Premiership Football Preview: Christmas

Last week was another blank at the bookies after Newcastle's last minute winner deprived us of a small income but overall it was a bad week of picks!

I've ended up pretty much square with the bookies over the last three months so I'll be looking at a different approach in the New Year. Meanwhile, there is a busy schedule of matches coming up and the games in and around Christmas Day are listed below (3pm KO unless shown):

Saturday, 23rd December
Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers
Aston Villa v Manchester United
Fulham v West Ham United, 12.45pm (LIVE: Sky Sports 2)
Liverpool v Watford
Manchester City v Bolton Wanderers
Middlesbrough v Charlton Athletic
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
Portsmouth v Sheffield United
Reading v Everton
Wigan Athletic v Chelsea, 5.15pm (LIVE: PremPlus)

Tuesday, 26th December
Blackburn Rovers v Liverpool (LIVE: PremPlus)
Bolton Wanderers v Newcastle United
Chelsea v Reading, 1.00pm (LIVE: Sky Sports 1)
Everton v Middlesbrough
Manchester United v Wigan Athletic
Sheffield United v Manchester City
Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa, 1.00pm
Watford v Arsenal, 5.30pm (LIVE: Sky Sports 1)
West Ham United v Portsmouth, 1.00pm

Wednesday, 27th December
Charlton Athletic v Fulham, 8.00pm (LIVE: Sky Sports 1)

There's a lot to take on board here and of course teams' performances may change as the games are played. Here, I will briefly cover the games that are live on TV up to the 27th and follow up the later games after Christmas.

On the 23rd, there is a full programme of Premiership games due to the imminence of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Sky Sports takes a look at Alan Curbishley's first away game for West Ham after witnessing a famous home victory against Manchester United. The Hammers can be expected to fly from the traps here and I would be tempted by the odds of over 2/1 currently on offer at MANSION for a Hammers follow-up win.

Chelsea away to Wigan is on PremPlus later in the day. Chelsea are fast becoming 1-0 specialists and given the lack of value in the basic win odds (2/5), the 6/1 on offer for a Chelsea 1-0 win at Ladbrokes seems decent value for a small punt.

On Boxing Day Sky have a ringside seat at the return of Chelsea v Reading. You will recall that Chelsea left the first game at the Madejski Stadium minus two badly injured goalkeepers and Jose Mourinho was less than complimentary. It should make fascinating viewing. A home win looks likely but 1/5 is not attractive, so how about a bet on the spread betting bookings indexes! A red card or two would not be a total surprise if Mourinho winds his troops up! Ladbrokes also has a 4/6 quote on Chelsea winning both halves, which confident Blues might like.

Watford play Arsenal at Vicarage Road the same day before the cameras. This could be ugly fare unless Arsenal can get the ball down. It might not be to Arsene Wenger's men's liking but a Gunners win seems likely. Not every bookmaker is out with their prices yet but a guide price of 11/8 is available for Arsenal to win on the -1 handicap (ie, by 2 goals or more). Bet365 are usually good for wide choices on the handicaps.

Charlton have two games running on the TV, on 27th and 30th December against Fulham and Aston Villa respectively. The Addicks are in a state of disrepair currently and will do well to get draws from either game unless they recover some composure after the debacle against Wycombe Wanderers in midweek. If they get nothing from Middlesbrough on 23rd, a bet on Fulham to win on the 27th might prove decent value.

We will look at the games around the turn of the New Year in the next article.

Ed note: A free £100 Free Bet Basket is yours when you open a betting account at Bet365!

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