Sunday’s Premier League slate carries that same late-season tension…a mix of teams chasing something meaningful, a relegation six-pointer, and a blockbuster rivalry which is sure to provide fireworks.
There’s no coasting at this point in the campaign. Every point matters, every mistake gets magnified, and even the most obvious outcomes rarely come without a bit of drama.
There’ll be moments of quality, a few questionable decisions, and almost certainly a goal that makes you wonder what on earth just happened.
Still, no need to get too clever with it. Trust the better sides, expect a bit of chaos, and hope it all lands your way.
Here are my picks for this Sunday’s Premier League action.
Aston Villa vs West Ham
Sunday, 22 March (10:15 am ET/ 14:15 GMT)
Aston Villa to win
Aston Villa at home have been about as reliable as it gets this season. They control games well, create plenty, and more often than not, find a way through.
West Ham can be awkward, especially on the counter, but they’ve also had a habit of drifting out of games. If Villa get on top early, this could look fairly comfortable.
It might not be a blowout, but Villa should have too much over 90 minutes.
Newcastle vs Sunderland
Sunday, 22 March (08:00 am ET/ 12:00 pm GMT)
Draw
Derby games don’t care about form, logic, or your parlay. This one will be scrappy, loud, and probably decided by chaos more than quality.
Newcastle were just spanked by Barcelona. Add to that Sunderland handing them a defeat earlier in the season, and they will definitely want to avoid defeat here.
Sunderland love nothing more than beating their rivals, so much so that they haven’t tasted defeat against them in the Premier League since 2011.
It might be a bit harder this time round, given the injury crisis they are currently faced with; you would be forgiven for backing Newcastle here.
However, they struggled to get up for the first game, and I can see that happening again, but I don’t think Sunderland will capitalise. I’ve gone for a draw here.
Tottenham vs Nottingham Forest
Sunday, 22 March (10:15 am ET/ 14:15 GMT)
Tottenham to win
A relegation six-pointer – never thought I’d be writing that at the start of the season.
Tottenham are the kind of team that can make a simple game feel unnecessarily stressful, and this has all the signs of one of those.
They will likely make hard work of this, but they actually showed signs of being a capable team against Atletico Madrid – well, in the second leg anyway.
Nottingham Forest won’t roll over here, but Spurs should have too much quality from them and have enough to get over the line.
If they can’t win relegation six-pointers like this, then I really would start panicking if I were a Spurs fan.
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