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Martin Laurence’s Pick 8 Preview

Martin Laurence runs through his selections for the weekend’s Pick 8 including Spurs’ visit to Old Trafford in the Saturday lunch time kick off..

Leeds vs Sheffield United – 1/X

It’s fourth vs third as gameweek 14 in the Championship begins with a bang on Friday night. Leeds returned to winning ways in impressive fashion away at Bristol City last weekend and will be hoping to inflict defeat on another in form side when Chris Wilder’s men visit Elland Road.

The Blades’ away form has been hit and miss in general, and it’s worth considering two of their three wins on the road have come against the bottom two. I’m betting against a fourth in this one as a result but could easily see the visitors frustrating Christensen’s men.

 

Manchester United vs Tottenham – X2

While these two sides are level on points behind City at the top there’s little doubt which is entering Saturday’s encounter in stronger form. Mourinho’s men shut up shop at Anfield, got lucky in Lisbon and lost to Huddersfield before salvaging some pride in midweek, but without Pogba they’ve lacked drive.

It’s the opposite for Spurs, who tore Liverpool apart last weekend but won’t be able to play in the same manner at Old Trafford. It would be no shock to see the Red Devils play for a point once more, guarding against their visitors’ threat on the counter, but I think Tottenham could break through where Klopp’s men failed.

 

Sheffield Wednesday vs Barnsley – 1

It’s been a desperately disappointing start for Wednesday, who’ve lost four of their last five and will be relieved to return to Hillsborough. Barnsley are also languishing in the bottom half but aren’t really doing worse than expected and are a tough team to predict having not strung any run of results together, be that positive or negative thus far.

The Tykes picked up their first away win in their last outing at Millwall but should be no match for The Owls, who I’m backing to record a fourth home win in five on Saturday.

 

West Bromwich Albion vs Manchester City – 2

Without wanting to jinx anything this is surely the most predictable game on the ticket, with Manchester City soaring while the Baggies sink. The hosts’ run of seven league matches without a win is more than twice that of any other Premier League side at present and things look like getting worse before they get better this weekend.

The Hawthorns isn’t the tough place to go that it once was and City haven’t struggled by any stretch in this fixture either, scoring 13 times across their last four league visits. That tally should increase significantly on Saturday.

 

Crystal Palace vs West Ham – 1X2

Right in the middle of the ticket, this is the real banana skin between two sides in desperate need of the points. Palace are rock bottom and were humiliated by Bristol City in midweek but are a different proposition altogether with Zaha involved, and he could wreak havoc against a pretty dire Hammers defence.

Defeat here could spell the end for Slaven Bilic, meanwhile, with West Ham yet to win away from home. This could easily be their first but it’s most likely to be a scrappy affair that could go either way.

 

Watford vs Stoke – 1

On the topic of managers under pressure, the Stoke hot seat is getting ever hotter for Mark Hughes right now, while his opposite number is sitting pretty by comparison. Watford may have lost at Chelsea last time out but in many ways their performance was better than that in the win over Arsenal and they’re looking a real threat in attack.

The Hornets are far from tight at the back themselves but should have too much for the league’s leakiest defence to potentially plunge the Potters into the drop zone.

 

Bournemouth vs Chelsea – X2

One of the matches here that could throw up a surprise, Bournemouth put in a much improved performance at Stoke and look like climbing the table after a woeful start. The Blues, meanwhile, were far from convincing in victory over Watford and will undoubtedly have one eye on a trip to Rome next week.

That said, the champions have enjoyed picking off the Cherries in recent meetings, scoring ten in the last three, and Howe’s defence have kept just one clean sheet all season. I’m predicting goals at both ends and perhaps a valuable point for the home side.

 

Hull vs Nottingham Forest – 1

Leonid Slutskiy’s side return to the KCOM off the back of a first away win of the season and will have designs on a play-off push yet after an inconsistent start. The Tigers have scored more goals at home than any other Championship side so will relish the visit of a Forest team that has shipped 21 across 13 matches.

Warburton’s men picked up a valuable win over Burton last time out but Hull are a far stronger outfit and should inflict a third consecutive away defeat on their visitors.

 

 

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