Saturday
Fixture: Bolton 0-2 Liverpool
Venue: Reebok Stadium (Bolton home)
Kick-off: 12.45pm GMT
Verdict: Liverpool should tie this one up by the thinnest of margins. Wins at Hull and against Man City have transformed Bolton's season. They hardly inspired at Hull, while Man City are over erratic. A defeat at Tottenham put a lot into perspective, and while Liverpool have suffered a nose bleed in recent weeks - their form has returned sharply.
Betting Advice: 4pts Liverpool win at 4/6 (1.67 at totesport)
Fixture: Arsenal 0-2 Aston Villa
Venue: Emirates Stadium (Arsenal home)
Kick-off: 3pm GMT
Verdict: So, Arsenal won in the Carling Cup and a misfiring Man Utd side succumbed at the Emirates, so everything must be OK again. Not so fast. This side has proved time and again that it lacks the killer instinct needed to win this . Aston Villa have been depressing when coming up against big teams, but there's no pressure here and they are still the best side outside top four.
Betting Advice: 2pts Aston Villa +1 on Asian Handicap at 41/40 (2.025 at Bet365)
Fixture: Blackburn 1-2 Sunderland
Venue: Ewood Park (Blackburn home)
Kick-off: 3pm GMT
Verdict: Three straight defeats have put Sunderland where I think they pretty much deserve to be this season - in the bottom three. While Blackburn have been patchy this season, they have improved without getting the results and now know that this is a must-win. And will win, for me.
Betting Advice: 4pts Blackburn win at 6/5 (2.2 at Paddy Power)
Fixture: Fulham 2-1 Tottenham
Venue: Craven Cottage (Fulham home)
Kick-off: 3pm GMT
Verdict: Fulham continue to look like relegation cattle, while Tottenham's recent resurgence has merit when you consider that on paper they are not a bad-looking team. Away win.
Betting Advice: 2pts Tottenham win at 11/8 (2.375 at extrabet)
Fixture: Man Utd 5-0 Stoke
Venue: Old Trafford (Man Utd home)
Kick-off: 3pm GMT
Verdict: The Red machine is not firing on all cylinders at the moment, although we can discount their scratchy 1-0 win over QPR in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night. With Stoke having shored up their defence quite neatly in the last month or so (just one goal (at Arsenal) against in the last four games), this is not going to be a walkover. A rather generous handicap could be the key to success here.
Betting Advice: 4pt Stoke +2.25 on Asian Handicap at 9/10 (1.9 at Bet365)
Fixture: Newcastle 2-2 Wigan
Venue: St James Park (Newcastle home)
Kick-off: 3pm GMT
Verdict: Wigan have chances at St James Park, but have hit a dip in form that they are working through with defensively-minded performances.
Betting Advice: no bet
Fixture: West Ham 0-0 Portsmouth
Venue: Boleyn Ground (WHam home)
Kick-off: 3pm GMT
Verdict: West Ham look like a team in trouble. Conceding goals late on - as they did against Everton last weekend - at home is a sure sign things are going badly. But Portsmouth are in just as big a quandary - particularly when you consider they have Tony 'Therapy' Adams in charge.
Betting Advice: no bet
Fixture: West Brom 0-3 Chelsea
Venue: Hawthorns (WBA home)
Kick-off: 5.30pm GMT
Verdict: Dramatically, I am going to make it three out of three for no bets thanks to the bookies stinginess in placing Chelsea as 1/3 favourites away from home.
Betting Advice: no bet
Sunday
Fixture: Everton 1-1 Middlesbrough
Venue: Goodison Park (Everton home)
Kick-off: 1.30pm GMT
Verdict: Everton should shade this, but Boro are playing incredibly well at the moment - although their win at Villa last weekend was more akin to Villa's mistakes than Boro's enterprise.
Betting Advice: no bet
Fixture: Hull 2-2 Manchester City
Venue: KC Stadium (Hull home)
Kick-off: 4pm GMT
Verdict: Once you get the black marker out, it just can't stop itself. Hull are a team on the way down, in my opinion, despite such a sterling effort to go down 4-3 at Old Trafford. Man City are my favourites to win this - but they are too erratic to put my money on. Avoid.
Betting Advice: no bet
