3/2 Recap: I was on my way to a banner start to this series. Gladbach was up 2-0 on Werder Bremen and Middlesbrough led by the same margin against Leeds United. Only one team completed the task at hand though. Patrick Bamford completed his hat trick for Boro and secured me my first result, even though I missed on the score (I’ll explain how I will record everything in a future piece). Borussia Monchengladbach however gagged away their two-goal advantage and nearly threw away all points before settling for a draw at home.
3/2 Results: My picks– Borussia Monchengladbach 1 Werder Bremen 0
Middlesbrough 2 Leeds United 1
Actual results- Borussia Monchengladbach 2 Werder Bremen 2
Middlesbrough 3 Leeds United 0
Now let’s go to today’s picks!
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Manchester United @ Crystal Palace (3:00 PM ET/NBC Sports Network, UNIVERSO, fuboTV, SiriusXM FC 157)
They are in vastly different places of the table, but somehow similar criticisms are made for both Manchester United and Crystal Palace. Neither team plays the showiest of football, but they get results when they need to.
Palace has staved off relegation for a few years now, mostly by having that one hot streak that keeps them up. That streak usually comes towards season’s end though. This year’s run came at the tail end of 2017 with eight games unbeaten. Now the Eagles see themselves back in the drop zone after the weekend’s games and Man U coming to Selhurst Park.
United under Jose Mourinho is a team that succeeds while underperforming better than any other in England. They can return to second place in the table today with a victory, a position they’ve spent the majority of the 2017-18 season in. And while the press would lead you to believe that Manchester United just goes for 1-0 park the bus massacres on the eyes, two goals today would put them level with Spurs on goals, a team that does anything but that.
Palace has picked up 17 of their 27 points on the season at home. And while they are a decidedly different side at their home ground, I can’t see them adding to that total today. There are just too many names on their injury log at the moment, including two of their top defenders Scott Dann and Joel Ward. The Red Devils cover the one goal spread (per Bovada) and do so comfortably to reclaim the silver medal spot on the Premier League podium.
PREDICTION: Manchester United 2 Crystal Palace 0
SPANISH PRIMERA DIVISION
Las Palmas @ Celta Vigo (3:00 PM ET/beIN SPORTS USA, beIN SPORTS en Español, fuboTV, iGol)
The second and final pick of the day comes from La Liga where Las Palmas travels to Celta Vigo trying to keep themselves afloat in the Spanish first division.
Las Palmas’ season has been frustrating. They haven’t been particularly putrid at any one point, but never good enough for long enough to move up the table. The Canary Islands outfit has been at their best recently though, losing just once in February and holding Barcelona to a draw to begin March. However, they have just one win on the road all season and that was at bottom club Malaga.
To be fair though, Celta Vigo has been just as frustrating a watch. Little Celta has two of the top ten goal scorers in La Liga in Iago Aspas and Maxi Gomez. But after a brilliant start to 2018, they’ve won just once in February and were shut out twice. If either Aspas and Gomez get on the scoresheet, like they both did in Celta’s lone February victory, they’ll win. I just don’t trust their defense to keep a clean sheet, even at home. I’ll take Las Palmas to cover the 1.5 goal spread (per Bovada), but Celta to win outright.
PREDICTION: Celta Vigo 2 Las Palmas 1
I hope you come back tomorrow for more picks from all over that continent yonder eastward. If you have any games you’d like me to pick you can contact me on Twitter @TREVORutley. In addition to the available media listed for each game, be sure to try out our Gameview service while watching as well. Cheers!