Premier League Predictions and best bets: Ravenous Liverpool to feast on West Ham

Our football betting expert Jones Knows is back to provide more Premier League insight and sees unstoppable Liverpool thumping West Ham on Sunday.

How bad must Leicester be if Manchester City are going off 1/3 with Sky Bet for the win despite winning just once in their last 13 games?

Also, since the start of November, Pep Guardiola's men have conceded 26 goals in all competitions - in that time, the only side from Europe's big-five leagues to concede more is FC Heidenheim 1846 (28). It is astonishing.

Yet punters still are happy to back them to win football matches at heavy odds-on it seems.

I can leave them alone even if Leicester have faced the most shots, shots on target and conceded the most goals since December 3, which was Ruud van Nistelrooy's first game in charge.

He's made little impact - in fact, they might be becoming easier to score against.

From a betting point of view, though, you just have to keep betting against this City defence keeping a clean sheet and Leicester have scored in all but one of their 10 home matches this season. Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals should land at 4/5 with Sky Bet.

Ivan Juric obviously likes what he sees from striker Paul Onuachu.

Although he's yet to score for the club, the entire game plan in attack revolved around the target man in the unfortunate defeat to West Ham. "Long ball, keep the ball, the head is strong," Juric said of Onuachu, who had eight shots in Juric's opening game as Saints got the ball into him quickly.

It will surely be a rinse and repeat job stylistically of playing into Onuachu, meaning his shots lines at 5/6 for two or more have great potential as a best bet.

When duos click in sport, it can lead to legendary results. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent and Bryony Frost and Frodon.

Well, Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo are quickly entering those realms of greatness.

There isn't a better centre-back pairing in the Premier League.

The chemistry, organisation and ability to defend their box playing in Nuno Espirito Santo's deep defensive block is quickly becoming one of the stories of the season. They are leading Forest into uncharted waters - a European charge is very much on.

Murillo, in particular, is set for the very top based on his performances of late.

From eight games against teams in the bottom half this season, Forest have conceded just two goals, keeping six clean sheets in those games to a backdrop of 0.78 expected goals against per 90. Savage numbers.

Everton are one of the tamest attacks in the Premier League, failing to score in six of their last eight games so the Milenkovic and Murillo masterclass should be backed to grab another clean sheet. A Forest win to nil at 7/2 with Sky Bet is a huge price.

You'd have been laughed out of town in pre-season to suggest that these two clubs would have Man City sandwiched between them in the Premier League table after 18 games. But this season is working in strange ways to the extent that both Fulham and Bournemouth have realistic hopes of a top-six finish considering their advantage with only playing once a week over rivals like Aston Villa and Man City.

This encounter is the toughest game of the lot this week from a prediction point of view. Play the game 99 times and you could get 33 Fulham wins, 33 draws and 33 away wins. On that basis, Bournemouth probably are the shade of value at 15/8 with Sky Bet but it's not a game with much betting potential.

If you fancy Tottenham, there is huge value in taking them to win on the handicap rather than just backing the 8/13 with Sky Bet for the home win. That price does look tight considering this Spurs team have won just three of their last 15 Premier League games. But under Ange Postecoglou, when Spurs win their style means they win by a big margin.

All their last eight Premier League wins have seen them prevail by two or more goals and, remarkably, seven of those wins have come with a three or more margin of victory.

And although they've found a manager bounce, this Wolves defence is prone to a collapse - they have conceded an average of 2.04 goals in 2024 - the worst record of any ever-present Premier League team. Spurs to win by three or more goals, or -2 on the handicap, is the way to play at 7/2 with Sky Bet.

If West Ham turn up in the same welcoming mood as they did against Southampton, then Liverpool are going to feast.

The Hammers conceded three big chances in the first half to the league's worst team in Saints and then basically made the game a non-event in the second half to grind out the 1-0 win.

It was another mind-numbing and decisively dull performance from Julen Lopetegui's men. In this current guise they're the team I'd least like to watch in the Premier League.

Thankfully for entertainment purposes, Liverpool are ravenous and purring beautifully in attack, scoring two or more goals in their last 10 Premier League games with 27 goals plundered in total.

There shouldn't be many problems for them here with the Evens with Sky Bet on them covering the -1 handicap looking very tasty. This title is theirs to lose.

Backing Brighton as outsiders makes sense in these sorts of games. The type of forward they like to recruit tends to flourish when playing in transition but struggle when tasked with breaking down a low block. To score just one goal from 67 shots this season in home games against Brentford, Southampton and Ipswich tells you all you need to know about how flaky the Brighton forwards are when it comes to finishing.

However, despite now going six games without a win, Fabian Hurzeler's team have beaten Bournemouth, Man City, Newcastle, Tottenham, Man Utd and drawn with Arsenal this season where opposition teams offer them more space to play. At 5/6 with Sky Bet, they are one of the best bets of the card on the double chance at Villa Park.

Ipswich have now lost five of their last six games - only Southampton (2) have fewer points over that period. It's becoming rather bleak for them.

Confidence looks shot in the final third with the free-flowing, flexible attacking patterns that we saw rip up the Sky Bet Championship last season a distant memory. They've scored just two or more goals in four of their 18 games this season, blanking in four of their last six. Omari Hutchinson's form has completely dipped while Liam Delap is now feeding off scraps.

A Chelsea win to nil at 7/4 with Sky Bet looks a nice way to boost the outright away win price.

I'm swimming against the tide here and remain quite positive on Manchester United's prospects under this manager, especially from a defensive point of view. The structure and organisation is so much more secure than under Erik ten Hag and may just lead to positive results when confidence returns and Bruno Fernandes stops getting sent off.

The expected goals data does suggest Ruben Amorim's influence is already stabilising them slightly, albeit the results make that hard to believe.

The market has moved too much towards the untrustworthy Toon here who have only won three on the road in their last 10 games in all competitions and were beaten 3-2 by Ten Hag's side last season at Old Trafford. I'll put my crash helmet on and advise Man Utd on the draw no bet at 10/11 with Sky Bet with no confidence whatsoever purely based on the price.

Thomas Frank lost two more key members of his Brentford back line to take their total number of injured players to 11 in the dogged draw at Brighton. Such depletion is going to bite sooner or later and this could be where that tide turns.

Arsenal, without grabbing many plaudits, do seem to have their game-heads on again in terms of winning games. Declan Rice's return to form may have something to do with that - he's looked more himself in the last few weeks and is carrying a big goalscoring threat from midfield.

He netted in the win at Palace and went close with two strikes in the comfortable 1-0 win over Ipswich. The 18/1 on him to score first with Sky Bet is too big. Back it.