All articles by: Jools Jordan-Probert

Crystal Palace vs Arsenal – Match Preview

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Crystal Palace vs Arsenal – Match Preview – The football festivities continue with a London Derby as Crystal Palace look to extend their unbeaten run against Champions League hopefuls Arsenal.

Both sides will appreciate the two extra days rest in this ever-busy Christmas period and should be fully refreshed for this intriguing clash.

Crystal Palace have taken significant strides in turning around their season since hiring Roy Hodgson, the side look world’s apart in terms of organisation and style of play compared to the disarray under Frank de Boer and just after.

The Eagles are now unbeaten in their last eight matches in the league and have lifted themselves out of the relegation zone and into 16th on 18 points at the time of writing. There is a two-point gap now between themselves and Bournemouth in 18th and while the 1-1 draw at bottom club Swansea was not ideal last time out, it keeps Hodgson’s side ticking over.

Zaha has been sensational since returning to the Palace squad and will be a real threat on the wing against Arsenal Photo Credit: skysports.com

With Christian Benteke finding the net again (after an elongated and uncharacteristic drought) and Wilfried Zaha in the form of his life, Palace can pose danger to any side in the league.

Arsenal, on the other hand, are embroiled in what promises to be an almighty battle for the top four. There is currently just one point in it between The Gunners in 6th (with 35) and Liverpool in 4th (with 36) as North-London rivals Tottenham Hotspur separate the two teams.

Ozil has begun to perform this season in the Red of Arsenal Photo Credit: skysports.com

Wenger will be desperate to rectify the nightmares given to him in this fixture last season – losing 3-0 and taking what proved to be one of the fatal blows to Champions League qualification. A similar result this time around perhaps might not be as conclusive, but will cause huge damage to Arsenal’s ambitions to be in Europe’s elite competition.

Stats

Despite Palace’s danger, the favourite to keep a clean sheet in this one will be Arsenal. Only Manchester United (10) have kept more than Arsenal’s nine clean sheets this season.
By contrast, The Eagles have kept just the three – only Stoke (2) have kept less in the entire division.

If this goes to form, expect there to be a barrage of corners in this one. Arsenal and Palace come in 3rd and 7th respectively in our corner club stats table. Arsenal tend to always be on the front foot and dominate higher up the pitch, but Palace’s direct fast football earns them a load of corners too. Roy Hodgson teams always have a focus on set-pieces, and with Palace’s stature – i.e. Benteke, Dann, Sakho etc it would be foolish not to.

 The money with this one should be looking at Crystal Palace, they have been awarded the joint-second-highest number of yellow cards this season (38, only West Ham have more with 41) and come third in our club card stats table for average cards awarded per game with 2 – earning an average of 20 booking points per fixture.
Arsenal, by contrast have picked up just 27 yellow cards this season, and neither side have been awarded a red at this stage.

 

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Liverpool vs Swansea City – Match Preview

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Liverpool vs Swansea City – Match Preview – The Premier League’s bottom side Swansea City are in desperate need of a late Christmas present via three unlikely points against Champions League-chasing Liverpool.

This fixture last season was the turning point for Swansea and Paul Clement, as he miraculously kept the South-Welsh side in the division after a galvanising 3-2 win at Anfield.

Swansea were rock-bottom at Christmas then, and that is the current situation again, however the reality seems to be even worse this time around. The club are manager-less – with club icon Leon Britton taking the reins temporarily – and have picked up just one win in their last 11 league games, losing nine.

Nothing but victory will do for Jurgen Klopp’s side with the race for the top four being increasingly tight. Just one point separates Liverpool in 4th and Arsenal in 6th after they played out an exhilarating 3-3 draw on Friday night – a match which stretched Liverpool’s unbeaten run to 10 matches.

Coutinho scored the opener against Arsenal on Friday night Photo Credit: skysports.com

The league is surely beyond reach for Liverpool so battling and earning a Champions League place – where Liverpool have drawn Porto in the last 16 – and becoming a regular in Europe’s top competition is paramount.

Swansea will be hoping to build on their 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday and in their position every game seems like a must-win, but going to Anfield to reinvigorate a season is no mean feat – does lightning strike twice here?

