Premier View: A Noble wager ( Sat 5th March)

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Matt Brocklebank (SL) highlights the best bets for this weekend's Barclays Premier League action in his weekly column.


Recommended bets

1pt over 4.5 goals to be scored in Tottenham v Arsenal

1pt Olivier Giroud to score first in Tottenham v Arsenal

2pts West Ham to beat Everton

1pt Mark Noble to score any time in Everton v West Ham

The weekend action gets under way with a hugely important derby between two teams battling for title glory and although so often down the years it's been a case of the higher the profile, the lower the excitement in Premier League games, there's every reason to expect fireworks between Tottenham and Arsenal at White Hart Lane.

Both teams have found the net in the past four meetings between the north London rivals and if you extend that back even further then 12 of the last 15 games between the sides has seen the net bulge at both ends.

Arsenal, now six points off the pace set by Leicester at the top of the table, badly need to respond after a frustrating and bitterly disappointing home defeat to Swansea in midweek, which followed a 3-2 loss at Old Trafford, and history suggests that's exactly what they'll do.

Before their Wednesday reverse, Arsene Wenger's side hadn't suffered back-to-back defeats in the league since November 2014 when, in an odd coincidence, Manchester United and Swansea were the culprits.

Spurs are also on the bounce and will be absolutely desperate to put a six-point cushion between themselves and Arsenal, with the fact they'll stay above them in the standings even in defeat (barring a six-goal swing) due to a better goal difference of no real comfort.

Mauricio Pochettino's men were far from disgraced when beaten 1-0 by West Ham on Wednesday and it's hoped for their sake that Dele Alli will return to the team given how well he's performed in some of the most important games this term, though it's worth noting only one of his seven league goals this season has come at the Lane.

With Theo Walcott out of form and Danny Welbeck still being nursed back to full fitness, Arsenal are likely to stick with Olivier Giroud up front but will be without Petr Cech and Laurent Koscielny, the latter seemingly badly missed in midweek.

Giroud rightly has his critics but he's scored a couple of times against Tottenham in the past and the way Spurs failed on a number of occasions to deal with high balls into the box against the Hammers suggest the big French striker could get some joy.

He's 13/2 in a place to score the opening goal which looks overly generous in light of Alexis Sanchez's current travails and the fact Harry Kane hasn't scored from open play since the win at Norwich.

I'm also going to have a dart at over 4.5 goals in the game.

Five or more have been scored in five of the past 14 clashes between the clubs and backing this outcome at 11/2 looks a good way to get stuck into a high stakes games expected to be played at a frantic pace.

The best bet among the 3pm starters has to be the in-form Hammers, who can't be missed at odds in excess of 4/1 to win at Goodison Park.

They have a string of injury issues, with half a dozen defenders currently on the sidelines, and one seriously wonders where they might sit in the league standings had they enjoyed a smoother run on that front throughout the campaign, but the crux of their midfield and front line are fit and firing and victory over Spurs in midweek was a great confidence-booster.

West Ham have eights points more than Everton at this stage and they played out a 1-1 draw in the capital earlier in the season so it's hard to grasp why the Toffees are quite so short.

Roberto Martinez's side have only won four times on their own patch all year and that's not a good enough return, with West Brom the latest team to inflict home misery on the Merseysiders two weeks ago.

They obviously have one of the league's leading goalscorers in Romelu Lukaku and keeping him quiet won't be easy but Alex Song should be happy enough trying to stifle Ross Barkley's creativity, while it's another Hammers midfielder who appeals in the goalscorer markets.

Mark Noble has already surpassed last season's tally of two goals having claimed his third when grabbing the equaliser against Norwich last month and there could be more joy to be had backing the all-action player.

He's caught the eye in the past couple of weeks with plenty of long-range efforts, a fierce shot onto the bar against Sunderland among them, and is likely to be afforded the space against an open Everton team to unleash a few more attempts on Saturday.

The club captain is also the number one penalty-taker for the Hammers and looks well worth siding with at 9/1 to find the net any time.