iBet: Back Everton and Manchester City to win on Boxing Day

Premier League Boxing Day fixtures

Back Everton and Manchester City double, pay 5/4
Lay Aston Villa at 3.2 to one with Betfair
Back under 2.5 goals Stoke V Liverpool at 8/11 with Totesport

Everton are a genuine top six team these days with a chance of getting into the Champions League.

They have scored in all but one of their Premier League fixtures (Wigan have failed to score in a joint league highest seven games) and are unbeaten at Goodison in 12 league games. Wigan are on a bad run, having lost six of their last eight and conceded 17 in the process. David Moyes’ Everton are admittedly not the same going forward without Marouane Fellaine, who serves the second game of a three-match ban. But they found a way to win without him last time out and a price of 4/9 to win at home is back-able if teamed up with someone else on Boxing Day.

For me that’s Manchester City, who play a limited Sunderland outfit that has failed to win any of their nine games against teams in the top half. At Villa Park Spurs will not find things as easy as Chelsea did on Sunday when the Midlanders played a wide-open game for 90 minutes. You can see what Paul Lambert is trying to do and he’s definitely making progress, but Villa’s goal tally of 15 is the joint lowest in the top flight and I would expect the away side to at least get a draw.

Advices

No team in major European football has had more 0-0 draws than the five Stoke have had this season and it’s also interesting to note that four of the nine Premier League meetings between these sides have finished goalless. Stoke have only conceded three times at home all season in the league and it looks likely that their game against Liverpool will be tight, with ‘no goals’ a runner at 8-1.

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