At long last, Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium is set to open. Photo Credit: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY.

Not gonna bury the lede here, son: It was a perfect long weekend for your friendly tout. The three matches played out almost exactly the way they were predicted here. Sure, Chelsea needed arguably crooked officiating and a very late goal to win at Cardiff, but the call here was that Cardiff would fight hard in vain in a loss, and that’s exactly what happened. Liverpool and Arsenal similarly held serve, with Liverpool needing their own stroke of wild luck to maintain their slim lead atop the Premier League table.

It’s a strange time in the Premier League calendar, too. Every team in the league plays 38 matches. But by April, some clubs are still playing Champions League matches. This year, all four of the league’s qualifiers (Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United) made the final eight of that major tournament. Some clubs are still involved in the Europa League; this season, Chelsea and Arsenal are still alive in that competition. Some clubs (including City) are still alive in the FA Cup draw. As a result, even though last weekend was Matchweek 32, the table shows that there are games in hand all over the place.

Fulham, who was essentially worthless in every competition this season, has already played 33 of their allotted 38 league matches. They have five left, after which their dalliance in the league this season is over and they fall back into the Championship with Huddersfield Town. Brighton & Hove Albion, meanwhile, have played only 30 league matches thanks to still being alive in the FA Cup and having to reschedule other league matches.

As a result of all of this schedule variance, you have been #blessed with a few additional picks here as Week 32 bleeds into Week 33. The slate on Wednesday is attractive, with several prime-time teams in action. This weekend’s offerings are less exciting. But don’t kid yourself. If I sweep these three picks, I’ll almost certainly see you back here on Saturday morning. Here are the Wednesday Week 32 (Part 2) winners.

CHELSEA v. BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION

This isn’t exactly a rampaging Chelsea side these days. Lowly Cardiff City deserved at least a draw and on a different day would have beaten Chelsea on Sunday. But it didn’t happen. Chelsea got another gift on Tuesday when Manchester United spit up a 1-0 lead on the road at Wolverhampton and lost 2-1. United’s loss, combined with that of Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, means that Chelsea can sneak back into the last Champions League place with a win over Brighton on Wednesday.

But wait, there’s more. Brighton has little to play for in the league. Two clubs have already been confirmed as relegated. The last relegation spot is presently owned by Cardiff, who are headed to Manchester City on Wednesday for what promises to be a ritual sacrifice. Plus, Brighton is still alive in the FA Cup and will face City at Wembley this weekend. The Seagulls probably can’t beat City, but they are certainly likely to put more effort into that one-off chance at an FA Cup final than they are against Chelsea in this match.

Chelsea has been sloppy lately in the league. Even before that Cardiff mess, they lost at Everton and they drew at home with Wolves. Brighton is no beauty either, but the one thing they are doing lately is scoring goals – before being shut out at home on Saturday, Brighton had scored at least once in seven straight matches in all competitions dating back to February 2. Chelsea will probably win this match, but they don’t need to shut Brighton out to do that, and they probably won’t. Take both teams to score at 13/10.

MANCHESTER CITY v. CARDIFF CITY

There is really only one question here: Is Cardiff even going to try in this match?

Sunday’s loss to Chelsea cost them dearly in their quest to stay in the Premier League. After this match, they have six more league matches remaining and, realistically, they will probably need to win three of them to have a chance to stay up. Should they really expend energy at the Etihad against City, where they are 40/1 to win and 14/1 to draw?

Probably not. Cardiff’s remaining matches are pretty winnable (well, except for the Liverpool match). They can beat Burnley, Brighton and Fulham, and they’ll be in with a shout against Crystal Palace. If Cardiff gets down early against City, which they probably will, it’s as likely as not that they will start conserving power for those more winnable fixtures.

That’s a bad recipe when you face City at the Etihad. City doesn’t need to kick teams when they are down the way they do, but they’re not going to change what they are now. Nine against Burton Albion, seven against Rotheram, six against Chelsea, seven against Schalke in a freaking Champions League match…they brutalize weaklings at home. It’s likely to happen again here. Take City to win AND over 3.5 goals at 8/13.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR v. CRYSTAL PALACE

Well what do you know, the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium is finally going to host a match. Sure, it’s way late, but better late than…whatever.

Here’s the main takeaway: This is a home match for Spurs, but in reality, this is as close to a neutral site match as you will get in the league. Both Spurs and Crystal Palace are London clubs, so neither team needs to travel a distance for this one. And it’s not like Spurs will be any more familiar with the stadium or the pitch than Palace will be, at least from a match day perspective.

Spurs are getting a lot of respect from the book; they are 4/9 to win. This just isn’t going to be that easy. Any result, even a draw, will probably guarantee Palace to stay up. Plus, it’s impossible to ignore Tottenham’s consistent ability to take something nice and, er, cock it up. Take Crystal Palace to win OR draw at 13/8.

Good luck on Wednesday.

WEEK 32 RESULTS (PART ONE)

Chelsea to win at Cardiff City AND both teams to score at 15/8: WIN

Liverpool to beat Tottenham Hotspur at 4/7: WIN

Arsenal to beat Newcastle at 2/5: WIN

WEEK 32 TOTAL (PART ONE): + $285

SEASON TO DATE: -$1,183