Premier League Preview, Predictions and Picks - EPL Betting Preview For February 17-19

EPL Betting Preview Including Predictions and Props

WagerTalk Premier League handicapper Kevin Dolan presents his Premier League prediction preview heading into February 17-19 matches. He gives betting previews for key matches including Manchester Chelsea at Manchester City and Manchester United at Luton. Which teams is he looking to pick up points and which will have goals being scored? Read his betting preview now!

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Chelsea at Manchester City | February 17 | 12:30pm ET

Chelsea +715 | Manchester City -295 | Draw +455

The biggest game of the EPL calendar kicks off this week but one which has nonetheless lost a lot of its luster over recent seasons with Chelsea’s ongoing struggles in the league.

To be fair to Chelsea however, they did respond on Monday night with a 3-1 victory against Crystal Palace, albeit the scoreline flattering them overly as the Blues were level at 1-1 deep into injury time in that game before pulling out the win with two extremely late goals.

Prior to that however, Chelsea had lost back-to-back games in the Premier League, both by multiple-goal margins as well, and it’ll be interesting to see if Chelsea can respond here as they did in their 4-4 draw against Manchester City back in November in what was an extremely pulsating game down at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester City meanwhile won 3-1 themselves in midweek against FC Copenhagen in the Champions League, and have now wrestled back control in the domestic title race as well, sitting just two points off league leaders Liverpool with a game in hand over them.

City have been on a monster run of late in league action, winning six straight games in the Premier League, with five of those six coming by multiple-goal margins as well.

One area Manchester City have been especially dominant in this season is fast starts at home, failing to score in just 9% of all of their home games this year in the first-half, yet on the flip side, keeping a clean sheet in 82% of those first-half home games as well, both by far the best marks in the entire league this season.

For comparison, Chelsea has kept a clean sheet in just 42% of their first-half road games this season, and failed to score a single goal in almost half of those games as well, so City should start the faster of the two on Saturday.

Because of that, we’re going with Manchester City on the first-half line in this one as they take on Chelsea over at the Etihad.

Premier League Prediction: 1H Manchester City ML (-133)

Manchester United at Luton | February 18 | 11:30am ET

Manchester United -125 | Luton +300 | Draw +280

It’s been three straight wins now for Manchester United in league action and the Red Devils suddenly look like a team full of confidence right now, with Harry Maguire all smiles after last weekend’s victory against Aston Villa.

That win moved United to within five points of Villa for that 5th place Europa League spot in the table, and Manchester United will be looking to close that gap even further on Sunday with a dominant win over relegation-battling Luton Town.

A disastrous 3-1 home defeat against bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United over the weekend condemned Luton to their first defeat in four games, but this would be exactly the wrong time to hit a dry patch with the gap between Everton immediately below them and Brentford sitting in 14th spot being just six total points in what’s turned out to be an extremely congested relegation picture at the foot of the table.

Luton have both Liverpool and Aston Villa on deck after hosting United this weekend, and if they can’t manage to get a result in this one, could find themselves in some real danger over the final few months of the season.

As we mentioned in last week’s article, no team has a better clean sheet percentage on the road this season than Manchester United have, with an impressive 83% of all of their road games this year seeing them shut out the opponent in the first-half of games, by far the highest percentage in the league this season and something they managed to accomplish yet again last weekend against Aston Villa.

Luton meanwhile have failed to find the back of the net in almost 70% of their first-half home games this season, a statistic you definitely don’t want to own going up against the tightest first-half road defense in the league this year.

Take United to shut out the home side early in this one.

Premier League Prediction: Luton – Team Total Goals – 1st Half – Under 0.5 (-165)

Crystal Palace at Everton | February 19 | 3:00pm ET

Crystal Palace +405 | Everton -140 | Draw +270

Monday’s standalone EPL matchup between relegation-battling Crystal Palace and Everton down at the bottom of the table sets up an intriguing clash to cap off Matchday 25, with a win, or a loss, for either side here potentially going a long way in deciding their fate come the end of the season.

For Everton, they’re already playing catch-up in the league after their FA points deduction, but even without that, have really struggled to find form in the league of late.

The Toffees are winless in seven straight league games heading into Monday’s matchup, and badly need to start finding results if they’re going to continue their historic top division run in English football.

Crystal Palace meanwhile are coming off back-to-back league defeats themselves, getting drilled 4-1 against Brighton two weeks ago, and coming unstuck against Chelsea on Monday night also via two late injury-time goals.

Despite their predicament at the foot of the table, Everton have been a solid team inside Goodison Park this season, ranking 8th in offensive xG and an even more impressive 5th in defensive xGA as well.

Crystal Palace however have massively struggled away from home this season, coming off three straight league defeats and scoring the joint 3rd lowest goals tally on the road this season as well, right alongside second-from-bottom Burnley.

Monday’s game presents the perfect opportunity for Everton to bounce back with a win in this one, and we’re backing them to do just that against Crystal Palace at home on Monday.

Premier League Prediction: Everton ML (-140)

Stoppage Time | Weekly Soccer Preview

Join Carmine Bianco, Kevin Dolan, Nick Borrman, Bryan Power and Pavlos Laguretos for Stoppage Time every Thursday breaking down betting angles across the European soccer schedule including possibly matches in Premier League!

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WagerTalk’s live odds screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track the Premier League moneylines, run lines and betting percentages for all scheduled games.

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