Good day everyone,

Merry Christmas, I hope you are all well and looking forward to more festive football, welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things sports. I hope you all enjoyed the festive weekend, we are back again with even more matches at quick succession. With the halfway mark passed, we are into the second half of the season officially, although the postponed matches are pilling up and it will be a hectic 2022 for some clubs in playing out all their games. Two games have already been postponed for this round thanks to Covid-19 and hopefully none more will get announced during the week.

Fixtures - Times are shown as U.K. Time

This midweeks fixtures  take place over 3 days, from Tuesday until Thursday.

Tuesday 28th December

Arsenal - Wolves 12.30pm KO (Kick Off) - Postponed

Crystal Palace - Norwich 3pm KO

Southampton - Tottenham 3pm KO

Watford - West Ham 3pm KO

Leeds - Aston Villa 3pm KO - Postponed

Leicester - Liverpool 8pm KO

Wednesday 29th December

Chelsea - Brighton 19.30pm KO

Brentford - Man City 20.15pm KO

Thursday 30th December

Everton - Newcastle 19.30pm KO

Man Utd - Burnley 20.15pm 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. 

Arsenal - Wolves - Postponed

This fixture has unfortunately been postponed due to a high number of Covid-19 cases and injuries in Bruno Lage's squad, meaning they would be unable to field a team capable of playing in this fixture.

Crystal Palace - Norwich

Palace will be without Zaha for this game as his serves his ban from being sent off against Spurs. They will be waiting for positive news on Vieira being back in the dugout, but it seems unlikely at this stage. Their squad will also be hoping to see the return of Guaita, Milivojevic, Eze, Benteke, Clyne, and Olise. If they can get some of them back into the squad it will add the fresh legs and ability to change things up after playing so recently. Norwich will be without Krul thanks to Covid-19, and missing Hanley, Rupp, Rashica, and Omobamidele. Gunn will continue in goal for his boyhood club, and be hoping his defence gives more protection than they did against Arsenal. Palace have won three of the previous four meetings between these sides, while Norwich have not won at Selhurst Park in 16 visits across all competitions. Norwich have really shown their lack of goal threat this season, only scoring 8 goals in their 18 league matches so far. They are particularly poor at scoring away from home. Palace meanwhile will be hoping their curse of winning less without Zaha doesnt come to fruition here. He will be missing when the AFCON kicks off next week, and this will be a chance for the squad to adapt without him. I think Palace will have enough about them to win this match, and probably score a few to boost their confidence also. The final result should be including a clean sheet for the London side, so I will go for a 3-0 home win with Palace controlling the game for long periods.

Southampton - Tottenham

The Saints could be in line to see Tella return after his recent absence thanks to Covid-19. Stephens and Lyanco are both still absent due to the virus unfortunately. After their win over West Ham, Southampton will be hoping to add more points to the table and add even more daylight between themselves and the bottom three, with the points gap now at 6. Spurs will most likely be without Le Celso who picked up a calf injury, along with Sessegnon and Romero, but besides that Conte will have a good squad to select from. Kane is back scoring, Moura and Son are providing some excellent link up play and all in all the team has responded will to the new manager. Spurs are now in a real position to push for Champions League football next season, and wont want their excellent run of form to end on the South Coast. This should be a tight affair, and with Southampton only loosing once at home this season. Spurs failed to score in their last two away league games, but the last of them was Everton back on the 7th of November. With Conte unbeaten in his first six league games, this will be a very different side to the last one who played away from home. Its a difficult one to call, and I think it will end even with both sides scoring but unable to outdo each other. I think the final score will be 2-2.

Watford - West Ham

Ranieri will be sending his side out for the first time since December the 10th, and should have a nearly full strength side to choose from. The only confirmed absentees will be Sarr, Foster, Nkoulou, Etebo, and Kabasele. As for West Ham, they will be missing Rice due to his suspension for collecting his 5th booking of the season against Southampton. They will also be without Cresswell, Ogbonna, and Zouma. In their previous five league meetings, West Ham have won four of them. West Ham have also got a knack for scoring against the Hornets, but having lost against Brentford already this season they will be weary of playing a promoted side. With Watford loosing consistently at home they will be hoping to address that slide in this game and take advantage of West Hams poor run of recent form. The Hammers have lost their last three on the road and without tailisman Rice in the middle, they will need to up their up their game. Rice would have made his 150th appearance for the Hammers in the Premier League if he was not banned. This will be a tight game and tough to call, but with Watford having fresh legs and West Ham on such bad form, I think the Hornets could sneak a win in this one. I will back them to win at home and grab a 2-1 win, with Emmanuel Dennis being influential in getting the goals.

Leeds - Aston Villa - Postponed

The continued Covid-19 outbreak and injuries at Leeds means this game has been called off. It follows on from their midweek game against Liverpool also being postponed.

