Premier League Week 33 Fixtures: EPL Picks and Predictions
Tottenham Hotspur can apply major pressure on Chelsea in the Premier League title race by beating Bournemouth at White Hart Lane on Saturday. Spurs can reduce the gap at the top to four points by winning the first of Week 33's fixtures.
A Tottenham victory would turn up the heat on Chelsea ahead of Sunday's trip to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United and former manager Jose Mourinho. United need the points in their pursuit of a top-four finish. It's a pursuit set to gather pace this week as rivals Liverpool and Manchester City both face tricky away fixtures.
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Meanwhile, Arsenal are just trying to cling on in their bid to secure UEFA Champions League football for next season. The Gunners can rebound from Monday's humiliating 3-0 defeat at Crystal Palace on Monday by beating goal-shy relegation candidates Middlesbrough in this week's final fixture.
Here are the fixtures for Week 33, along with picks and predictions:
| Date | Time (BST/ET) | Match | Pick | Prediction |
| Saturday, April 15 | 12:30 p.m./7:30 a.m. | Tottenham Hotspur vs. Bournemouth | Spurs | 3-1 |
| Saturday, April 15 | 3 p.m./10 a.m. | Crystal Palace vs. Leicester City | Palace | 2-1 |
| Saturday, April 15 | 3 p.m./10 a.m. | Everton vs. Burnley | Everton | 2-0 |
| Saturday, April 15 | 3 p.m./10 a.m. | Stoke City vs. Hull City | Draw | 2-2 |
| Saturday, April 15 | 3 p.m./10 a.m. | Sunderland vs. West Ham United | Draw | 1-1 |
| Saturday, April 15 | 3 p.m./10 a.m. | Watford vs. Swansea City | Watford | 1-0 |
| Saturday, April 15 | 5:30 p.m./12:30 p.m. | Southampton vs. Manchester City | Draw | 2-2 |
| Sunday, April 16 | 1:30 p.m./8:30 a.m. | West Bromwich Albion vs. Liverpool | West Brom | 2-1 |
| Sunday, April 16 | 4 p.m./11 a.m. | Manchester United vs. Chelsea | United | 2-1 |
| Monday, April 17 | 8 p.m./3 p.m. | Middlesbrough vs. Arsenal | Arsenal | 0-2 |
Middlesbrough vs. Arsenal
The pressure has reached boiling point on beleaguered Gunners boss Arsene Wenger after the humbling against Palace. Wenger, whose contract expires this summer, faces the challenge of motivating a frail squad seemingly bereft of fight amid the backdrop of increasingly fierce fan protests.
Wenger's first task has to be toughening up the spine of his team. Seeing goalkeeper Petr Cech and centre-back Laurent Koscielny return from injury would help, although there is no word yet on whether the pair will play.
The Daily Telegraph's Jeremy Wilson has also pinpointed two other ways Wenger can solidify his wounded group. The first involves restoring Per Mertesacker, who has missed most of the season with injury, to the defence: "Not only might he stand up aerially to strikers like Benteke, but his leadership and general presence would enhance Arsenal."
Mertesacker would certainly be useful against a physical Boro forward line defined by size and power in the air. The German would stand up to Rudy Gestede and Alvaro Negredo.
Putting Mertesacker in would help the back four, but Wenger also needs to fine tune an inconsistent attack that drew blanks against Palace. It would help if he moved misfiring Danny Welbeck out of the centre-forward spot, per Wilson: "Welbeck is more effective out wide, and either (Alexis) Sanchez or (Olivier) Giroud should be the first option through the centre."
Such tweaks probably won't be enough to salvage Arsenal's fast-fading top-four hopes. Yet they would be enough to at least make Wenger's Gunners tougher to beat.
If Arsenal can avoid costly defensive gaffes for the first 30 minutes, they'll steadily overwhelm goal-shy Middlesbrough.
Chelsea vs. Manchester United
Mourinho's last league game against his former club didn't go so well, a 4-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge on October. However, it was United's last defeat in the Premier League, even if a frustrating habit for drawing matches at home has blighted the Red Devils somewhat since.
Yet there are reasons to believe United are better equipped to force a stumble from the Blues in the title race. For one thing, not only have Mourinho's men mastered being tough to break down, but United have their match-winners back and firing for this pivotal game. Another is that they lost only 1-0 to Chelsea in a FA Cup quarter-final a month ago.
In particular, prolific centre-forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic and cultured schemer Henrik Mkhitaryan have both been back among the goals recently. The pair were on the scoresheet during United's 3-0 win at Sunderland last time out in the league.
Speaking of goals, Diego Costa is being tipped to provide them for the league leaders. Despite Costa not scoring in four consecutive league matches, Marcos Alonso believes the former Atletico Madrid man is ready to return to form, per Simon Johnson of the London Evening Standard: "Is he a big-game player? Yes. Manchester United is going to be a tough game for us but it doesn’t matter who scores; hopefully we will get the three points."
An on-form Costa could take advantage of a United squad stretched by commitments in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday against Anderlecht in Brussels. However, momentum is with the Red Devils, and Ibrahimovic and Mkhitaryan appear primed to do Spurs a massive favour in the title race.
Tottenham Hotspur vs. Bournemouth
Tottenham will have already done their bit to keep the race interesting by cutting the gap after overpowering Bournemouth. Having marquee centre-forward Harry Kane back is only going to make an already red-hot team even more potent.
Kane came off the bench during the second half of Saturday's 4-0 win over Watford after a lengthy spell out injured. Now Spurs' No. 10 can add his perceptive movement and awesome shooting power to the pace of Heung-Min Son and the flair of Dele Alli.
This trio will prove too much for the always-competitive Cherries.
Spurs will make the fight for the title more competitive than it's been for months. Chelsea could make a statement by winning at Old Trafford, but it seems more likely this is the week the Blues wobble.
