After what seems like forever, The Premier League is back with 10 interesting match ups over the next three days. Having crashed out of Europe, Jose Mourinho has eyes only on the Premier League but they face a tricky test against Southampton. Their title rivals Man City travel to struggling Burnley and it should be a routine three points for the Champions. The pick of games is in the big battle for the top four as inconsistent Manchester United play the in form Tottenham Hotspur.

Crystal Palace v QPR

Despite their mini revival under Alan Pardew, Crystal Palace have won just one of their last seven Premier League home games and they host QPR who haven’t lost to the Eagles in the their last seven games. However, QPR have a dismal record away from home, having won just one of their last 18 games away from Loftus Road.

Glenn Murray has scored three goals in his last two premier league appearances and is in with a good chance of adding to that this weekend given QPR have allowed their opponents more shots on target this season that any other Premier League team.

Matthew Phillips at just 4.6m should be a consideration as a 5^th choice midfielder for your FPL teams. He has four assists in his last four games. Bargain.

Prediction: 1-0

Arsenal v West Ham

Another all London tie sees Arsenal host a faltering West Ham but with Monaco in midweek, there’s a chance Wenger could tinker with his squad. The Ox has been particularly impressive in his last couple of appearances but in terms of FPL he is one of those annoying players that is spectacular on the pitch but doesn’t seem to get the goals or the assists. Often the assist to the assist. However, one man that cannot be ignored for FPL reasons is Giroud. He now has eight goals in his last ten Premier League starts. He could be one that is rested at the weekend with Sanchez or Walcott playing up top.

Interesting stat; West Ham have scored the most headed goals this term whilst Arsenal have conceded the 3^rd most headed goals. Look out for Sahko and any of their centre halves to grab a goal. I expect Arsenal to make it eight home wins on the bounce.

Prediction: 2-1

Leicester v Hull

The Tigers have failed to score in seven of their last ten away Premier League matches however in N’Doye they have a striker that cannot stop scoring, having found the back of the net on all three of his starts since signing in January.

Leicester have score just three goals in their last eight Premier League games at the King Power stadium and therefore I expect this to be a low-scoring affair.

Prediction: 0-0

Sunderland v Aston Villa

Two great results again rivals WBA and the ever so arrogant Tim Sherwood is the pride of Villa right now. He has a great chance to enhance that reputation further when his side travels to Sunderland who have won just two of their last 15 games at the Stadium of Light.  In Agbonlahor, Weimann, Sinclair & Benteke, Villa do have goals in them but they just couldn’t click under Lambert. However, I think Sherwood will keep them up through utilizing his flair players in an attacking formation and mentality with Benteke the focal point.

Prediction: 0-1

WBA v Stoke

Tony Pulis faces his former club who are enjoying a rich vein of form and find themselves in the dizzy heights of 8^th place this season. I’m not sure how March Hughes has done it, as I don’t particularly like any of their players so he deserves a lot of credit for the job he has done.

The initial buzz around Pulis joining WBA may well have died down after successive defeats to rivals Aston Villa. The way Pulis sets up his teams, he’s never going to take a team into the top 8 like Hughes has done at Stoke but he will keep teams in the league and that is all WBA fans will want this season. Time will tell how long it is before they become frustrated at his tactics.

Prediction: 1-1

Burnley v Man City 

With a huge game against Barcelona in midweek, Pelligrini will be looking for a simple, straightforward three points and take off his star players after the hour. However, Man City won’t forget they were cruising 2-0 against Burnley in December only for the latter to come back to draw 2-2 at the Etihad.

Burnley will sit back and try to frustrate the champions and the longer it goes on the more anxious City will get. Players may well have their eyes on the Catalan Giants and not go all out into tackles in order to avoid injury. However, on their day Man City can be unplayable and I expect a win to nil given The Clarets have scored just 13 goals in 14 home games this season.

Prediction: 0-3

Chelsea v Southampton

Chelsea were very poor in midweek as they crashed out of Europe to 10-man PSG. They looked tired and lethargic which could be the result of Mourinho’s unwillingness to rotate his players.  They will need to be back to their best on Sunday as Southampton are a hard team to break down.  The Saints are well organised and disciplined at the back but have found it hard at the other end of the pitch recently. There best goal threat comes from Saido Mane who has scored fives times in his last seven Premier League starts.  In the first half of the season Cesc Fabregas was an FPL essential, however history shows that the Spaniard is always in his best form in the first half of the season before slipping away into averageness. This could also affect Costa who has relied on Fabregas this season to make goal-scoring easy and I have a feeling that Chelsea will rely heavily on Eden Hazard for the rest of the season given he can and often does, do everything all on his own.

Prediction: 2-0

Everton v Newcastle

Two sides languishing in the bottom half of the table and flirting with the relegation zone meet at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon with Everton looking to avenge their 3-2 defeat to the Magpies back in December.  Newcastle have won just one of their last eight Premier League games and without top scorer Papiss Cisse for the next seven games they really could find themselves dangerously close to the drop zone come the end of the season.  However, they will be boosted by the return of skillful wing wizard Remy Cabella who has looked much better under Carver than he did for Pardew and is the flair Newcastle need if they are to score some goals. Ayoze Perez could well be pushed out of the 10 role and into Cisse’s position as £6m man Riviere cannot be trusted to lead the line given he is yet to score in the Premier League this season.

Everton came through a battling European tie with Dynamo Kiev on Thursday so this is a good chance for Newcastle to pick up a must needed three points, especially given The Toffees have won just four of their last 16 home Premier League ties.

Prediction: 2-1

Man Utd v Spurs

In the battle for the top four I think it could be the Mighty Man United that miss out again as LVG continues to struggling to get his star-studded squad to perform on the pitch. They will find it tough again on Sunday as they face an in-from Tottenham who are unbeaten in their last five outings against the Red Devils.

Spurs have kept just one clean sheet in their last 12 away games and captain Wayne Rooney will be on red alert to this given he has scored seven in his last eight against them. LVG must be a little embarrassed by his experiment with Rooney in midfield given how since being restored in his natural position he has been banging them in. Di Maria will miss the game on Sunday and therefore United lose their most creative asset. Another change in formation could be coming and I think that spells danger for the Old Trafford hopeful.

Nacer Chadli is back in the starting 11 after a run on the bench and he is back to goal scoring form. The Belgian has been in devastating form this season and at 2.2m cheaper than Eriksen, he is my pick of Spurs midfielders. Both Harry Kane & Danny Rose will rise in price tonight. 

Prediction: 0-2

Swansea v Liverpool

The return of Monday Night Football sees the return of Brendan Rodgers to the Liberty Stadium and he will expect his team to pick up all three points given they are the most in-form team in Europe right now. This just signifies the importance of Daniel Sturridge to Liverpool, who will be feared by the Swans given he has four goals in just three appearances against them. Player of the year contender Phillipe Coutinho continues to dazzle, earning himself a call up the to the Brazil national squad, whilst Sterling is quietly adding up those assists. The Swans have struggled to score since target man Bony left for the Etihad and they will be up against it again on Monday night as Liverpool have kept five clean sheets in a row away from home.

Prediction: 0-2