Manchester City v Aston Villa on Tuesday and Arsenal v Crystal Palace on Wednesday are the midweek English Premier League fixtures and we take a look at both games.
Prices from Sportingbet and others are correct at the time of publication but subject to change.
Man City 0.83/1 Draw 29/10 Villa 29/10 (Tuesday)
City come into this game in fifth spot, 1 point behind Newcastle and 2 behind third placed Forest. Looking over their shoulders Chelsea and Villa are just 1 point behind them and qualification for the UCL next season (top 5 good enough I believe) could well go to the wire.
City have won 3 and drawn 2 of their last 5 league games, most recently thrashing Palace 5-2 here and following up with a 2-0 win at Everton at the weekend.
Villa bounced back from a gallant UCL exit at the hands of PSG with a 4-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday, arguably their best EPL display of the season. That was a fifth straight win in the EPL which includes a 2-1 victory at home to Forest.
The first meeting this season saw City go down 2-1 at Villa Park in December.
The Verdict
Villa play Palace in the FA Cup semi finals on Saturday and City take on Forest in their semi final a day later but with only 3 points separating 5 sides looking for UCL football next season (any 3 plus Liverpool and almost certainly Arsenal) this is a huge game.
Whether rotation is a factor given what is stake won't be apparent until the team sheets become available which doesn't make an advance call any easier. I'll go with a couple of players to register a shot on target, Gvardiol for City and Onana (who came off the bench to score at the weekend so should start) for Villa
Bet: Player shots on target, Gvardiol 1 or more at 5/2 with Sportingbet
Player shots on target, Onana 1 or more at 9/4 with Sportingbet
Arsenal 0.42/1 Draw 36/10 Palace 6.75/1 (Wednesday)
With 5 rounds of matches to go Arsenal are 13 points behind Liverpool and 4 in front of third placed Forest. With a 9 point gap to sixth place Chelsea securing a top 5 finish is in touching distance and after this they have a free weekend before the first leg of their UCL semi final at home to PSG on the 29th April.
The Gunners coasted to a 4-0 win at Ipswich at the weekend and prior to that they finished the job in the UCL quarter finals away to Real Madrid with a 2-1 win on the night (5-1 on aggregate). They dropped points at home to Brentford in a 1-1 draw in their most recent home game when the visit to Madrid was probably on their minds.
Palace are 12th and have the FA Cup semi finals to look forward to. They drew 0-0 at home to Bournemouth at the weekend but the previous 2 matches saw them thrashed 5-0 at Newcastle and 5-2 at Man City. Earlier away form was very impressive and the cup run offers up excuses for those recent results.
Arsenal strolled to a 5-1 win when the teams met at Selhurst Park in December.
The Verdict
The Palace team sheet will be especially interesting but whether they rotate or not I'm with Trossard to repeat his feat at Ipswich last weekend with another goal here.
Bet: Anytime goalscorer Trossard at 1.95/1 with Sportingbet
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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