Sport
Dave Tindall’s Pick 4 Preview
Man Utd v Southampton
United have only managed more than two goals in a home game once in their last eight starts at Old Trafford so their fans may have to stay patient.
Southampton had been pretty tight on the road until shipping five against Spurs and only conceded twice to runaway leaders Man City at the Etihad.
Saints have actually won this fixture twice in the last three seasons but until Mauricio Pellegrino can spend some of the Virgil van Dijk money, their struggles look likely to continue. I’m going for a fairly routine United win with 2-0 the starting point.
Prediction: 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1
Bristol City v Wolves
It’s second plays first in the Championship and the hosts should relish the challenge having beaten Man Utd 2-1 on their last Ashton Gate outing, a result which took them into the last four of the League Cup.
City have won five of their last six at home, with four of those ending 2-1 so that certainly has to be a potential scoreline.
Wolves have won 8 of 12 on the road (two defeats) but they’ve scored once, twice or fired blanks in all their away games since September so we shouldn’t expect them to go goal-crazy.
A draw, or narrow win for either side seems to make plenty of sense.
Prediction: 2-1, 1-1, 1-2
Verona v Juventus
Make that eight clean sheets for Juve now after they beat Roma 1-0 on Saturday, a result we went for in last week’s column.
Verona beat AC Milan 3-0 a couple of weeks ago but the Rossoneri are languishing in 11th spot. A better guide is Verona’s home games against other top five sides and they show a 3-1 loss to Napoli, a 2-1 reverse to Inter and a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Lazio.
Juventus look likely to make it seven away wins out of nine so the only real decision is whether we give Verona a goal. I’ll hedge a little.
Prediction: 0-2, 0-3, 1-3
Crystal Palace v Man City
After Newcastle’s anti-football restricted Man City to a 1-0 win on Wednesday night, Pep Guardiola’s men should find much more space at Selhurst Park as they bid to make it 19 straight Premier League victories.
Palace shipped three at home to Arsenal on Thursday and Bournemouth, Everton and West Ham have all scored twice there since Roy Hodgson took over.
City remain peerless and covering Other Away Win (OAW) is the way to go. The leaders have already beaten Palace 5-0 at the Etihad this season and if Arsenal can score three at Selhurst Park, City can beat that.
Prediction: OAW
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