Manchester City v Manchester United (1.30pm)
TV: Sky Sports 1
Betting: 13/10 (home), 12/5 (draw), 21/10 (away).
Injured: Man United – Anderson and Shinji Kagawa.
Doubtful: Man City – David Silva, James Milner and Gael Clichy. Man United – Nemanja Vidic.
Alex Ferguson started the mind games early in the week, pointing to the unusual amount of penalties that City have received in recent times.
Mancini, on the other hand, has seemingly kept a diplomatic silence, preferring to focus on his own side.
City arguably go into the game as slight underdogs, given their inferior form this season, coupled with their poor head-to-head record against United – they’ve only won seven of the teams’ past 30 encounters.
Still though, home advantage and the expected return of David Silva should be enough to earn them a draw.
Verdict: draw
Everton v Tottenham (3pm)
Betting: 11/10 (home), 23/10 (draw), 13/5 (away).
Injured: Everton – Victor Anichebe and Phil Neville. Tottenham – Scott Parker and Benoit Assou-Ekotto.
Doubtful: Everton – Kevin Mirallas and Seamus Coleman. Tottenham – Gareth Bale and Michael Dawson.
An intriguing game featuring two sporadically brilliant but often inconsistent sides.
Moreover, both teams have been at their best in the league most recently, with Everton earning a highly respectable 1-1 draw away to Man City and Tottenham beating West Ham 3-1.
In addition, both sides are likely to be missing big players in the form of Gareth Bale and Seamus Coleman respectively.
The odds are against Tottenham in many ways, as they haven’t won at Goodison Park since 2007, and Everton have only lost two out of their last 24 Premier League matches.
However, Spurs’ excellent recent form means they have a good chance of reversing the aforementioned trends.
Verdict: Tottenham
West Ham v Liverpool (4pm)
TV: Sky Sports 1
Injured: West Ham – Andy Carroll, Ricardo Vaz Te, Jack Collison and Alou Diarra.
Doubtful: West Ham – George McCartney and Yossi Benayoun.
Suspended: Liverpool – Luis Suarez.
Another game in which the outcome is hard to predict, as West Ham showed what they’re capable of by beating Chelsea at home last week.
Liverpool, though, have also been quite impressive of late, and are slowly but surely improving, following a dreadful start to the season.
Still though, Rodgers’ side have only managed to win five of their 15 games so far this campaign, and are in dire need of a win today if they are hoping to challenge for a European spot come the end of season run-in.
The Hammers, as good as they were last week, have yet to win back-to-back games in the league, and don’t expect that to change this afternoon.
Verdict: draw
