English Premier League Predictions - Round 9

Simon Lewis

Editor

Last updated: 1 hour ago

Simon Lewis 1 hour ago

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Hull set to go down to Ipswich Town.
Goals to flow between Man City and Brighton.
Spurs and Palace to battle out a tight match.
Villa to beat off the challenge from visiting Fulham.

Man City to take on Brighton again after their midweek clash in the League Cup (Getty Images).

Hull v Ipswich

Hull could manage only a 1-1 draw with Brentford last Sunday and have now gone five league matches without victory. They also lost 1-0 to Fulham and 2-1 at Newcastle during that run. Ipswich drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest on Friday after a 3-2 defeat at Manchester City.

The visitors have been more decisive, beating Fulham and Crystal Palace in their last five outings. Both sides have been inconsistent in defence but Ipswich have shown the greater capacity to convert chances. A narrow away success is a reasonable value angle rather than a certainty.

Manchester City v Brighton

Both clubs suffered setbacks last weekend but their wider five-match records remain impressive. Manchester City lost 2-1 at Aston Villa after four straight wins including 3-2 against Ipswich, 3-0 at Liverpool and 5-3 against Sunderland. Brighton fell to a 2-0 defeat at Liverpool to end their four-match winning run that included a 5-0 demolition of Crystal Palace and a sensational 3-0 victory over Arsenal.

City retain the stronger home attack although Brighton have the movement and scoring potential to test them, as they showed against Arsenal. Rather than taking a relatively short home-win price the goals markets definitely offer greater value.

Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace

Tottenham have regained a degree of momentum by following their 3-1 home win over Coventry with an eye-catching 2-0 victory at Chelsea. Their five-game league sequence is two victories, two draws and one defeat which is a huge improvement to their form at the start of the season.

Crystal Palace are moving in the opposite direction after losing 2-0 to Newcastle and 5-0 to Brighton in successive outings. Their only win in their last five league matches was a 3-1 success against Nottingham Forest.

Spurs should be able to set the tempo at home although Palace can become dangerous in transition. A home victory is the likeliest outcome but the short outright price makes a more selective goals angle preferable.

Aston Villa v Fulham

Aston Villa arrive encouraged by a 2-1 victory over league leaders Manchester City after an away win at Newcastle and a 2-2 draw with Brentford. That makes three wins from their latest five league games, with their only defeat coming against Nottingham Forest.

Fulham have also enjoyed a pick-up in form after recording back-to-back 1-0 victories over Coventry and Hull. Their five-match runs has seen them notch up two wins, two draws and a defeat, while the tight recent scorelines suggest they will not surrender space easily.

Villa possess the greater attacking upside at Villa Park although Fulham have enough organisational strength to make this a competitive evening encounter.

Verdict

English Premier League

I'm backing wins for Ipswich and Aston Villa, a goal fest as Man City host Brighton for the second time in four days and a lack of goals as Spurs host Palace.

Aston Villa Win

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Simon is a talented sports writer in South Africa with a strong focus on cricket having played first-team level for UCT, including playing at two Universities Weeks.

From a young age Simon was an avid reader of cricket magazines and books, and went on to be Editor of The Googly, CricketScene SA and SA Cricket, in addition to being a Features Writer on SA Sports Illustrated.

He has interviewed most of South Africa's premier cricketers and was the first writer to interview a teenaged Jacques Kallis.

Simon has also written about English and local football, rugby and cricket, in addition to major international tennis and golf stars and competitions.

You can follow more from Simon at Muckrack, X and LinkedIn.