Fulham vs Arsenal and more: betPawa BIG match insights
How ridiculous was last weekend? Heading into this round of matches, there are just 6 points separating Bournemouth in 20th and Crystal Palace in 12th. The battle at the bottom is going to be more intense than ever, and just as compelling as the race for the title. We’re going to recap all of last weekend’s BIGGEST talking points and preview all 10 games this weekend.
Saturday 11th March
Goals galore?
Philip Billing’s goal after 9.11 seconds against Arsenal at the Emirates was the second-quickest in EPL history. What’s even more crazy about the fact is people aren’t talking about it as much as what happened in the 97th minute of that extraordinary football match as Bournemouth went on to lose 3-2. The BIG Dane couldn’t have envisaged how events were to unfold when he stroked his side into the lead, but neither could anyone really.
Liverpool’s 7-0 demolition of Man Utd was another one of those moments where you needed to pinch yourself just to make sure it happened. Mo Salah got a pair of goals and a pair of assists, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Núñez both got braces too, and the soon-departing fan favourite Roberto Firmino added the icing on a tasty cake for Liverpool fans.
The Reds have sorted themselves out in a BIG way of late, keeping clean sheets in each of their last 5 EPL matches and winning 4 of them. For the record, Salah is now Liverpool’s all-time leading scorer in the Premier League with 129 goals.
After this, Liverpool meet Real Madrid, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal in consecutive matches. It’s crunch time but, unlike last August when they fell 9-0 at Anfield, Bournemouth are unlikely to just roll over as they showed against the league leaders last weekend.
pawaStat:
Jürgen Klopp’s side have won the last 5 league meetings between these sides by an aggregate score of 21-1
Thomas Frank chasing a European place?
Ivan Toney’s penalty helped Brentford beat Fulham 3-2 on Monday night. According to Opta Analyst, only Yaya Touré (11) and Toney (10) have taken 10+ penalties in the Premier League and dispatched 100% of them. That’s some record. Brentford continue to punch above their weight under Thomas Frank and they’ll now have realistic designs of finishing inside the top 7, backed up by the Bees currently boasting the longest unbeaten run in the league.
Everton’s goals aren’t quite as lofty. There’s been an improvement in their football under Sean Dyche, and they shared the points in a highly-entertaining 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest last Sunday to recover from a 4-0 hammering at Arsenal.
Brentford were buzzing when they won this corresponding fixture 3-2 last season at Goodison. The Toffees can’t afford a repeat, as it’ll leave them in a stickier situation than they’re in now.
pawaStat:
Brentford are currently on a 12-match unbeaten run in the Premier League, the longest of any side, although 6 of those matches have been draws
Gracia bids to make it 2 home wins from 2
Brighton haven’t lost away since visiting Man City last October. Roberto De Zerbi’s team are earning plaudits for their attractive football, which was in evidence when they beat West Ham 4-0 last weekend, with 4 different players getting in on the scoring act.
Leeds have only won 1 game in the league this year, 1-0 against Southampton at Elland Road on 25th February, so it’s still a recent memory for Javi Gracia and his team, who need to clock up a few more 3-point hauls to stay clear of the bottom 3.
pawaStat:
Only 1 of their 5 Premier League head-to-heads saw goals at both ends
Can Maddison help the hosts bounce back?
James Maddison is back for the Foxes, which is good news, but that’s pretty much where it ends for Brendan Rodgers’ men right now.
Since a 4-1 win over Tottenham in February, Leicester have lost 4 consecutive matches and it increasingly looks as though they’ll be in amongst the relegation fight. Maddison disagrees,
that they “created numerous brilliant chances” and would have won comfortably on another day.
“Play like that and we’ll be absolutely fine,” he said. Will they though? Maddison is always vocal and eloquent in post-match interviews but they’ll need him at his best on the pitch to get out of the mess they’re in right now.
Chelsea finally got back to winning ways in the league with a 1-0 success over Leeds last weekend. They played much better than in recent outings, and the scoreline could have been more convincing with João Félix hitting the woodwork, helping Chelsea post 1.46 xG (expected goals), a huge improvement on the 0.42 xG they mustered against Spurs in their previous match.
The win over Leeds was a massively welcome result for Graham Potter because it followed a winless run of 6 games in all competitions. Chelsea backed it up with an impressive 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund to advance to the Champions League quarter-finals. Have they turned the corner?
pawaStat:
Since WC22, Leicester have collected 7 points from 10 games; only Bournemouth (5) have fewer in that timeframe
Johnson may be the man to watch
Brennan Johnson’s scintillating double against Everton last weekend took his EPL goals tally to 7 this season. Only Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka (10) and Gabriel Martinelli (11) have more goals out of players aged 21 or younger in the league in 2022/23.
Tottenham will need to be wary of the threat Johnson can pose both in wide areas and the centre. The Londoners went down 1-0 at Molineux in their last league game and will now be fretting about Liverpool’s form and increasing confidence they can reel Spurs in for that last Champions League qualifying place.
Encouragingly for Antonio Conte’s side, however, they won their last 3 league games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium without conceding against Man City, West Ham and Chelsea. Overall, they’ve won 9 of their 13 EPL assignments there, losing the other 4, making them the 5th best side at home.
pawaStat:
Forest have collected just 6 points from 12 league games on the road, making them the joint-worst away side in the league
Patrick Vieira’s men are winless in 2023
The last game of Saturday’s schedule sees title-chasing defending champions Manchester City visit struggling Crystal Palace.
Palace are in terrible form, having yet to win a match this calendar year in 10 attempts across all competitions, scoring just 5 goals in those games. Palace are also winless in 9 league games, the longest run of any side. Can they be dragged into the relegation picture? It’s not completely out of the question at this stage. The corresponding fixture last season ended 0-0.
The hosts will be without the suspended Malian star Cheick Doucouré. That’s a BIG blow, considering he’s started every single EPL game in 2023 until now.
pawaStat:
The Eagles failed to score in their last 3 home games against Man City
Sunday 12th March
Gunners out to win another capital clash
The Cottagers played their part in an entertaining London derby on Monday night when they went down 3-2 to Brentford. Manor Solomon was on the scoresheet yet again. That’s exactly a goal in each of his last 5 outings for the talented Israeli star on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk.
Arsenal’s dramatic win over Bournemouth would’ve taken both an emotional and physical toll, and they’ll need to be at their best here to collect 3 points against an excellent side under Marco Silva. Fulham will be without their midfield lynchpin João Palhinha, though, who finishes his 2-match suspension here.
Fulham are unbeaten in 4 home games so this will certainly be a stern examination of Arsenal’s growing title credentials, but Mikel Arteta’s men have excelled in London derby matches this season, going unbeaten against capital clubs in 2022/23. That record includes wins over Fulham in the reverse fixture, Chelsea and the double over Spurs.
pawaStat:
Arsenal’s 3-2 win against Bournemouth was only the second time in EPL history that a side had conceded in the opening minute and then scored a winner in the final minute; the first team to do that were none other than the Gunners, against Fulham, back in 2007
Red Devils nursing bruised egos
United’s 7-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield might not be the best news in the world for their visitors this weekend, Southampton. The Saints remain in trouble, but they would have loved Reiss Nelson’s winner for Arsenal against Bournemouth almost as much as the Gunners did, because it lifted them off the bottom of the division by virtue of goal difference at the expense of their south coast rivals.
They did also score a critical win against Leicester last weekend courtesy of a Carlos Alcaraz goal. No Southampton preview would be complete without mentioning James Ward-Prowse’s mastery from set pieces, but he actually missed a penalty against the Foxes. Fortunately for him, his side took the lead just 3 minutes later. They’ll need all of that character to dig in and get a result at Old Trafford, with the wounded hosts looking to undo last weekend’s damage.
pawaStat:
United are unbeaten in their last 14 meetings with the Saints across all competitions, although exactly half of those matches have been draws
Hammers flirting with danger
David Moyes’ team took a 4-0 thumping against Brighton last weekend, meaning they’ve won just 1 of their last 5 league games. That being said, they have picked up 7 points from the last 9 on offer at home. It seems critical that West Ham collect as many points in London as possible because their away form is dire.
Failure to win could easily see the Hammers in the relegation zone by the end of the weekend, should other results not go their way. Villa have won their last 2 games against Everton and Crystal Palace, and both of those successes were accompanied by clean sheets. It’s going to be a tense afternoon in London.
pawaStat:
West Ham haven’t lost to Aston Villa in their last 9 meetings (W6, D3)
Magpies are falling off in the race for 4th place
Newcastle are struggling to maintain the great pace they set in the first half of the season. They’ve lost their last 3 matches without scoring, and they haven’t won a league match since a 1-0 success over Fulham on 15th January. The clean sheets have dried up too, with no shutouts in any of their last 6 games across all competitions.
Wolves have improved dramatically since the appointment of Julen Lopetegui. Since his first game in charge on Boxing Day, they’ve collected 17 points from 11 games, more than Chelsea (13) and Tottenham (16) in that sample. They’ve only conceded 11 goals in those games too. When he arrived they were rock bottom with 10 points from 15 games. It’s quite the turnaround.
pawaStat:
6 of the last 8 EPL meetings between these sides ended 1-1