Alongside Liverpool v Tottenham, there are two games at 8pm on Wednesday. Michael Beardmore and Tom Carnduff picks out their best bets.
Football betting tips: Premier League
1pt e.w. Ivan Cavaleiro to score first in Fulham v Brighton at 9/1 (1-5 1/3)
1pt e.w. Said Benrahma to score first in West Ham v Crystal Palace at 9/1 (1-98 1/3)
1pt Eberechi Eze to have 1+ assists in West Ham v Crystal Palace at 7/1
For details of advised bookmakers and each-way terms, visit our transparent tipping record
Fulham v Brighton betting tips
- 20:00 GMT on Amazon Prime Video
- Match odds: Home 15/8 | Draw 23/10 | Away 29/20
Michael Beardmore
Fulham have looked like a new team in the past month, their defence seemingly rejuvenated and their attackers growing in confidence ahead of Wednesday’s visit of Brighton to Craven Cottage.
Their 1-1 draw with reigning champions Liverpool provided ample evidence of this, Fulham unlucky not to score more than one and their brilliant back-line even more unfortunate to concede via a harsh late penalty.
To illustrate their recent improvement, Fulham’s record in their opening six games was W0 D1 L5 F5 A14 GD -9 PTS 1. In the subsequent six, it’s been W2 D1 L3 F7 A8 GD -1 PTS 7.
That is some turnaround – particularly given the latter run of fixtures has involved games against Liverpool, Leicester and Manchester City. Nonetheless, they will be aware that this game against Brighton, whom Fulham can leapfrog with victory, is a hugely important one.
The Seagulls, of course, are no mugs themselves – in the same timespan as Fulham’s renaissance, they have also held Liverpool, won at Aston Villa and narrowly lost to Tottenham and Southampton. But they come into this one on the back of consecutive defeats and by far their worst performance of the season in being pummelled 3-0 at Leicester on Sunday.
Consequently, I was tempted to tip a Fulham win (I’m amazed they are 15/8 underdogs) and under 3.5 goals at 11/4 with Sky Bet – and I still think it’s one to consider – but I’ve been put off a bit by Matt Hancock.
The Health Secretary has placed London into Tier 3, meaning the Cottage will be empty – and anyone who watched Sunday’s game with Liverpool would know how 2,000 sounded like 20,000 at times. They almost seemed to suck the ball away from the Fulham net.
With fans again absent and a lot riding on the outcome for both sides, I’m minded to swerve the result and focus on a man whose recent improvement has mirrored that of his side – Ivan Cavaleiro.
The former Wolves winger failed to register a shot in four of Fulham’s opening five games but has benefitted from Aleksandar Mitrovic’s absence through lack of form and injury this past month.
By contrast to his earlier shot-shy status, Cavaleiro has registered 12 efforts in the past four games and only the brilliance of Liverpool keeper Alisson twice stopped him opening the scoring on Sunday.
Cavaleiro was also unlucky not to win a penalty for a challenge by Fabinho that most onlookers thought was a foul – a spot-kick he would likely have taken, after showing bottle to take, and score, a penalty at Leicester having slipped up, literally, from the spot against Everton the game before.
Whether it be from open play or a dead ball, chances are falling to Cavaleiro and I like the price of 9/1 about the Portuguese to net first with Paddy Power and Betfair – take the each-way (first five goals) offered by both at 1/3 of the odds to effectively make it 3/1 anytime. If you fancy a speculative quid, the Sky Bet Price Boost is 66/1 on Cavaleiro to net first in a 2-1 Fulham win.
Score prediction: Fulham 2-1 Brighton (Sky Bet odds: 10/1)
Best bet: Ivan Cavaleiro to score first at 9/1
Opta facts
- Fulham have won just one of their last seven league meetings with Brighton (D1 L5), though it did come in their last such meeting, a 4-2 win at Craven Cottage in January 2019.
- Brighton have scored at least twice in each of their last seven meetings in all competitions with Fulham (W5 D1 L1), having done so just once in their previous eight against the Cottagers.
- The away side has taken a 2-0 lead in both previous Premier League meetings between Fulham and Brighton but have failed to win both times – Brighton came back to draw 2-2 at home in September 2018, while Fulham won 4-2 at Craven Cottage in January 2019.
- In the regular Championship season last season, Fulham lost just two of their 14 midweek matches (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday), winning seven and drawing five. At home, the Cottagers won four of their five such games (L1).
- Brighton have won just three of their 18 away Premier League matches in London (D5 L10) and are winless in their last five league matches in the capital (D3 L2).
Liverpool v Tottenham betting tips
- 20:00 GMT on Amazon Prime Video
- Match odds: Home 3/4 | Draw 29/10 | Away 10/3
Tom Carnduff
In Jose Mourinho's two-and-a-half campaigns at Manchester United, two league games at Anfield finished 0-0, while there was a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford. That spell also saw a 0-0 draw against Manchester City in 2017 and a narrow 1-0 defeat away at Chelsea a few months later.
