The busy festive period draws to an end for the English Premier League, but not before a slate of games over the weekend. Following Sunday, the league action doesn’t resume until January 12th. Let’s run through our weekly EPL previews and highlight the best storylines of the week:
Leaders Arsenal, Leicester City Both At Home
Following their 0-0 draw at home with Manchester City on Tuesday, Leicester City pulled into a tie with Arsenal on 39 points. However, the Gunners have the edge due to a 5-2 win at Leicester back in September and they host 18th-place Newcastle on Saturday, while Leicester welcomes 16th-place Bournemouth. Arsenal and Leicester have two home losses between them in 18 home games this season, and this would be a good chance to pull away from the pack a little as 2016 kicks off. Arsenal haven’t lost to Newcastle in 10 meetings, racking up eight wins in a row, along with two draws. Leicester has won four and drawn one of their last five meetings with Bournemouth.
For more previews on all of the EPL games this week, tune in to Premier Punditry to hear them break down the games or visit Premier Punditry.
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West Ham Welcomes Liverpool To Town
Liverpool still has a home game on Wednesday against Sunderland to deal with and they shouldn’t overlook it, but a trip to West Ham has to be in the back of their heads. Liverpool is 10th in the table on 27 points going into the Sunderland game, while West Ham is two points ahead of them on 27, sitting in seventh place. West Ham hasn’t lost in seven games, racking up six draws and a win over that time, and they edged Southampton 2-1 in their last match. They’ve also won two of their last three against Liverpool, including a 3-0 rout at Anfield in August. The Reds need to show a little consistency as they lost 3-0 at Watford, then beat Leicester 1-0 at home. The Sunderland match is also the beginning of four away games in a row for Liverpool.
Manchester City Aim To Bounce Back At Watford
Manchester City is hanging around the top in third place, three points behind Arsenal and Leicester, whom they couldn’t unlock in a 0-0 draw. City were probably the better team on the day, but they didn’t take their chances and they even got caught out a couple times by the Leicester counterattack. Watford are a quiet eighth-place side after a 2-1 loss at Tottenham, their first loss in six games, and they’re tied with City with 20 goals allowed, which is a great defensive record. City has the edge in goals scored 37-24 (those 37 goals ties City with Leicester for the most in the league), but a whopping 29 of those have come at home. Manchester City has scored just eight times on the road, while Watford has allowed eight goals at home. Watford’s last win over City came in March 1989, when the two were in the old Division 2; City beat Watford 2-0 at home in their first meeting of the season.
