Hi Everyone

Here we are at the last round of Premier League matches before the mid-season break and the FIFA World Cup.

Matchday 16 sees ten matches over two days and with eight matches to be played on Saturday it feels like a football weekend from days gone by.

We start with the early kick off at the Etihad. Manchester City are looking irresistible at the moment and I’m going for them to roll right over Brentford with a very comfortable 4-0 win.

In the three o’clock kick offs I expect Everton to put their mid-week hammering at the hands of Bournemouth behind them and pick up all three points against the same team, in a 2-1 away win.

I also fancy Liverpool to beat Southampton 3-0 and Nottingham Forest to lose out in a close game at home to Crystal Palace. Despite their morale-boosting win against Spurs in mid-week, I just fancy Palace to have too much for Forest here and I’m going for 1-0 win to Patrick Viera’s men.

In the remaining three o’clock fixtures, I’m going for Tottenham to beat Leeds United 3-1 and West Ham to scrape home 1-0 at home to Leicester City.

The five thirty kick off on Saturday sees Newcastle United take on Chelsea at St James’ _Park. United fans will be loving life at the minute. Their team sits in a thoroughly deserved third place in the Premier League table and Eddie Howe is certainly showing what a top-drawer manager he is. This is a huge game for both teams, particularly in the battle for fourth spot and with Newcastle purring along at the minute and Chelsea still trying to adapt to Graham Potter’s style of play, I fancy Newcastle to go into the break with a comfortable 2-0 win.

The final game on Saturday sees Wolves entertain Arsenal at Molineux. Despite Wolves win against Leeds United in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday and Arsenal’s loss to Brighton, I think it will be business as usual this weekend. Wolves have appointed Julen Lopetegui as their new manager and I reckon it will be after the World Cup break before we see his stamp on the team. Meantime, I’m going for Arsenal to be sitting pretty at the top of the table while the World Cup is being played and fancy them to pick up all the three points with a 2-0 away win here.

And so onto Sunday and just two games to be played here.

First up is Brighton versus Aston Villa where I can see Brighton continuing their great run of form. Aston Villa are a little inconsistent at the minute and I reckon Brighton will take full advantage of that. It’s a tough one to call but I’m going for the Seagulls to record a 2-1 home win.

The final game of Matchday 16 is between Fulham and Manchester United. This is another one that’s difficult to predict as both teams are struggling for consistency and it’s hard to know which Manchester United team will turn up. They’ve had some big wins and some demoralising losses so far this season but for all that, I’m going for Erik Ten Hag to be the happier manager when the full-time whistle blows. I’m going for a squeaky 2-1 away win for the Red Devils in this one.

I’ll be back for Matchday 17 and all the Christmas fixtures but in the meantime I hope you all enjoy the Qatar World Cup and If you are considering a bet on any of the matches, go steady and remember that sometimes, your best bet is not to bet at all.