Premier League (Restart) Predictions, Week 30 (Kinda)

Welcome back to your Premier League predictions! It still feels surreal to say this, but we're back, having had a week's worth of football to tide us over.

With the compressed schedule the leagues are instituting in order for the 2020-2021 season to still be a thing, the matches and weeks butt up to each other in a way that makes it hard to distinguish where one has ended and the other has begun. Case in point, this game week technically started today with Leicester-Brighton and Tottenham-West Ham, two matches that likely would have been included in my preview had I remembered to do this last night. Oops.

I was probably too busy reeling from my rough re-introduction to the predictions game. Yes, my first venture back out after the long break went about as well as the year 2020 is going. Well, perhaps that’s not fair; I was spot on with my low-confidence 1-1 prediction for Leicester-Watford, and I did accurately predict Chelsea’s victory over Aston Villa. That said, I boffed the other matches, putting too much confidence in Liverpool and Manchester United to get wins in big matches, and putting inexplicable amounts of confidence in a disastrous Arsenal team. My 2.5/5 week gets me to a thoroughly unimpressive 64.5/104. Alas, no time for groveling, as matches have already begun again. Here are 4 for pseudo-Week 30!

Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Bournemouth

If you asked me whether I thought a matchup between these two teams would feature in my preview piece this late in the season, I would have laughed at you. But here we are: two teams with seemingly similar pedigrees, budgets, and sizes, have had vastly different seasons. While Wolves are tied for 5th place and fighting for Champions League contention (yes, Champions League!), Bournemouth now find themselves in the relegation zone. The Cherries have had a terrific stay in the Premier League, and it feels like they should be higher in the table than they are. Still, even when they need points, it’s hard to see them knocking off a swashbuckling Wolves side that also are desperate for points.

The Pick: Wolverhampton, 4-2

Manchester United vs. Sheffield United

Speaking of teams fighting for Champions League contention…just a couple matches ago, this would have been a massive showdown. But, since the restart, Sheffield United’s 1 point from 6 has left them in danger of slipping out of the race for qualification. The Blades have, of course, wildly overachieved this year, and in their pre-COVID form, I’d be tempted to say they’ll steal some points in this one. But it’s hard for me to see them suddenly regaining that form against a talented United side that seems to have fortune its side of late.

The Pick: Manchester United, 2-0

Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace

Despite being 20 points ahead with 8 matches left, and on pace to break the single-season points record for a Premier League season, it’s not all fun for Liverpool fans at the moment. They’ve only won 2 of their last 7 matches in all competitions, eliminating them from the Champions League and FA Cup, they now won’t be able to lift their long-awaited trophy in front of fans, and in their eagerly-anticipated Merseyside Derby, the Reds fell flat, failing to make much of their possession advantage and match their crosstown rivals’ desire to grit out the match. They'll likely be happy to have Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah back from missing the last match, and certainly to be in the friendly confines of Anfield, where they have not lost since spring of 2017. Granted, Anfield won't be filled with raucous fans, and the last team to beat them there was...you guessed it, Crystal Palace. The Eagles themselves have quietly climbed up the Premier League table to a not-so-distant 9th place, and have history of being a bogey team for Liverpool. That said, the Reds have not dropped points in consecutive matches all Premier League season, and I don't think that starts now, with the title within touching distance. Still, I'm considerably less confident in this pick than I would have been in mid-February.

The Pick: Liverpool, 2-1

Chelsea vs. Manchester City

Manchester City, the only team that can still mathematically catch Liverpool, will play a big part on when the Reds clinch the title (if they're going to). If Liverpool do beat Crystal Palace, then they can actually win the league if City do not win this blue-blood matchup. If City do win this, they extend the race until at least July 2nd, when both teams play their next match, which just happens to be against each other. I'm not sure Liverpool is really in City's sights much at this point (their manager openly campaigned for their rivals to be awarded the trophy if the season were to be cancelled due to COVID-19), but whatever is in their sights is working as motivation, as they've been unstoppable since the restart. The two-time defending champs have looked the part in 3-0 and 5-0 dismantlings of Arsenal and Burnley. Granted, on Thursday, they leave the Etihad Stadium for the first time in months, and also get a significant step up in the level of competition. Frank Lampard's young Chelsea side have had a solid season, and are surely Champions-League bound. Still, while their midfield and attack are good enough to trouble City-- the way it did back in November --I'd feel like a fool picking anything other than a Man City win these days.

The Pick: Manchester City, 3-1

Premier League (Restart) Predictions, Week 30 (Kinda)

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