Preview of Premier League Game Week 26

Another exciting round of football is on the cards as Premier League Game Week 26 approaches.

Big clashes such as Chelsea hosting Manchester United at the Bridge and Arsenal’s outing against Leicester City obviously catches the eye.

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Oladipupo Mojeed brings us a preview and his predictions for the fixtures in Premier League Game Week 26.

Manchester City vs West Ham United

Pep Guardiola’s men seem to be running away with the title with 10 points clear at the top of the league. There is a decent chance that they can extend that lead with Leicester facing Arsenal and Chelsea hosting Manchester United.

However, City first needs to win here and they can expect a really tough game against an in-form West Ham.

West Ham head into the weekend in fourth place after last weekend’s derby win over Tottenham. The Hammers have remarkably won seven of their last nine matches.

Unbeaten in their last 17 league games and with a 13-match unbeaten run, it doesn’t look likely that any team can stop Pep Guardiola’s winning machine from reclaiming the Premier League title this season.

After some recent heavy defeats at the hands of City, West Ham managed a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture back in October.

It will however be more impressive this time if they’re to manage to get a positive result on Saturday.

West Bromwich Albion vs Brighton & Hove Albion

West Brom have drawn their last two and three of their last five but desperately need wins to avoid relegation this season. The Baggies have only won twice in the league all season.

Brighton remarkably lost 2-1 to Crystal Palace on Monday despite dominating the entire match. They restricted Palace to just two touches in their penalty area but the Eagles incredibly scored from both, including right at the death to win the game.

Brighton has looked good in most of their matches this season but has constantly been let down by poor finishing. If they had a striker that could find the back of the net consistently, their league position would look much better. Instead, they are four points and two places above the relegation zone.

The away side will most likely dominate this fixture but it won’t be at all surprising if the match ends in a draw for the fourth game running.

Leeds United vs Aston Villa

Leeds rode their luck early on against Southampton but eventually ran out 3-0 winners on Tuesday night. Raphinha and Patrick Bamford have been in great form recently.

Aston Villa slipped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Leicester last weekend in the absence of captain Jack Grealish. The game was set and done after 23 minutes when the Foxes went 2-0 up and the Villains’ efforts only resulted in them halving the deficit.

Looking ahead to this fixture, it’s difficult to back Aston Villa to get a victory especially if Jack Grealish remains unavailable for this encounter as expected.

However, he didn’t make a difference in the reverse fixture when Villa lost 3-0 at home to Leeds, with Patrick Bamford scoring a hat-trick. Moreover, Villa haven’t won at Elland Road in their last six attempts.

Newcastle United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Newcastle deserved more than a 3-1 defeat with their performances against Manchester United last weekend. Steve Bruce’s side performed better than expected, especially with the absence of Callum Wilson.

Wolves have won back-to-back matches for the first time since October. Nuno’s side is actually unbeaten in their last four in the league (W3, D1).

But they are still struggling for goals which is expected due to the absence of Raul Jimenez. In fact, seven of their nine league wins this season have come by a one-goal margin.

The last four meetings between the two sides have ended 1-1 and a repeat here certainly won’t be a surprise.

Crystal Palace vs Fulham

Crystal Palace were undeserved winners against Brighton on Monday but Roy Hodgson won’t care. His side had two touches in the Brighton penalty area all game and scored from both to secure three points. The Eagles are 10 points clear of the drop and won without Wilfred Zaha.

Fulham are now unbeaten in four league matches and have won twice in that time. They head into the weekend only three points from safety but that gap could be bigger by the time they face Palace on Sunday.

Despite such a poor league position, Fulham are impressively unbeaten in their last six away league games. The only problem is that they have drawn five of those matches.

Palace have won the last three Premier League encounters between the two sides but Fulham are at least in the right form to put an end to that run.

Leicester City Vs Arsenal

Leicester’s 2-0 defeat to Slavia Prague ended a six-game unbeaten run. Each of Leicester’s last three defeats has come at home.

Arsenal left it late but beat Benfica 3-2 to advance to the next round of the Europa League on Thursday.

Remarkably 15 points clear of Arsenal, Leicester are favourites for this one and will hope to capitalize on the fact that Arsenal had to play their ‘home’ leg against Benfica in Greece on Thursday.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Burnley

Tottenham eased into the next round of the Europa League, securing an 8-1 aggregate win over Wolfsberger. A 2-1 defeat at West Ham on Sunday, however, means they have lost five of their last six league outings.

Burnley were held to a goalless draw by West Brom over the weekend to extend their unbeaten run to four matches.

However, the Clarets have won only one of their last six Premier League games, but have secured all three points in two of their last three away matches.

Spurs may be on a poor run domestically, but with a fine home record against Burnley, this one could end in a repeat of the reverse fixture that saw Son Heung-Min strike late on to earn a 1-0 win at Turf Moor.

Chelsea vs Manchester United

Thomas Tuchel earned his biggest victory as Chelsea manager in midweek as the Blues picked up a hugely impressive 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid.

Tuchel has won six and drawn two of his first eight games in charge of Chelsea, with six clean sheets in that time.

Manchester United drew 0-0 with Real Sociedad on Thursday but were already through to the next round of the Europa League after a 4-0 first leg win. United are the only side in Europe’s top five leagues yet to taste defeat away from home this season.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Tuchel have met four times as manager and neither has ever won their home games. United twice won away to Tuchel’s Paris Saint-Germain and Solskjaer lost both home games against the Parisiens. So, who will win this Premier League game week 26 encounter?

Even though United are remarkably unbeaten away from home in the Premier League for over a year, you get the sense Chelsea are favourites heading into this one, particularly as Solskjaer is without some key central midfielders.

Sheffield United vs Liverpool

After signs of a resurgence, Sheffield United has lost three in a row and are 14 points from safety with a maximum of 39 left to play for.

Liverpool’s tough run continued last weekend as they lost a Merseyside derby at Anfield for the first time since 1999.

Sheffield United (9) have remarkably picked up more points than Liverpool (7) in the Premier League in 2021.

Liverpool have lost four Premier League matches in a row for the second time in their history, and first since 2002. They haven’t lost five league games in a row since 1953. Surely that won’t happen here. Or will it?

Everton vs Southampton

Everton will be riding high on last weekend’s win against Liverpool.

Southampton started brightly against Leeds but ended up being defeated fairly convincingly. They are still looking for consistency since their humiliating 9-0 loss to Manchester United. They’ve won of just five since then but did draw 1-1 with Chelsea in that run.

It would be typical of Everton to follow up a derby win with dropped points against a struggling Southampton side. Surely an away win in this Premier League Game Week 26 encounter is off the cards, as they’ve not won any of their last six at Goodison Park. It will be interesting if things turn out differently.