Leicester - Liverpool

This game should be quite interesting, with Leicester showing against both Liverpool in the Cup and City in the league how porous their defence can be. At the same time, they showed just how devestating they can be on the counter, with their forward players inspired by Maddison able to cut any team apart. Rodgers has admitted he is facing a difficult time, with Leicester 13 points off 4th. although with two games in hand. Liverpool should be able to welcome back the quartet of Fabinho, Jones, Van Djik, and Thiago, who had been missed recently with Covid-19. Robertson will be serving his second of three match bans, meaning Tsimikas will most likely start at left back. With Mané and Salah off to AFCON in a week, they will be keen to impress and add some goals before they depart, along with Keita. Leicester have won their last three at home, but have only managed to keep 1 clean sheet in 16 league games so far. Klopp will look to take advantage of that, and especially the Foxes weakness at set pieces. Leicester will be missing Fofana, Justin, Evans, Soyuncu, Daka, Barnes, Bertrand, and Pereira. Ndidi and Vardy will hope to return and have an impact on this match, but with Liverpool back to near full strenght, I expect the Reds will be licking their lips after seeing what City did to their opponents. The lack of a game on Boxing day will also help Klopp's side, and they should make the most of it and win this away game by a score of 2-4.

Chelsea - Brighton 

Tuchel will be hoping his team can keep pace with the top two after the return of Lukaku to the squad. He adds a real focal point to Chelsea when they are trying to break down opponents. They won on Boxing Day but lost Kante and Silva to injury, joining Chilwell in the treatment room. Chelsea have not kept a clean sheet at home since October and will bemoan loosing two of their powerhouse defensive minded players. For Brighton, Bissouma will return to the middle of the park, and Veltman may also be available. However, they will be without the services of Sarmiento, Dunk, and Alzate. The bench will be the difference in this game I believe, and even though Brighton will be delighted with their first win in 12 league games, Chelsea will be too much for them. The Blues will want to ensure they don't loose any more pace with Liverpool and Chelsea, who are both capable of going unbeaten in the remainder of the season with the form they are in. Chelsea will more than likely concede, but with Kovacic making a return they have enough options to be fresher than the Seagulls in this match. I think the game will be end to end with plenty of opportunities, but Chelsea will take the win at the Bridge with a score line of 3-1.

Brentford - Man City

Can anybody stop Man City from scoring? Leicester certainly couldnt, and I doubt this Brentford defence will fair any better. The Bees will be without Ajer, Mbeumo, Zanka, Dasilva, Henry, Goode, and Raya for this match. Janelt will also be out thanks to picking up Coivd-19. while Norgaard will be suspended. For City, Stones and Torres will be missing, while Walker and Rodri are unlikely to be risked with a game against Arsenal on the horizon. With Brentford loosing to Brighton on Boxing day while City won a thriller with Leicester, there should really only be one winner of this match. City are strolling at the top of the league and if they get an early lead could tear The Bees apart as they also did to Leeds. The level in difference will be too obvious, and unless they have a real off day, the points will be going back to Manchester. Brentford will hope Toney can produce some magic to get them something in this game, but a draw would be an astounding result let alone a win. I cant see anything but another goal fest for City, and they should win this game 1-4.

Everton - Newcastle

The performance of Newcastle against Man Utd was probably the most impressive they have played all season. They let the lead slip unfortunately, and to make matters worse they lost Saint-Maximin and Wilson to injury. Both will most likely be a doubt for this fixture, making Howe's life all that more difficult. Everton will be the fresher side heading into this after their last match against Burnley was postponed, and will hope for an upturn in form under Rafa. They have struggled after their great start to the season, mostly down to injuries. Calvert-Lewin will still be missing and has been a huge loss this season. Eight points separate these sides heading into this fixture, and Newcastle will hope Everton are similar to United in lacking rhythm in their first game back. This will be a tight affair and could go either way, but I will back Newcastle to stun the Merseysiders and get themselves a win on the final league game of the 2021, marginally winning 1-2.

Man Utd - Burnley

Where are United heading under Rangnick? Against Newcastle they were outplayed for the best part of 80 minutes, with squandered opportunities from Newcastle the only reason United didn't concede more than one. Burnley will take great hope going into this game, knowing if they are tight at the back they could realistically keep a clean sheet, barring a Ronaldo piece of magic. Pogba will still be missing for United, but they will still have a strong team to select from. They will have faced the bottom three in a row thanks to their postponed matches due to Covid-19, and so far have scraped a 1-0 against Norwich and 1-1 with Newcastle. Not impressive nor top four performances in my opinion. Stronger teams will relish facing them still. Burnley will hope to break the cycle and be the first team to beat Rangnick. Burnley have failed to score in their last three league games, giving United plenty of hope also. This will be a close game, and I think it could end up even, with a final score of 1-1. 

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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