Premier League Tips – 5th & 6th March

I’ll be honest, I am always wary of betting on games where there has been a change of manager for one of the teams. Sometimes, you can get a new manager bump in form, other times, nothing will change and the team will still perform as it has been doing.

So with Marcelo Bielsa sacked by Leeds, and Jesse Marsch coming in, I am expecting to see a reaction from Leeds after a difficult few weeks where they have shipped goals by the bucketload against the likes of Man Utd, Spurs and Liverpool.

However, they face a tough task against a Leicester City side that earned a much-needed 2-0 win in the week over Burnley and who sees their manager, Brendan Rodgers also believed to be under a bit of pressure to improve things after what has been a disappointing season for the Foxes.

It’s no surprise then that I am going for both teams to find the net, with Jesse Marsch coming in to replace Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds will be fired up to perform well for their new coach but Leicester are more than capable of putting back to back wins together this week and I think they’ll edge this game most likely by a 2-1 scoreline.

Norwich earned their first win of the season away to Brentford back in November in what was Daniel Farke’s last game in charge and the Canaries will be hoping to pick up another vital three points here to perhaps move themselves off the bottom of the Premier League table.

Brentford meanwhile have their own issues. A lack of goals for the team of late has hit them hard and a poor run of form win no win in any of their last nine games, has seen then sucked into the battle to avoid the drop at the foot of the Premier League table.

There’s no doubt a fit and healthy Christian Eriksen would help Brentford’s plight a great deal and it is great to see him back playing. Brentford certainly need his creativity and goalscoring threat if they are to arrest this alarming slide into the bottom reaches of the Premier League table.

However, I think Norwich fans will know that this game is one that their team must win if they are to stand any chance at all of avoiding the drop and I think when Norwich score, Teemu Pukki is usually the man on the spot and I think he is a great value anytime goalscorer betting option here.

Not too long ago, I’d have been hot on Wolves winning this game, probably by a 1-0 or if I was feeling generous 2-0 scoreline. However, the Midland’s side have lost their last two games and in contrast, Palace have been very tough to beat, losing just one of their last five.

Both sides are strong defensively, especially Wolves who have one of the best defensive records in the Premier League this season in terms of goals conceded, but Palace too have been hard to score against and both have made life difficult for some of the top teams in the Premier League at times this season.

However, inconsistency has been a real issue, especially for Palace but also for Wolves at times and as such, it can be difficult to find a pattern of results for either team, so that kind of leaves me with how recent form has been going.

After two defeats, Wolves won’t want a third in a row here if they are to have any hopes of a top seven finish. However, Palace are in great form at the moment and are proving tough to beat and in that case, I think a draw is probably the right option to back.

Five of the last nine matches between these teams has finished in a 2-0 scoreline to one or the other of the teams, while away teams have had the upper hand in recent games, with nine of the last twelve winners being the away team.

However, saying that this makes United the favourites to win this game is a bit of a stretch in my view. The Red Devils will have a strong chance if they play their very best, but let’s not forget that they were thrashed 5-0 by Liverpool at home earlier on in the season and City have also beaten them at Old Trafford.

City’s form of late has been a little less impressive than usual. They were fortunate to earn a 1-0 win at Everton last weekend, when a late penalty was not given to the Toffees when it should have been, and they have dropped four points out of the last 15 available, which has allowed Liverpool to close the gap.

I can’t see Liverpool fans having too much to celebrate here as I think while United may grab a goal in the game, I strongly fancy City to earn a win which will keep them in front of their rivals.