Premier League: Gameweek 17 Tips: Villa can pile on the misery for City
We head into a busy festive fixture list with Week 17 of Premier League action taking place over Saturday and Sunday.
There are big games at both ends of the table, as the race for the title and the battle to survive continues to heat up.
We have selected a four-leg accumulator to consider which, if successful, will return a profit of 52/1.
TIP 1 – Aston Villa to beat Manchester City @ 47/20
It’s just one win in 11 games in all competitions for Manchester City, who go to Villa Park in Saturday’s early kick off having dropped to fifth in the table.
Last weekend’s dramatic derby defeat to Manchester United saw the defending champions slip nine points behind leaders Liverpool, with the Reds still having a game in hand.
Pep Guardiola’s men now head to a ground where they lost last season and face a Villa team who can leapfrog them with a victory.
Unai Emery’s squad have not been in great form either, but they are unbeaten in their last four home games in all competitions, with two wins and two draws.
Villa have conceded just one goal in their last three home matches and look set to give injury-hit City another difficult 90 minutes.
TIP 2 – Brentford v Nottingham Forest – Forest or Draw Double Chance @ 13/20
The team with the best home record in the Premier League face the side with the third-best away record on Saturday afternoon.
Brentford have won seven and drawn one of their eight matches at the GTech Community Stadium, while Nottingham Forest have collected 14 points from their eight away games.
The Bees go into this game having lost three of their last four in all competitions, while the visitors are seeking a third straight success. Forest managed two goals in this fixture last season, but lost 3-2, and they look like a more impressive outfit this term.
Three of the last five meetings between the sides have been draws, so it seems sensible to bring that into the equation with a double-chance Forest bet.
TIP 3 – Manchester United v Bournemouth – Lisandro Martinez to be shown a card @ 5/2
Manchester United will hope last week’s derby victory will give them the lift they need to go on a run and move towards the European places.
Despite a 2-1 success at the Etihad, Ruben Amorim’s men remain in the bottom half and seven places behind Sunday’s opponents, Bournemouth.
The Cherries head to Old Trafford unbeaten in their last four matches (three wins and a draw) and eyeing European qualification.
Bournemouth have scored in each of their last nine matches and they will pose a threat to a United defence that still looks shaky, especially from set pieces.
Lisandro Martinez has already had five yellow cards this season and will have his hands full against Antoine Semenyo and Justin Kluivert.
TIP 4 – Tottenham v Liverpool – Diogo Jota to score @ 7/4
Arguably the match of the weekend takes place at 4:30pm on Sunday afternoon, as Tottenham play host to Liverpool.
One thing you can definitely say about Spurs is that they are very unpredictable, with two wins, two defeats and one draw in their last five league games.
They now face a Liverpool team who are unbeaten in 12 on the road in all competitions and have found the net in all of those away games.
Arne Slot will be delighted to have first-choice central striker Diogo Jota back to fitness after a couple of months on the sidelines.
The Portugal international scored in the 2-2 draw with Fulham and Jota, who was sent off in this fixture last season, has two goals to his name in the last six meetings between the sides.