Expert Premier League predictions and free football tips from Mark Langdon

Football betting tips & analysis from Racing Post's Mark Langdon.

Best bets

Man Utd draw no bet v Liverpool
4.30pm Sunday
1pt Evs general

Monaco to beat Lyon
8pm Sunday
1pt 13-10 general

Preview

The 3pm Saturday Premier League fixture usually fights it out with the late match on a Sunday or the 6pm Monday game during this pandemic-hit season as the worst game in each round of fixtures.

If you are unsure as to which one is the absolute worst check out if they are on Amazon Prime and there's your answer. This week, however, is different because Brighton versus Leeds - or Graham Potter versus Marcelo Bielsa - pits two of the league's best coaches against each other.

They've barely won a major trophy between them but the process they put in place on a daily basis is clear to see in the patterns of football they produce which often put smiles on faces.

Talksport pundit Jamie O'Hara was on the radio this week bemoaning Tottenham's decision to sack Jose Mourinho on the eve of the Carabao Cup final because Mourinho wins cup finals and he wins big matches. It's what he does.

Only he lost his last cup final - Chelsea beat Manchester United 1-0 - and he had also lost his last seven Spurs matches against teams currently in the top six as well as being knocked out of cup competitions by Everton and Dinamo Zagreb.

Mourinho has said many philosophical things, including "if you win nothing what is the point?"

The point is you could put the 12 best managers in a division - let's call it a European Super League - and one of them would still have to come last.

So surely a much better approach is to try to improve people. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph last week, Leeds captain Liam Cooper said of Bielsa: "He's changed my life, as a player but also as a man.

"I enjoy my life and that’s a credit to him. He has put my mind into a better place, he has changed my whole approach to life."

Cooper is not alone in making those kinds of comments about Bielsa and that should feel as good as winning any trophy.

If you put so much emphasis on winning what happens when you stop winning? That was the feeling I got tuning into Real Madrid struggle through their Champions League semi-final first leg against Chelsea.

It is often a joyless experience watching Real under Zinedine Zidane and I often half-joke that his three Champions League successes as a manager have masked fundamental flaws. The football is dull, he has no interest in developing younger players, and I'd much rather watch Leeds and Brighton.

There's more riding on Sunday's fixture for top-four chasing Liverpool compared to Manchester United, but the fallen champions don't deserve to be favourites at Old Trafford after collecting 16 points fewer than their arch-rivals in 2021.

United have lost one of their last 27 league games and the last eight have included away successes at Manchester City and Spurs as well as a draw at Chelsea.

Later on in the evening, surprise Ligue 1 title challengers Monaco host Lyon and can improve their remarkable run of 14 wins in 17 games. They have recorded a higher expected-goals rating in 16 of those games too so it's not been a lucky run.

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