Harry Kane leads the line as Tottenham Hotspur hosts Aston Villa to kick off both teams’ Premier League seasons on Saturday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (Watch live, 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC and online via NBCSports.com)
Dean Smith has four new players in his starting lineup, including Trezeguet, Wesley, and long time PL backstop Tom Heaton.
The suspended Heung-Min Son misses out for Spurs, and Giovani Lo Celso is not yet ready to join his new team.
LINEUPS
Andre Silva struck twice as Eintracht Frankfurt played to a 2-2 draw at Red Bull Salzburg to become the final team with a berth in the Europa League quarterfinals on a 6-3 aggregate scoreline.
The match had been originally scheduled for yesterday alongside the rest of the Europa League Round of 16 slate but storms in the area forced its postponement.
[ MORE: JPW’s Premier League picks ]
Goals for Salzburg’s Andreas Ulmer and Jerome Onguene were not enough to offset the 4-1 first-leg loss plus another two conceded at home. Silva’s second goal was the pick of the lot, finding the top corner from outside the top of the box with a brilliant looping effort.
Frankfurt’s advancement will be a boost for them domestically where they have lost two straight in Bundesliga play but recently dumped RB Leipzig from DFB-Pokal play. USMNT veteran Timmy Chandler came off the bench for the final two minutes.
On the flip side, the match came at a bad time for RB Salzburg, who has only won one of its last five league games in Austria, seeing LASK take over the top spot in the table. That poor form worked its way to European play as well, unable to give themselves a chance at the already improbable comeback. They can take positives from the goals scored up front as Ulmer’s was an absolute rocket from just inside the top of the box and Onguene bagged a header off a corner.
Norwich City host Leicester City on Friday (Watch live, 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com) with the Canaries and Foxes in very different positions heading into this clash at Carrow Road.
Daniel Farke’s Norwich are scrapping for their lives and although they’ve played some wonderful attacking soccer this season with Teemu Pukki, Emiliano Buendia and Todd Cantwell all starring, they sit bottom of the Premier League table with 11 games to go. The Canaries badly need a win against Leicester if they’re going to avoid relegation back to the Championship at the first attempt. They currently sit seven points from safety.
As for Leicester, their poor form in 2020 has continued but they remain in third place in the Premier League and Brendan Rodgers‘ side are nine points ahead of fifth place. Jamie Vardy‘s goals have dried up as he hasn’t scored in his last nine appearances and only once in his last 12, which has meant a big downturn in results.
Norwich v Leicester should be a real treat on a windy Friday evening in Norfolk as both teams have plenty to play for and both managers urge their teams to play fluid, attacking soccer.
In team news Norwich bring in Buendia for Rupp as the Argentine playmaker is key in their battle against relegation.
Leicester are without Jamie Vardy who isn’t in the squad due to injury as Kelechi Iheanacho replaces him.
LINEUPS
➡ Iheanacho
⬅ VardyLeicester's star-man misses tonight's clash with an injury and is replaced by Kelechi Iheanacho! https://t.co/sMEW2WkipR
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 28, 2020
Here are the latest Prince-Wright‘s Premier League picks ahead of Matchweek 28 in the Premier League, with eight games on the slate due to the League Cup final between Aston Villa and Man City on Sunday.
[ MORE: Premier League schedule ]
If you, like me, love to dissect all the games and predict what the score will be and which team will win, I encourage you to get involved in the comments section below. Let’s have a bit of fun with these Premier League games.
Okay, so I’ve consulted my crystal ball and here’s how we see things panning out. Listen carefully, because this is very specific.
While you can download the NBC Sports Predictor app (below) and play the Premier League Pick ‘Em game yourself to predict the scores and win the prizes.
With the first section labelled “basically, free money” for the picks I think are dead certs. The section labelled “don’t touch this” means if you’re betting I advise you to stay clear, while the “so you’re telling me there’s a chance” section are the long shots. If it is better odds you are after, those are the picks to go for.
