Friday 18th December 2020

In Across the Leagues EXTRA today:

• Big Match Stats…
• Premier League Predictions…
• 187/1 Weekend Acca…

Every week feels like a big one in the Premier League right now…

There are plenty of contenders for top billing this weekend. Including Southampton v Man City and Everton v Arsenal. Both featuring home teams that are having a great season, and looking to shake up the big boys.

Sunday afternoon should also be intriguing, with Tottenham & Leicester both flying high in the table. Followed by the first Premier League meeting between Man Utd & Leeds Utd since 2004. It’s a shame Old Trafford won’t be packed with fans for that one.

And the Sunday evening game is a Midlands derby that will be getting plenty of attention…

Big Match Stats: West Brom v Aston Villa

Sunday 7.15pm – BT Sport

Match odds:
West Brom 11/4 (3.75), Draw 14/5 (3.8), Villa Evens (2.0)

West Brom are second-bottom of the table, but held Man City to a 1-1 draw in midweek, in what turned out to be Slaven Bilic’s last match in charge.

Sam Allardyce was immediately installed as the bookies’ odds-on favourite to take over. Someone obviously knew what was going on. Big Sam was announced as the new West Brom manager the very next day.

Since his seven-year stint at Bolton at the start of the century, here’s Big Sam’s first—game-in-charge record, in his last seven jobs:

Won – Everton 2 Huddersfield 0 (Dec 2017)
Draw – Watford 1 Crystal Palace 1 (Dec 2016)
Won – Slovakia 0 England 1 (Sep 2016)
Lost – West Brom 1 Sunderland 0 (Oct 2015)
Lost – West Ham 0 Cardiff 1 (Aug 2011)
Won – Blackburn 3 Stoke 0 (Dec 2008)
Won – Bolton 1 Newcastle 3 (Aug 2007)

That list shows that Allardyce is no stranger to a pre-Christmas move, often brought in as the go-to man to prevent relegation.

And on the pitch, Sam’s reputation for ‘keeping things tight’ is backed up, with his five most recent debuts all going Under 2.5 Goals.

We’ve got 1-1 and 0-0 score-lines in our Predictions this week (see below).

Big Match Stats summary:

Considering the Big Sam factor, and that as it is, 8 of West Brom’s final 10 games under Slaven Bilic went Under 2.5 Goals. The low-goals option being the underdog in the Under/ Over market for Sunday’s game comes as a bit of a surprise. Villa’s last 2 matches have ended 0-0 and 0-1.

• Under 2.5 Goals is 23/20 (2.15) with BetVictor, 11/10 (2.1) Bet365, Betfred, Betway, Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook

Play our Predictor game…

Our 2020/21 Predictor game is FREE, and easy to play.

Pit your wits against other ATL Extra readers. Enter your predictions before every round of games for your chance to win our weekly cash prize.

• There’s also an end of season grand prize up for grabs for the overall top scoring player. Full details, rules and prize info are on the site

Go to: www.PremierLeaguePredictor.co.uk

Join the league as we do battle throughout the season. There are cash prizes to be won, every week…

Don’t miss Saturday’s 12.30pm deadline for this weekend’s fixtures, with Crystal Palace v Liverpool the first game up…

• On the predictions screen, don’t forget to hit SUBMIT and then after that, make sure you also press FINISH to confirm your selections!

Enter your predictions now >>

Premier League Predictions…

Here are our predictions for this weekend, along with Mark Lawrenson at the BBC.

The Weekend Acca…

When our Match Result predictions match up, my colleague Shaun & I roll these picks into an accumulator.

This week we have the same opinion on 5 of the 10 games…

Premier League Acca:

• Liverpool
• Southampton v Man City – Draw
• Everton
• West Brom v Villa – Draw
• Burnley v Wolves – Draw 

The 5-fold acca pays 187/1 with Betfred, 186/1 William Hill, 183/1 Bet365.

Correct Scores…

We have two matching Correct Scores in our Predictions this weekend:

• A 1-1 draw for Burnley v Wolves is 6/1 (7.0) with BetVictor, 11/2 (6.5) Bet365 

• Liverpool to win 2-1 at Palace is 8/1 (9.0) with Bet365 and BetVictor

We’ll be back next week, with our Premier League Predictions for the Boxing Day games.

Enjoy the football…

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Across the Leagues Extra