Share
25th December 2015
05:57pm GMT
Harry Kane during the Christmas fixtures is the best kind of Harry Kane.
The Spurs front man found himself in deadly form last Christmas and isn't exactly struggling for goals right now, having found the net on nine occasions already this season.
Norwich, meanwhile, are the most likely of the promoted teams to return straight back to life in the Championship and simply don't do clean sheets.
They leave plenty of gaps at the back and Kane's finishing is almost second to none so I'm expecting him to convert at least one of the chances that the Canaries are definitely going to serve up like a lovely drop of mulled wine.
"Ayew kidding me?" the more pun-obsessed cynics among you will be asking.
Well, no. We're actually going to pick a player from Aston Villa who seem determined to beat that Derby team's record low points tally.
But one man who is actually playing football at Villa Park is Jordan Ayew.
The Ghanaian has scored four goals in his last eight games which isn't exactly Vardy form but his return proves that he knows how to score a goal half the time.
And half the time is good enough for us to take a punt, especially against a West Ham side who have looked a different team sans Dimitri Payet.
Villa haven't won since the opening day of the season but they have to win sooner or later, don't they?
Don't get me wrong. I loves me a bit of Bournemouth.
You can't help but admire Eddie Howe's insistence on playing attacking football and we really do hope that they stay up come May.
The Cherries' manager demands an exciting brand of football and is beloved of his supporters for that reason but Crystal Palace are absolutely lethal on the road.
Palace have pacy wingers that run riot in away games as they absorb pressure and catch their opponents on the break and with the space that Bournemouth are inevitably going to leave, we think away goals are in the offing.
Zaha is one such tricky wide man that can punish the Cherries and he's got 44 points already this season, more than players like David Silva, Santi Cazorla and Cesc Fabregas who you probably have in your team.
Three players to sell
Taking nothing away from Simon Mignolet because he's a superb shot-stopper but you could pop six Neuers in nets and Leicester's Varhrez will still score.
Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez have 28 goals between them this season which has the Foxes top at Christmas.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have conceded seven goals in their last three Premier League games and those were against Newcastle, West Brom and Watford.
The honeymoon era has definitely ended for Jurgen Klopp and we'd be shocked if Mignolet is able to stop the Leicester powerhouse.
The Ayew household will be divided when they inevitably spend their Christmas night scrolling down the SportsJOE.ie homepage.
We're taking a risk by introducing Jordan Ayew to our side but brother Andre has been kicked to the kerb for a string of abject performances for Swansea.
The Swans are in real danger of going down, having won just three games all season, and seem rudderless now that Garry Monk has been sacked.
Andre Ayew had a terrific start to the season but he's only broken the 3-point mark one occasion since late October.
It's been fun Andre but we think the time is right for us to see other people right now.
This just feels wrong because we've championed Gerard Deulofeu all season and he's been a bit of an inconspicuous saviour in the Everton line-up while most people were banking on Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley.
But Everton feel like they're on a bit of a downslide as of late and haven't actually won a Premier League game in their last four attempts.
They come up against a reinvigorated Newcastle side who look a different team to the one that started the season by trying to rack up their 'goals against' tally.
Everton's gameplan is clear. They like to play through their centre-halves and give the ball to the wide men who can either fire a cross in to the towering Lukaku or cut back to the edge of the box where Barkley is typically lurking.
McClaren has done something at St James' Park and the Magpies aren't the guaranteed three points that they once were so we're reluctantly saying 'adios' to Deulofeu for the timebeing.Explore more on these topics:
