Good day everyone,

Merry Christmas, I hope you are all well and looking forward to this festive weekend's round of matches, welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things sports. I hope you all enjoy the festive weekend, and hopefully will find time between the food, drink, and gifts to enjoy the sports. With 3 games already called off for the Boxing Day round of games, hopefully there will be no further last minute cancellations.

Fixtures - Times are shown as U.K. Time

This weekend's fixtures will take place over 2 days of the weekend, Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday 26th December - Boxing Day

Liverpool - Leeds 12.30pm KO (Kick Off) - Postponed

Wolves - Watford 12.30pm KO - Postponed

Burnley - Everton 3pm KO - Postponed

Man City - Leicester 3pm KO

Norwich - Arsenal 3pm KO

Tottenham - Crystal Palace 3pm KO

West Ham - Southampton 3pm KO

Aston Villa - Chelsea 5.30pm KO

Brighton - Brentford 8pm KO

Monday 27th December

Newcastle - Man Utd 8pm KO

Predictions

Now for the most exciting part, as I go through the latest info regarding each team to make an attempt at predicting the results for this weeks matches. Remember this is just my fun analysis and should not be taken as advice or a guarantee. A caveat to this news is that Andrew Robertson, who got handed a three game suspension following his red card against Tottenham, will now miss the fixture against Chelsea as a result of this match being postponed. 

Liverpool - Leeds

This game has been called off due to Covid-19 outbreaks. A rise of cases at the West Yorkshire club meant the Premier League decided the best course of action was to postpone this fixture, for it to be rescheduled at another date. As a result of this, it means Andrew Robertson, who was sent off against Tottenham and is serving a 3 match ban, will now miss the game against Chelsea along with the upcoming midweek clash against Leicester, instead of this match being part of his ban.

Wolves - Watford

This game has also been called off due to Covid-19 outbreaks, with Watford requesting their games to be called off due to a continued high number of cases and lack of available players to complete their fixture. They do expect to be able to return to action for their game on the 28th of December with players returning from isolation.

Burnley - Everton

Another game also called off due to Covid-19 outbreaks, with Everton recording high numbers of positive cases. Benitez had earlier called for the match to be postponed and it was confirmed on Christmas Eve around lunch time.

Man City - Leicester

The Citizens are in an impressive run of form, winning their last 8 and scoring 24 goals along the way. They are the clear favourites for the title and unless they have a major slip up its looking like another good season for them. Leicester did well during the week against Liverpool, but once the Reds put out some first team stars the match changed. Vardy was hungry for goals but against the City first team he wont find it so easy. I expect this game to have goals, and City to be in control for most of it. If Leicester can nick a goal then they will back themselves to give it a real go, but with Leicester having a mini crisis due to Covid-19 with Perez, Lookman, Iheanacho, and Vestergaard also having positive results, things will be tough. Add to that Evans, Fofana and Soyuncu missing, and that's the spine of Leicester unavailable. City will be without Walker and Torres, who is due to move to Barcelona in January. With City at home they are always favourites, and I expect them to get the victory here with a result of 3-2.

Norwich - Arsenal

The Arsenal fans will be licking their lips heading into this game, with the impressive form they are currently in. They have a Cup semi-final against Liverpool to look forward to in the new year, and the prospect of facing Norwich is as good of a Christmas gift as any. The Canaries have looked good under Dean Smith, but Arsenal have a new lease of life. Norwich have already failed to score against the traditional big six this season, and I expect no different in this match. Arsenal are solid at the back and should be have no problems keeping the likes of Pukki at bay. Arsenal will walk this one and win the game 0-4.

Tottenham - Crystal Palace

Tottenham are looking a rejuvenated force, as shown in their draw with Liverpool. The are effective in both boxes under Conte, and should be too powerful for Palace. Spurs have 11 out of 15 points under Conte, and with Kane scoring his first league goal last weekend, he will hope to continue hitting the back of the net and get back to his previous form. Palace have one win in their last six, and while they are scoring via the impressive Gallagher and Zaha, they need to be more consistent. Sitting nine points above the drop zone is decent before Christmas, but due to Palace being unreliable, I expect Conte will keep his fine run of form going and Spurs will take the win 3-2.

West Ham - Southampton

Since West Ham beat Chelsea, they have had an awful drop off in form.  Five points for eighteen in their last six games is not good enough. This could be the match where they get back on track in their bid for a top four finish. Moyes has created a strong team, and when Antonio returns from Covid-19, if he can start scoring regularly like he did at the start of the season, they will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. Others will need to step up in his absence. As for Southampton, they are 15th in the table and have three draws and three losses in their last six. They are 5 points off ninth, and 6 points off eighteenth. This will be a close game and I think it will end even, with a score of 2-2.

Aston Villa - Chelsea

Villa have looked excellent under Gerrard, with 2 losses and 4 wins so far. They will be in good spirits, and despite Covid-19 issues they will be expected to put up a good fight. Gerrard in particular would love to get one over the Blues. As for Chelsea, they have good news in Romelu Lukaku, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Andreas Christensen all returning to training after positive Covid tests. This should help Chelsea get their form back, which has seen them loose top spot in the table over the month of December. Under Gerrard the games against top sides are always close, and Villa will be tough to break down, but I think Chelsea will sneak a win 1-2.

Brighton - Brentford

Both these teams have amassed 20 points so far this season in the league, although have contrasting form heading into this match. Brighton have not won in 12 matches, while Brentford have won 2 of their last 4 games. Brighton's lack of goal threat is a grave worry for their fans, and against Wolves they failed to have a shot on target in the second half. This will give Brentford hope of securing a win with their battling style of play. They sit nine points ahead of the relegation zone and Frank can only be delighted with his team's efforts so far. Brentford lost in the cup midweek to Chelsea, although it was their first game in nearly two weeks. I can foresee another draw for Brighton fans, and this game has 0-0 written all over it.

Newcastle - Man Utd

Eddie Howe will hope to avoid a fourth straight league defeat here, and will hope for the next week to fly so he can start adding some more talent to his squad in January. Newcastle have conceded 11 goals in their three most recent defeats and will need to shore up that backline. United meanwhile have suffered a horrible outbreak of Covid-19 and will be back in action for the first time since December 11th. United have not exactly been playing the beautiful football some hoped Rangnick would bring, but they have been getting the results and sit five points behind fourth-placed Arsenal with two games in hand. I feel Man Utd will get the points again by beating Newcastle away from home with a final score of 1-2.

I have also done a write up on some of Newcastle's potential January targets if you would like to check that out here: https://www.publish0x.com/cryptogod-1-sports/newcastle-united-transfer-plans-january-2022-xknzlvj

Have a great day and enjoy the festive games, which should see some very exciting matches. Round's 19 and 20 will happen in quick succession, so I will do my best to ensure my Review and next preview are up in time. Have a wonderful Christmas.

Peace. CryptoGod-1.

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