The English Premier League throws up a double opportunity for both the red and blue halves of Manchester this weekend.
With top four rivals Liverpool and Chelsea in EFL Cup final action on Sunday at Wembley Stadium, it’s a chance for Manchester City to extend their lead at the top of the EPL table.
United, meanwhile, can shore up their top four credentials with a home victory over ailing Watford on Saturday.
The Red Devils roared to a 4-2 Roses derby victory last weekend, giving a perfect boost to interim boss Ralph Rangnick and his men in their battle to secure Champions League football for next season.
Now it’s the Hornets who visit Old Trafford, sat firmly in the relegation zone despite the arrival of veteran coach Roy Hodgson.
City contest the Saturday evening kick off when they make the short north west hop to Everton.
Pep Guardiola’s side have left the door ajar for their hosts’ Merseyside rivals at the summit thanks to defeat last time out, but would restore a six-point advantage with victory at Goodison Park over Frank Lampard’s men.
It’s bubbling up just outside the top four on Sunday as well, with David Moyes’ West Ham going up against Wolves at the London Stadium.
Elsewhere on Saturday, the lunchtime kick off pits Leeds against Tottenham at Elland Road.
The pair are in wretched runs of form, Spurs’ stirring win at reigning champions City notwithstanding, with the Yorkshire side crumbling to become the leakiest defence in the competition in recent weeks.
Don’t stray too far form the bottom of the table if you’re looking for drama, either, as Brentford put their grim sequence of results to the test against resurgent Newcastle in west London.
Crystal Palace arrested their own alarming slide in midweek and will need more of the same when they welcome Burnley to Selhurst Park, with the Clarets winning back-to-back games to keep themselves firmly in the fight against relegation to the Championship.
The Friday night fixture sees Norwich’s increasingly desperate scramble for Premier League points continue, as they head to St Mary’s Stadium to face Southampton.
Brighton and Aston Villa complete the programme along the south coast on Saturday, with the out-of-form pair meeting at the Amex Stadium.
English Premier League predictions for 25 – 27 February
Prediction methodology explained: The expected win percentage is based off publicly available odds. For example, if a team’s odds are 2.30, the expected chance of winning is 43%. If the odds are 1.62 the expected chance of winning is 62% and so on. These are accurate at the time of writing but are subject to change. Where there is no value listed, the odds were not available at the time of writing.#
Chance of winning (%) | Usual win % with these odds | |
Southampton | 65.36 | |
Norwich | 16.67 | |
Leeds | 25 | 33 |
Tottenham | 52 | 50 |
Brentford | 41 | 75 |
Newcastle | 33 | 45 |
Brighton | 43 | 45 |
Aston Villa | 31 | 43 |
Crystal Palace | 52 | |
Burnley | 25 | |
Manchester United | 77 | 61 |
Watford | 11 | |
Everton | 10 | |
Manchester City | 78 | 79 |
West Ham | 49 | 52 |
Wolves | 26 | 55 |