The Premier League returns to our tv screens this Monday as the first major soccer league to return to action post-World Cup.
Whilst all the biggest leagues in Europe traditionally take a break over the Christmas period, the Premier League has always had a tradition of being played over the festive season, another reason we love the EPL.
Tottenham Hotspurs vs. Brentford FC
Monday, December 26, 2022 – 07:30 AM EST at Brentford Community Stadium
Preview
The first EPL game to kick off on Boxing Day sees Tottenham travel to Brentford, the home side entered the World Cup break on a high after beating Manchester City for the first time in almost 90 years.
Brentford has a small bit of breathing space in the relegation zone as they are currently six points clear following that victory over Manchester City. Although it must be noted heading into this game Brentford’s top goalscorer and the league’s third-highest scorer Ivan Toney could be banned in the new year for breaching the FA’s betting rules.
Tottenham was one of the teams glad to see the World Cup break take place, although they are currently sitting in fourth place and just three points behind Man City in second, they did lose 3 of their previous 5 games in the EPL and have failed to keep a clean sheet for 8 games.
Pick and Prediction
Despite Brentford losing only one of seven home games this season, Tottenham has a bone to pick here as they tied 0-0 the last time these teams met at Brentford’s home ground and Spurs have won 80% of their games this season when beginning the game as favorites.
Interestingly no team has had as many wins as Spurs when conceding the first goal, whilst Brentford is one of the worst teams in the league when conceding first having picked up just 4 points from a potential 24.
We are more than happy to bet on Spurs to win this road game at -110, as we fully expected their odds to be a little lower, at around -120. It’s hard to know what Spurs or Brentford team we will get post-World Cup break but we like Antonio Conte’s men in this spot.
Premier League Pick: Tottenham ML (-110) at FanDuel
Fulham FC vs. Crystal Palace
Monday, December 26, 2022 – 10:00 AM EST St. Selhurst Park
Preview
We have a London derby on our hands here as 9th-place Fulham makes the short 8.5-mile trip to Selhurst Park to face 11th-place Crystal Palace. Both teams come into this game level on points with a total of 19 picked up from a potential 45.
Crystal Palace has won three and tied twice in their previous five games against Fulham and things look even better for them here today having picked up 13 of their 19 points on home soil. Palace won three games in a row on home soil prior to the World Cup break.
Palace had only two players featured at the World Cup and they have been training very hard during the World Cup under coach Patrick Viera.
Fulham entered the World Cup break losing back-to-back games, although it must be said both were against Manchester City and United and both losses occurred when allowing a 93rd and 95th-minute goal, almost tying with both Manchester clubs.
If looking for goals to be scored, Fulham games have been the best this season as 13 of 15 games witnessed at least three goals.
Pick and Prediction
Although both teams have only had 2+ cards each on 1 of the previous 4 occasions, we can’t help but love the current odds on both teams to see 2+ cards or over 1.5 cards each at Premier League betting odds of +175.
The first game back after such a long break should result in players being over-excited and potentially rashly committing some fouls, not only that but this is a rivalry and both teams will be very eager to pick up all three points.
Our referee in charge has been very poor for cards this season handing out an average of only 2.5 per game, but positively he has taken charge of one Palace game this season which saw this bet cash as a winner and his only other 2+ cards for each team came during another London derby between Chelsea and West Ham.
Premier League Pick: Both Teams Over 1.5 Cards (+175) at FanDuel