BASICALLY, FREE MONEY
Crystal Palace 3-1 Brighton – (Saturday, 7:30 a.m. ET, NBCSN) – [STREAM]
Watford 0-2 Liverpool – (Saturday, 12:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN) – [STREAM]
DON’T TOUCH THIS…
West Ham 1-1 Southampton – (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, NBC Sports Gold) – [STREAM]
Norwich 1-2 Leicester – (Friday, 3 p.m. ET, NBCSN) – [STREAM]
Everton 2-1 Man United – (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, NBCSN) – [STREAM]
Newcastle 2-1 Burnley – (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, NBC Sports Gold) – [STREAM]
“SO YOU’RE TELLING ME THERE’S A CHANCE…”
Bournemouth 1-0 Chelsea – (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, NBCSN) – [STREAM]
Tottenham 1-3 Wolves – (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, NBC Sports Gold) – [STREAM]
The 2020 Major League Soccer season is almost here and it is time to assess the offseason for each of the 26 teams and predict how they will stack up in the standings.
[ MORE: All of PST’s MLS coverage ]
Our writers have been asked to predict where each team will finish in the table this season and with two new teams arriving in Nashville SC and Inter Miami, plus plenty of changes in terms of players and coaches across MLS, this was not an easy task. At all.
As we all know by now, Major League Soccer loves to keep it weird and plenty of teams will no doubt surprise us all. Until then, we are going with our hunch.
Below we reveal how we think both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference will look at the end of the 2020 regular season.
Joe Prince-Wright
Eastern Conference
1. Atlanta United
2. New York City FC
3. Toronto FC
4. Philadelphia Union
5. D.C. United
6. New York Red Bulls
7. Inter Miami
8. Montreal Impact
9. New England Revolution
10. Columbus Crew SC
11. Chicago Fire
12. FC Cincinnati
13. Orlando City SC
Western Conference
1. LAFC
2. LA Galaxy
3. Sporting Kansas City
4. Seattle Sounders
5. Minnesota United
6. Real Salt Lake
7. Portland Timbers
8. Colorado Rapids
9. FC Dallas
10. San Jose Earthquakes
11. Houston Dynamo
12. Vancouver Whitecaps
13. Nashville SC
Nick Mendola
Eastern Conference
1. NYCFC
2. Atlanta United
3. Toronto FC
4. DC United
5. Philadelphia Union
6. Chicago Fire
7. Columbus Crew
8. Montreal Impact
9. FC Cincinnati
10. New England Revolution
11. Orlando City
12. Inter Miami
13. New York Red Bulls
Western Conference
1. LAFC
2. Portland Timbers
3. LA Galaxy
4. Sporting KC
5. Seattle Sounders
6. FC Dallas
7. San Jose Earthquakes
8. Colorado Rapids
9. Vancouver Whitecaps
10. Houston Dynamo
11. Real Salt Lake
12. Minnesota United
13. Nashville SC
Andy Edwards
Eastern Conference
1. New York City FC
2. Atlanta United
3. Toronto FC
4. Philadelphia Union
5. D.C. United
6. Montreal Impact
7. New England Revolution
8. Columbus Crew SC
9. Inter Miami
10. New York Red Bulls
11. Chicago Fire
12. Orlando City SC
13. FC Cincinnati
Western Conference
1. Seattle Sounders
2. LAFC
3. LA Galaxy
4. Real Salt Lake
5. FC Dallas
6. Sporting Kansas City
7. Colorado Rapids
8. Portland Timbers
9. Minnesota United
10. Houston Dynamo
11. San Jose Earthquakes
12. Vancouver Whitecaps
13. Nashville SC
Kyle Bonn
Eastern Conference
1. Atlanta
2. Toronto
3. NYCFC
4. RBNY
5. Philadelphia
6. D.C. United
7. NE Revs
8. Inter Miami
9. Columbus
10. Orlando City
11. Montreal Impact
12. FC Cincinnati
13. Chicago Fire
Western Conference
1. LAFC
2. Seattle
3. Portland
4. RSL
5. LA Galaxy
6. FC Dallas
7. Minnesota
8. San Jose Quakes
9. Sporting KC
10. Houston
11. Vancouver
12. Nashville
13. Colorado