the Seagulls of course is shots and lots of them, such is Roberto De Zerbi's way, and the same goes for Spurs this season with Ange Postecoglou taking off the shackles.

Tottenham and Brighton are third and fourth respectively in the shots on target table, averaging 6.1 per 90 apiece in 2023/24. That's the way to go ahead of an entertaining match-up that has a score-draw written all over it.

Arsenal v West Ham (Thurs, 20:15) - A test too far

Back-to-back wins to nil for the Hammers has put to bed their recent dismantling at Fulham and when viewing the bigger picture, we see a team on an upward trajectory who just happened to have a very bad day at the office at Craven Cottage.

That defeat aside, David Moyes' men have averaged 2.1 goals per 90 since the start of November.

Mohammed Kudos has played as big part in that prolificacy, notching three over Christmas alone, and with Jarrod Bowen an awayday goal-scoring specialist - converting seven of his 11 on the road - West Ham head to the Emirates believing a first win there since 2015 is possible.

Not that such a task should be under-estimated, the Gunners still unbeaten at home and bolstered themselves from securing a character-building draw at Anfield last week.

Gabriel Jesus has three goal involvements in four, his recent return from injury only adding to a formidably potent attack that has found the net every 40 minutes at the Emirates all season.

A consistently high corner count is also pertinent. Mikel Arteta's men have averaged eight per 90 to date, the bulk of them naturally won at home.

Read Paul Higham's Brighton v Tottenham preview here