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MICHAEL OWEN’S GUIDE TO THE £1,000,000 MILLIONAIRE FREEPLAY6

MICHAEL OWEN’S GUIDE TO THE £1,000,000 MILLIONAIRE FREEPLAY6

Last week, I touched upon some unfathomable results at the top end of the Premier League table, but it seems that teams who were pencilled in for relegation not so long ago now want in on the act, too.

Watford have confounded many, including myself, and are up to seventh after their fifth win in seven games last weekend; Bournemouth are out of the drop zone after beating Chelsea and Man Utd in succession; and who could have predicted Newcastle’s defeats of Liverpool and Tottenham after their 5-1 humiliation at Crystal Palace?

It’s a mad league this season, that’s for sure, and the bookmakers must be laughing all the way to the bank with the succession of coupon-busters week-in, week-out.

Let’s hope it gets a bit easier from hereon in, as Colossus are launching their Millionaire FreePlay Pick 6 this week, and they are giving punters a free-to-play line every week. So take a look!

Here are my thoughts.

Everton v Leicester is first up in the Pick 6 and, for all of the Foxes’ heroics this season, I am going for the home side to win 2-1.

Everton are playing a good brand of football this season, and have generally impressed me.

But I do take the point on board the observation some have made of them, in that they have struggled badly against the better sides, and their best performances have come against the likes of Sunderland and Aston Villa. And they have only drawn their last three matches.

However, they have goals in them, and I think home advantage could be enough to inflict Leicester’s first away defeat of the season, and only their second in total after they became the latest side to put Chelsea to the sword on Monday night.

But I am sure there will be plenty willing to side with Leicester, and I can see why.

As I mentioned earlier, Tottenham getting beaten at home to Newcastle on Sunday was not on the menu for most punters. But I’d be inclined to give them that one poor performance, and I take them to win 2-0 at Southampton.

Southampton are without a win in their last four league matches, as well as a 6-1 home hammering to Liverpool in the Cup in between, and are struggling to score. So if Tottenham play to their potential, I can see them winning this game to nil.

It could be the turn of Aston Villa, winless since the opening day of the season, to cause a mini-shock by beating Newcastle at St James Park on Saturday evening. And they have shown glimpses of form under new manager Remi Garde with draws against Man City and Southampton.

But their overall form has been very poor and they leak too many goals, while scoring far too few – they have only netted 13 in 16 league games – and I have to fancy Newcastle to continue their mini-revival.

I wouldn’t get carried away by the Magpies just yet but they have shown more heart and belief in their last two matches than the rest of the season put together so I go 2-1 Newcastle.

Watford v Liverpool is a tricky one, given the home side have proved surprisingly solid this season, keeping seven clean sheets. And there have been only 12 goals in eight games at Vicarage Road this season.

So the logical thing would be to expect another low-scoring game, with Watford again proving hard to beat, especially with Liverpool not exactly firing on all cylinders in recent games.

But I can’t get out of my head how devastating Liverpool have been when on the road at times this season, and if they can break down the Hornets early then I wouldn’t rule out a comprehensive away win, even with Sturridge on the sidelines yet again.

I may be doing Watford a disservice, but they have lost three times at home, so I go 3-1 Liverpool.

Swansea are getting dragged into the relegation fight and the sacking of manager Garry Monk didn’t provide them with a short-term positive when they lost 2-1 at Man City last weekend, though to be fair it was City and the winner did come in injury time.

I wouldn’t rule out Swansea getting their first win since beating Aston Villa in October, especially as West Ham are without a win in five and have a big injury list, but I plump for 1-1.

The top two in the Premier League betting lock horns at the Emirates on Monday night, and Arsenal have a surprisingly good recent record against Man City.

Last season, they beat them 3-0 in the Community Shield, 2-0 at the Etihad, while drawing 2-2 in this fixture.

To be perfectly honest, neither of these sides have consistently convinced me this season – though they are probably the best two teams in the league on their day – and both have injury concerns.

So I am going for goals again and the sides sharing the points, with 2-2, or rather AOD, my preferred score line.

 

Get your £1,000,000 FreePlay selections in by 3pm Saturday and play now at Colossus Bets!