Stats

Despite the defensive issues that are regularly discussed regarding Liverpool, only Burnley, Arsenal and Manchester United have kept more Premier League clean sheets than their eight so far this term.
The issue for Swansea hasn’t necessarily been at the back, it has been at the other end of the pitch – The Swans have scored a league-low, measly total of 11 goals this season. However, they have kept six clean sheets, just two less than their Boxing Day opponents.

Neither of the two sides have been particularly card-laden this year, with Liverpool and Swansea ranking in 15th and 16th respectively in our club card stats table for average cards per game – both have 1.3. The Swans have been given 24 yellow cards, one more than Liverpool but have not had a single player shown a red all year – The Reds have been given marching orders just the once too.

The corner stats are as expected, with Liverpool and Swansea ranking in positions more representative of the league table – Liverpool are 7th in our club corner stats table, being awarded 109 corners, to Swansea’s 16th place and 78 corner kicks.

 

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Everton vs Chelsea – Match Preview

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Everton vs Chelsea – Match Preview – Sam Allardyce faces his toughest challenge yet as Everton manager as Champions Chelsea come to Goodison Park in a historic Premier League fixture.

Since taking over, Allardyce’s Toffees are unbeaten, winning four of his five games in charge and drawing the other in the Merseyside derby at Anfield.

Such an upturn in form has seen Everton rocket up the table and they now sit comfortably in 9th on 25 points, closer to Liverpool in the Champions League places than the relegation zone – a far cry from the desperate times faced under Ronald Koeman and caretaker manager David Unsworth.

Despite receiving many knockbacks throughout the year, Antonio Conte and Chelsea keep plugging away – reaching the Carabao Cup semi-finals after beating Bournemouth 2-1 on Wedenesday courtesy of a late Alvaro Morata goal.

Morata scored the winner midweek in the Carabao Cup Photo Credit: skysports.com

Eight wins from the previous 10 league matches have maintained Chelsea’s push to be the best of the rest – with Conte conceding a couple of weeks ago that Manchester City were uncatchable – and The Blues are in 3rd, just three points behind Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United.

Whilst they will back themselves against Barcelona, drawing the Catalan giants in the last 16 of the Champions League could well end the European foray for Chelsea. And following the year where Chelsea didn’t make Europe after defending their title last time, that means ensuring a top four finish this season is absolutely pivotal, and will be the bare minimum requirement imposed by owner Roman Abramovich.

This is an exciting fixture for various reasons, it sees two of the league’s form teams meeting, but additionally, meetings between the two sides often produce explosions and that’s just in recent memory; the 2009 FA Cup final, the 6-3 at Goodison in 2015, and Chelsea’s 5-0 annihilation of Everton last season – the latter described by legendary commentator John Motson as the ‘best ever Premier League performance’.

The three games mentioned above all resulted in victories for Chelsea, but under Allardyce, Everton will more than fancy themselves to pull off a shock result – albeit with a defensive, resolute performance.

Rooney and Sigurdsson will be Everton’s main threat Photo Credit: skysports.com

Stats

Before Big Sam was announced as Everton manger (they played the West Ham match immediately after), the blue of Merseyside had managed a solitary clean sheet all season. Naturally, the defensive areas of their game have improved since and including the win over West Ham have kept four clean sheets in their last six games in all competitions.
As Champions of England, you would expect Chelsea to be at the top end of the defensive charts, which is the case, they are fourth in our club clean sheet stats table with only Burnley, Arsenal and Manchester United obtaining more shutouts.

Surprisingly, Everton are bottom of our club corner stats table, after only earning a dismal 56 in the league this season, a huge 19 away from the next nearest sides West Ham, West Brom and Swansea – not great company.
An Allardyce team tends to focus on set pieces, and with the outstanding delivery of Gylfi Sigurdsson you would expect this low total to increase. Chelsea, by contrast rank in 5th in this stat, highlighting their tendency to be higher up the pitch and pressuring opposition.

Everton have been good value for booking points this campaign, ranking joint third in our club card stat table for average booking points per match with 1.9. This has been a result of their joint-fifth highest total of 30 yellow cards and by being awarded an additional two red cards.

 

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