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Our betting expert with tips for Aston Villa-West Ham, Tottenham v Leicester and Palace against Brentford PLUS a La Liga punt
No easy games against Fulham these days, but Manchester United gave up having easy games a long time ago.
United are underdogs at Craven Cottage (7pm), though Ruben Amorim’s first British winter will have taught him to never trust a forecast.
His side’s performances have followed sunshine with showers, and warm breezes with blizzards of frozen sleet.
Thursday’s squeaky win against Rangers in the Europa League was a fresh break in the clouds.
United’s best player, Bruno Fernandes could be in warmer climes with sand between his toes rather than battle the snarling fogs that bite around Old Trafford.
But the Portugal ace’s enthusiasm for a potshot doesn’t seem to be under the weather at all, and would be a good fit here against Fulham – the 18/1 (Bet365) Fernandes ‘scores from outside box’ looks sunny.
Shorter-price fans need 15/4 (Bet365) Fernandes scores ‘anytime’ – big on his data, – against a Fulham side that’s leaking 1.5 goals a pop in their Prem home games, with one home clean sheet all season, against Southampton.
Aston Villa beat visitors West Ham (4.30pm) 2-1 in the FA Cup a few weeks back, with a comeback ignited by a reffing blunder in their favour, but all Villans bets here come with the warning that Wednesday’s game against Celtic is the far bigger deal.
All West Ham bets come with the warning that they leak goals like a relegation candidate.
Irons star Lucas Paqueta is too good to go down with any ship – the general 9/2 ‘anytime scorer’ is a life raft on a sea of troubles. And say ahoy to Tomas Soucek ‘scores header’ at 25/1 (Betway) as well.
Once again, Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou hops onto his barstool at the Last Chance saloon.
The idea his Spurs are ‘unlucky’ is not backed by the data, but visitors Leicester (2pm) will still be lucky to dodge a drubbing. Dejan Kulusevski can get the beers in for us ‘anytime scorer’ at 11/5 (Paddy).
Take UNDER 2.5 goals for Crystal Palace-Brentford (2pm) at 11/10.
Over in Spain, trust Lamine Yamal ‘anytime assist’ at a juicy 11/5 (Lads, Coral) when goals-galore Barcelona host struggling Valencia (8pm)
Last week: Winner at 6/5
