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Premier League Predictions - Matchweek 27
- James Budgen
- Feb 25
- 7 min read
Brighton 3-1 Bournemouth
After their respective results at the weekend, this game could have massive ripple effects on European places come the end of the season, as a win for Brighton would put them level on points with their south coast neighbours.
Since their embarrassing 7-0 loss at The City Ground, Brighton have played some of their best football under Fabian Hurzeler, beating Chelsea consecutively and smashing Southampton 4-0, which has put them back into contention for a return to Europe.
Brighton will have to be wary of Bournemouth's away form, having won 5 and drawn 2 in their last 7, scoring 20 in the process, which has them placed as the 2nd top scorers away from home in the PL, but they will be going to The Amex with only one centre-half, with Marcos Senesi out injured and Illia Zabarnyi starting his suspension after his red card at the weekend.
Crystal Palace 1-1 Aston Villa
Both Palace and Villa will be looking to end some struggles at Selhurst Park, with Oliver Glasner's side seeking to improve their home form with just 1win, 3 draws and 4 losses in their last 8 home games, whilst Unai Emery's side are looking to improve their away form, with just 1 win and 1 draw in their last 8 PL games away from Villa Park.
Since Palace's hard start to the season, not winning in their first eight games, they've been one of the better teams in the league, with the 6th best record in their last 18 games and they'll be looking at their centre-forward, Jean-Phillipe Mateta to continue his form, scoring 7 and assisting once in his lats 7 PL games.
After five games without a win in the PL, Villa got back to winning ways at the weekend, with their January loan deals getting them over the line, with Marcos Asensio scoring twice, with both assisted by Marcus Rashford, and with mounting injury troubles for Emery, their new signings will be relied on more and more in the coming weeks.
Wolves 1-0 Fulham
Wolves are finally ending their tough run under Vitor Pereira, having faced a top ten team in their last seven games, with the two before hand also Spurs and Man Utd, and they've come out of it better than expected, having extended their gap to the relegation zone to five points.
Defensively is the main point of improvement under Pereira, having kept clean sheets in four of the ten PL games he's taken charge of, and up front, Matheus Cunha has continued his fine form, scoring 5 and assisting 1 in his 9 PL games under Pereira.
After their impressive back-to-back wins over Newcastle Untied and Nottingham Forest, Fulham were quite subdued against Palace, dominating the ball with 62% possession, but they had one of their worst attacking performances this season, creating just 0.2 xG, putting a minor dent in their potential European push.
Chelsea 4-0 Southampton
In Chelsea's last 10 games, they have the 16th worst record in the league, winning 2, drawing 3 and losing 5, but if there's any a time to get back to form, its facing a Southampton side with just 2 wins all season and have conceded 24 goals in 9 games under Ivan Juric.
Chelsea will be looking to get Cole Palmer back to his best, having not managed a single goal or assist in his last 5 PL games and has not had a PL assist since December 1st.
Southampton's motivation for the rest of the season is to not become the worst Premier League side of all time, with just 3 points needed to beat Derby County's 11 point record, but with at least 3 goals conceded in 6 of their last 7 games, it is going to be difficult to pick up points in any PL game if it continues.
Brentford 2-2 Everton
Brentford earlier in the season were known for their excellent home record and poor away record, but that has switched as of late, with 4 losses and a draw in their last 5 home games whilst winning their last 4 away from home.
Even whilst winning 7 and drawing 1 in their first 8 home games, Brentford have been poor defensively at The Gtech Community Stadium, conceding 25 goals in 13 games, with the change being their goals drying up, having scored 26 in their first 8 games and just 3 in their previous 5.
Everton have been the talk of the PL since David Moyes' return, with the Toffees boasting the 3rd best record in the league since the Scotsman returned to Goodison Park and in his two away games back as Everton boss, he's managed his side to wins over Brighton and Crystal Palace.
Manchester United 2-1 Ipswich Town
Since Ruben Amorim's first game in charge of The Red Devils at Portman Road back in December, things have not gone according to plan for the Portuguese manager, with his side sitting 15th in the table , with only Ipswich, Leicester City and Southampton having worse records than his side since he arrived in Manchester.
Amorim has to start firstly to improve his side's home form, having won just 2 of his 7 home PL games as United boss, losing the other 5 and blanking in 3 of those games, keeping just 1 clean sheet.
Ipswich showed promise early on against Spurs, with multiple goal-scoring opportunities for Liam Delap and Jayden Philogene early on, but their defensive issues persisted, conceding two quick goals which took the game away from them, making it 21 goals conceded in their last 7 games.
Nottingham Forest 1-0 Arsenal
It was not thought before the season that a matchup between Forest and Arsenal in late February would be significant for a place for 2nd in the table, as a Forest win would put them just 3 points behind the Gunners.
Forest are in the midst of a little wobble, having lost 3 of their last 4 games, all away from home to Bournemouth, Fulham and Newcastle, where as at The City Ground, they've had more recent success, winning 5 and drawing 1 in their last 6 games, with Chris Wood scoring 6 goals in those 6 games.
Arsenal lost for the first time in the PL since November 2nd at the weekend to West Ham, and Mikel Arteta would be looking to make it just a blip rather than a start of a downfall, but missing their entire front three, including both their strikers, scoring consistently is going to be hard for the Gunners, and against a Forest side that will pack the box, and Arsenal lacking a box threat, it will likely be a difficult game up top for Arteta's men.
Spurs 3-1 Manchester City
After another bad result at the weekend, Pep Guardiola will be hating the timing of his teams visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as in 5 PL visits away to Spurs' new ground, Tottenham have won 4 and City just the once.
Whilst not back to their scintillating best, Spurs have improved their form as of late, winning their last 3 PL games, with a little help from some better goalkeeping and poor finishing from their opponents, conceding just 1 goal in this run from 4.7 xG, which is a vast improvement as in their 3 games prior, they conceded 7 goals from 4.8 xG.
City away from the Etihad this season have been a mess, which started with their loss at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in The Carabao Cup in October, as that game started an away run of 3 wins, 2 draws and 10 losses in 15 games, conceding 33 goals, with their only wins coming against Leyton Orient, Ipswich and Leicester.
Liverpool 3-1 Newcastle United
The game between these two at St James' Park earlier this season was a PL classic, with the teams drawing 3-3, as Liverpool thought they had come form behind to win the game through a Mo Salah double, but a late Fabian Schar equaliser rescued a point for The Magpies.
Whilst not being at their very best in their last few games against Bournemouth, Everton, Wolves, Villa and Man City, Liverpool have still come out of their 'dip' 11 points clear at the top of the PL with Salah putting on a massive carry job in attack for Arne Slot's reds, which has seen him score in his last 6 Premier League games, putting him on mind boggling 25 goals and 16 assists so far this season in the PL.
Newcastle, after a great run over December and January, have become rather inconsistent, which was shown in their game against Forest, where they put them to the sword in the first half, taking a 4-1 lead into the break, but only managed 3 shots in the second half and almost threw the game away at the end, with Forest failing to convert chances to make it 4-4.
West Ham United 2-0 Leicester City
West Ham is one of two PL wins Ruud Van Nistelrooy has had as Leicester City boss, but it has certainly not been what Leicester fans expected from the Dutchman since, with his side managing just two wins and a draw in his 13 games in charge.
Leicester in attack have been atrocious in attack in their past 3 PL games, mustering a total of 1xg combined against Everton, Arsenal and Brentford, in fact in 8 of Leicester's 13 PL games under Van Nistelrooy, they've created less than 1xG.
Graham Potter would be hoping that their sides win over Arsenal at the Emirates at the weekend is the springboard for his side to push up the PL table, and if that's possible, they have to win games against relegation candidates at home.
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