This is an FA Cup weekend so there are far few league fixtures than usual, only four in total.
Saturday’s FA Cup tie sees Chelsea travel to Middlesbrough for a potentially tricky encounter with the remaining three matches taking place on Sunday seeing Crystal Palace host Everton, Southampton welcoming Manchester City and Nottingham Forest up against Liverpool.
19.03.22 – Middlesbrough vs Chelsea – FA Cup
Middlesbrough will be hoping that a sold out stadium will help create an intimidating atmosphere that can help them beat another top-flight team having already knocked out Manchester United and Tottenham in this competition this season.
They will be delighted to be back on home turf having played their last three matches away from home battling to keep their promotion hopes alive. League form can be put to the back of their minds for one afternoon as they focus on getting to the next round of the world’s most famous domestic cup competition. Chelsea will be on the road again having been playing away in France in the Champions League in midweek and will be hoping this away trip will also return a win, they will be confident of doing so as they won five out of seven of their domestic away matches in 2022 and they have won eight of their last matches against Boro whereas the home team have the unenviable record of playing more matches against Chelsea without getting a win than any other team, twenty in total.
Chelsea travel north as strong favourites, given a 71% chance of victory with the Championship side only given 14% chance of winning. There is a 58% chance of over 2.5 goals being scored.
20.03.22 – Tottenham vs West Ham – FA Cup
This encounter could prove to be pivotal when deciding the European places at the end of the season with both these teams still in the hunt for Champions League Football as they are equal on points and only two behind Manchester United and a further one point behind Arsenal.
Both these teams won their last matches, against Brighton and Aston Villa respectively but their recent form is somewhat unpredictable. The home team are understandably favourites although recent results show that home advantage is no guarantee of success with only four of the last ten encounters between these two the way of the home team. Harry Kane is once again a man very much in form so whether the West Ham defence can cope with him or not is likely to be key to the outcome of this match.
Tottenham are favourites to win this tricky London derby, given a 52% chance of success, with West Ham given a 25% chance of victory. Over 2.5 is slightly favoured at 55%.