Meeeerrrrryyyy Chriiissttmassss!!! What’s the best part of Christmas? NBA games? Nope. NFL games? Nope. Christmas morning mimosas? Well, maybe. But the real gem of the Christmas season is celebrating another country’s useless holiday as an excuse to have a bunch of soccer games on one day. What is Boxing Day? I have absolutely no clue and honestly I could care less because it means the Premier League comes in full force the day after Christmas. That’s good enough for me!
As a quick recap, Messi absolutely pantsed Real Madrid and set 5 different records in the process. A goal and an assist for the little magic man has now put a 14 point lead over Real Madrid who sit in 4th place, while the rest of the top 4 lost. Barcelona have now been gifted the title by Christmas.
So I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas, and if you have to go to work on the 26th like me, I’m dearly sorry. Let’s jump right into it like Santa’s dangerous dive down the chimney.
Weekend’s Record: 6-4-2
All-time Record: 143-125-30 (yet to have a losing total record… nbd)
Tuesday:
7:30am
Southampton @ Tottenham (-1.5) – Spurs are beginning to find their form and after Kane’s hat trick performance, they don’t seem to be slowing down. He’s one goal behind Messi for most goals in this calendar year.
10:00am
Burnley (+1.5) @ Manchester United – United showed that they just aren’t good enough sometimes to run through teams and get 3 points. After being up 2-1 and a man up on Leicester, they played lazy defense and pompous football and let up a last-second equalizer. Mourinho has to get his squad more disciplined or else they may fall off the pace behind Man City and even the top 4.
Leicester City (Pick -105) @ Watford – After Watford’s brilliant start, they find themselves winless in their last 6 matches. I’ve been saying don’t sleep on Watford, but it seems like they’ve slept on themselves. I don’t like where Watford is right now with their injuries and suspensions, take Leicester and the momentum after the big draw against Man U.
West Ham @ Bournemouth (Pick -110) – I hate picking either of these teams, as they are the definition of trash. Always side with the Home Pickem when you don’t want to decide though.
Stoke City @ Huddersfield (Pick -125) – Huddersfield haven’t lost a game at home against non-top 6 sides this season, and have actually fared pretty well overall at home. Stoke are prone to big losses and have only won 1 match away from home all year.
Everton (Pick +105) @ West Brom – After winning their first two league matches, West Brom haven’t won since. That’s cheeks and Everton are back baby.
Brighton @ Chelsea (-2) – I wanted to take the points with Brighton, but out of their matches against the Top 6 clubs, only one of them has been a loss by less than two goals. Do the math, Chelsea are favored by two. Easy enough.
12:30pm
Swansea City (+2) @ Liverpool – Since Liverpool’s stretch of big wins a few weeks ago, they have only won 1 match and drew 3 others. This is the dumbest thing I may have ever done, but Swansea are in desperation mode being in dead last so fuggit.
Wednesday
2:45pm
Manchester City (-2) @ Newcastle United – You guys should know the drill at this point, City have an insane 13 point lead over Trashchester United (Man U) by Christmas. That is unheard of and they have yet to slow down. It’s gotten so crazy that if City isn’t up by the 20th minute, City fans (including myself) start to get restless. Come On City!!
Thursday
3:00pm
Arsenal (-135) @ Crystal Palace – Oddly enough these two teams have had the exact same record in the last 5 matches, in the exact same order (D-W-W-D-D). I don’t know what that means, but it’s gotta mean something. Take the higher-quality side in this one (which would be Arsenal).
The ridiculous run of matches continues and Boxing Day is always entertaining with usually high-scoring matches. Enjoy the matches whether at work, on the couch, away on vacation (Alan, how’s Spain?) or wherever you are. Merry Christmas ya filthy animals.
Stay Kickin’ It. Peace.
Twitter: @nicodegallo @canikickitblog
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