Spurs were beaten 1-0 by Liverpool when they last faced each other in January, and even though this Reds side were virtually unstoppable during the 2019/20 campaign, Tottenham came close to shutting them out. Essentially, Mourinho's approach when playing the top teams has been to try and keep it low-scoring.
Liverpool are rarely involved in 0-0 games, although there was one when they travelled to Goodison Park to face Everton in June. That has pushed the odds up on the unders line, making the 5/4 price across the board on under 2.5 goals an attractive play.
But the big play in this game is the 16/1 available on a 0-0 draw. It's already come in for a big game involving Tottenham this season and it wouldn't be a surprise to see more of them as the campaign progresses, particularly if they are serious title contenders.
Score prediction: Liverpool 0-0 Tottenham (Sky Bet odds: 14/1)
Best bet: Under 2.5 goals at 5/4
Best bet: 0-0 correct score at 16/1
Click here to read the full preview
West Ham v Crystal Palace betting tips
- 20:00 GMT on Amazon Prime Video
- Match odds: Home 11/10 | Draw 23/10 | Away 13/5
Tom Carnduff
A contest that could actually turn out to be quite an entertaining one. West Ham welcome Crystal Palace with both sides enjoying fairly decent starts to the campaign; West Ham's lofty position in sixth will give them confidence that they can secure another victory here.
The over 2.5 goals line sits at even money but we can make a strong case for that target being reached based on recent weeks. The Hammers have scored three goals across their last two outings but that was from an xG of 4.71. In fact, their xG total has been higher than their actual goal tally in four of their last five games.
For Palace, they created the better of the opportunities against Tottenham but had to settle for a 1-1 draw while they hit five past struggling West Brom the week before. Their numbers have likely been affected by a poor start to the campaign but they have got better as the weeks have progressed.
That includes Eberechi Eze. The attacking midfielder was a star for QPR in the Sky Bet Championship and is now starting to show why Palace opted to bring him to the club during the transfer window. It took him a bit of time to adjust to the level, that has to be expected, but he's really caught the eye in recent games.
He grabbed a goal and an assist as Palace beat Leeds while also getting another helped in the 5-1 demolition of West Brom. There was nothing on his tally in that draw with Spurs but his overall performance was very good. With 4/1 across the board on a goal anytime, the better value comes in the 7/1 available on another assist here.
The battle between Eze and Vladimír Coufal will be an interesting one to watch and that left side of the pitch could be a good route to goal for the visitors. With Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke likely to line up in the forward positions again, Eze will have two different strikers to work with.
You could easily make a case for either the goal or assist but the value is making me lean towards the assist. It's also the type of player he is, good on the ball and wanting to find the right pass, drifting towards the edge of the area with possession. Given this team, and his more wider starting position compared with last season, we can expect the assists column to be longer than the goals one at the end of the campaign.
We can match Michael Beardmore's 9/1 first goalscorer shout in this game by targeting another previous star of the Championship, that being Said Benrahma who joined West Ham from Brentford in the transfer window. He's had to be patient, settle for minutes from the bench, but he made a start against Leeds and should keep his place in the side.
Benrahma is a clear talent, and with the questionable form of Sebastian Haller, the contribution of goals needs to be that bit more from the attacking midfield positions behind him. He scored 17 last season and netted two for Brentford against Fulham before making the move across London.
Palace have conceded the first goal in four of their last six contests, while the win at Leeds ended West Ham's six-game run of striking first. Benrahma should keep his spot in the starting XI here, and who knows, with the form of Haller he could well occupy the centre-forward role too.
Score prediction: West Ham 2-1 Crystal Palace (Sky Bet odds: 7/1)
Best bet: Eberechi Eze to have 1+ assists in West Ham v Crystal Palace at 7/1
Best bet: Said Benrahma to score first in West Ham v Crystal Palace at 9/1
Opta facts
- West Ham have scored at least once in each of their last 12 Premier League games against Crystal Palace – only against Fulham (16) are they on a current longer run of scoring in consecutive matches in the competition.
- Crystal Palace came from behind to win both Premier League meetings with West Ham last season – they’ve never won three consecutive league games against the Hammers before.
- West Ham United haven’t lost back-to-back home league games since December 2019 under Manuel Pellegrini – the Hammers have never done so under current boss David Moyes in 30 matches at London Stadium.
- Crystal Palace are looking to win consecutive away London derbies in the Premier League for the first time since November 1997, when they won three in a row against QPR, Wimbledon and Spurs.
- West Ham boss David Moyes has won 60% of his Premier League matches against Crystal Palace’s Roy Hodgson (P10 W6 D1 L3), his best ratio against any of the 15 managers he’s faced at least 10 times in the competition.
Odds correct at 1115 GMT (15/12/20)
Follow Sporting Life on social - find us on Facebook here or tweet @SportingLifeFC
Related football content
Responsible gambling
We are committed in our support of responsible gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, or visit begambleaware.org.
Further support and information can be found at GamCare and gamblingtherapy.org.
