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De Bruyne to storm Palace
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Villa to return to winning ways
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Arsenal set to overcome South Coast test
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Crystal Palace v Man City (12:30) - King Kev
Oliver Glasner's mandate to have Palace play more on the front foot has yet to take hold while a change in system has notably failed to inject much dynamism. Against Bournemouth on Tuesday, the Eagles mustered an xG of 0.1, their lowest of the season.
What they do have in their favour is proven form for frustrating City at home, last season holding firm until the 78th minute when an Erling Haaland pen saw the relieved visitors edge out a win.
There has been a couple of 0-0s in this fixture in recent years too.
The flip-side to this is a sustained inability to hurt the Blues at the other end. Remarkably, when hosting City, Palace have scored just once in the last 11 hours of competitive football.
Phil Foden's brilliant hat-trick mid-week has all eyes on him but backing a repeat performance feels far too on the nose. Instead, Kevin De Bruyne returns after a midweek rest and has the pedigree and whipped deliveries to pierce any resistance.
The midfielder has assisted every 66 minutes across all comps since coming back from injury.
Aston Villa v Brentford (15:00) - Losing their sting
Despite making only one change the Bees were a vastly inferior version of themselves at home to Brighton midweek from the side that seriously troubled Manchester United four days before.
Against United, Thomas Frank's men racked up an astonishing 33 shots, 24 of which came from inside the box. On Wednesday they managed a pitiful five attempts, just two on target.
No wonder Roberto De Zerbi looked so delighted post-match, having neutralized the twin threat of Yoane Wissa and Ivan Toney.
Though perhaps Toney is doing a decent job of neutralizing himself right now, making all the right runs and doing all the right things but lacking in confidence in front of goal. It is now seven league games of firing blanks and Toney's loss of form, along with Ollie Watkins being only 50/50 for this clash, possibly deprives us of a fascinating head-to-head between two strikers vying to be Kane's understudy this summer.
No matter because it's Brentford's propensity to concede first that interests us most here - doing so in seven of their last eight - coupled with the fact that only Arsenal have scored more first-half goals than Villa this term.
Everton v Burnley (15:00) - Going long
A potentially precious point secured in the North-East on Tuesday does not disguise the damning truth that Everton are winless in 13. Moreover, as the season goes on, and the pressure builds, Sean Dyche's side are becoming ever-more direct, at times evoking Wimbledon at their most Wimbledon in the Eighties.
The Clarets should cope with this agricultural approach well, especially with Dara O'Shea averaging 3.9 aerials won per 90 while going forward they've finally discovered where the goal is. 1.7 goals per game this past month may not be overly prolific but it's the joint-best return from a four-game sequences they've managed all season.
Not that goals will be in plentiful supply at Goodison. Both teams languish in the bottom two for chance conversions in 2023/24 while combined they have failed to convert in 36% of their fixtures.
Amadou Onana is a player to watch, with a goal and three bookings in his last six outings.
Fulham v Newcastle (15:00) - Cottage industry
Forget about Newcastle's comfortable 3-0 victory over the Cottagers back in mid-December, a contest that was heavily influenced anyway by an early dismissal for the visitors.
The determining factor here is that Fulham are a decent proposition at Craven Cottage while Eddie Howe's men have been poor on their travels all season long, winning just three from 14.
Worse still, with a defence decimated by injuries this is a side that has kept just one clean sheet since that aforementioned comfortable win, shipping in two-plus goals on nine occasions along the way. They are presently the very definition of porous.
With Rodrigo Muniz in career-best form, notching eight in nine, Fulham have put three past Bournemouth, Spurs and Brighton at home in recent times and should be fancied to prevail again.
A cleaning up of their act of late should also be noted. In their last five league games, Fulham have picked up a meagre six cautions.
Luton v Bournemouth (15:00) - Hatters hit hard
Injuries are hitting hard for the Hatters with 11 senior players out unless Reece Burke and/or Gabriel Osho are passed fit against expectation.
Midweek at the Emirates they had a 16-year-old schoolboy on their bench.
Inevitably, Rob Edwards' patched-up side is suffering as a consequence, though perhaps back-to-back defeats in North London this past week can partly be overlooked, fixtures they were destined to lose regardless.
It's how they've fared against fellow strugglers in 2024 that best highlights their predicament, drawing with Burnley, Palace and Forest and of course coming unstuck at Bournemouth after being three-up at the break.
Just one additional moment of quality in any of those contests and Luton would currently be out of the bottom three.
English Premier League - Top 8 Shots On Target
| Player | Team | Apps | Shots On target | SoT/90* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erling Haaland | Man City | 35 | 59 | 1.8 |
| Igor Thiago | Brentford | 38 | 43 | 1.2 |
| Antoine Semenyo | Bournemouth | 37 | 41 | 1.2 |
| Ollie Watkins | Aston Villa | 37 | 38 | 1.2 |
| Matheus Cunha | Man Utd | 33 | 35 | 1.3 |
| Dominic Calvert-Lewin | Leeds | 35 | 34 | 1.1 |
| Benjamin Sesko | Man Utd | 30 | 34 | 1.9 |
| Morgan Gibbs-White | Nottm Forest | 37 | 32 | 0.9 |
Antoine Semenyo was sensational for the Cherries in the second half of that ridiculous comeback and the Ghanaian international could play a big role in proceedings again.
Averaging 2.2 shots per game his 1.5 shots on target per 90 puts him among some ruthless company.
Wolves v West Ham (15:00) - Early doors
The return of Matheus Cunha is a consideration, the Brazilian boasting seven goal involvements in six prior to succumbing to injury. Will just 14 minutes of game-time on Tuesday be enough for Gary O'Neil to throw him in from the start? The 24-year-old has scored over a fifth of Wolves' league haul this term so that may sway his decision.
Speaking of goal ratios leads us to Jarrod Bowen, whose 15 strikes this season make up 30% of the Hammer's total tally. The wide-man clearly enjoys playing Wolves, notching five in nine in previous encounters.
Bowen has statistically been West Ham's best player for the last two games running.
There is goals in this meeting, as evidenced by Wolves only failing to score once at Molineux in 2023/24. As for the visitors, they have recently picked up a habit of showing the best and worst of themselves right out the blocks, scoring four goals in their last six inside 20 minutes, and conceding the same number in that timeframe.
Just don't anticipate many corners. Both teams reside in the bottom four in that regard.
Brighton v Arsenal (17:30) - Sublime Gunners
The return of Joao Pedro is an enormous fillip for the Seagulls, the striker still their leading goal-scorer despite not featuring since early February. Joel Veltman will also play a big part at the Amex, tasked with shackling Leandro Trussard down the flank.
Only five players in the top-flight have executed more successful tackles in 2023/24.
Facundo Buonanotte meanwhile needs to curb his enthusiasm in a fixture that has regularly produced a high card-count in recent seasons. The Argentine has been cautioned three times in his last four starts.
Roberto De Zerbi's men have only won two of their eight encounters with the current top six this term but of course that's not the reason why an away victory is fancied here. It's because the Gunners have been in such sublime form across 2024, scoring 3.5 goals per 90 and conceding every 225 minutes.
Even with the visitors missing Bukayo Saka, should Pedro get back to scoring ways it may merely be a consolation.
Read Jack Critchley's Saturday Championship tips here
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