Written by Cornermanden. The author’s opinions and predictions are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Unibet.

With only weeks until the Football World Championships kicks off, we will have to squeeze every drop of enjoyment out of the remaining Premier League games before the league takes a break. There are many highly interesting games this weekend. I have taken a little look at every single one of them.

Last Weeks Results

Last week in the “Prem” I only registered one bet, and that was for Man City to have four or more corners than Man United. This bet landed as well, so with my 100 percent record in Eliteserien last week, every bet that I suggested across the Unibet blog platform won. Let’s keep this going.

No Early Kick-Off, but…

Chelsea-Wolverhampton Wanderers

This is the “first” game of the weekend, at least according to alphabetical order as there is no early kick-off in the Premier League on Saturday. Wolverhampton Wanderers – still without a manager, after Bruno Lage got the sack – will travel to Stamford Bridge to come up against a high flying Chelsea, who got a really nice win at Selhurst Park last weekend, and followed that up by smashing AC Milan 3-0 at home in the Champions League on Wednesday. Julen Lopetegui is now the leading contender for the Wolves job, which sounds plausible and like a potentially good fit. We should as always expect a bounce in form after a manager is released of his duties, but I find this game a difficult one to predict, especially when Chelsea themselves are a team in transition after Graham Potter was appointed.

Friday Night Lasagna

Manchester City-Southampton

It’s a thing. Erling Braut Haaland eats lasagna with his dad the night before every game, and although I’m always careful not to mistakenly say that correlation equals causation, his eating habits is probably a contributing factor to the City striker’s great form. I’m not sure about the lasagna, though. At the moment of this writing the odds of Braut scoring against The Saints is around 1.34, which is ridiculously low in the Premier League. City look in great nick and will undoubtedly enter the Etihad pitch with an expectation to win the game. Meanwhile, Southampton are actually yet to pick up a point in a game where they have taken the lead, as every single point out of their 7 in total have come from losing positions. I don’t fancy them to come from behind in this one.

Foxes On The Up

Bournemouth-Leicester City

Leicester City recorded a famous and highly encouraging win when they beat their Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest on Monday. The team looked like a unit and with some inherent camaraderie, which have been deeply lacking so far this season. There is not much doubt in my mind that The Foxes have a lot going for them in terms of squad quality, so hopefully (for them) the 4-0 beating of Forest proves to be the spark that ignites something special. AFC Bournemouth are also on the up, as they currently are on a four game undefeated streak – a good achievement for the favourites for relegation. The Cherries look better organised and like a team that is difficult to beat; obviously, that is very important for a bottom 5 team. What do we expect here? I like the odds on Leicester, if I’m honest. 2.50 on them to win and score over 1.5 goals sounds interesting.

Back To Back Wins?

Newcastle United-Brentford

The big question that is on every Newcastle United fan’s mind at the moment: can they follow up a solid win against Fulham and record back to back wins for the first time this season? Before concluding, my answer is an optimistic yes. I think The Magpies have looked good throughout this season, to be fair, and have a lot of individual quality in most departments of the team. Injuries have hampered them – especially offensively. Moreover, playing against a team like Brentford might actually be a perfect opposition on Saturday: The Bees like to be expansive and bring their own style of play, which I think can open things up for a hungry home team. Brentford conceded quite a few chances against Bournemouth, and I expect them to do so again when they travel to the North East.

Saturday Night Football!

Brighton & Hove Albion-Tottenham Hotspur

This is a good one. Brighton, under their new manager Roberto De Zerbi, keep impressing by playing the way they do. I didn’t watch the entire game against Liverpool, but on the extended highlights it looked like they dominated the game at Anfield for a good while. The Seagulls are a team that is difficult to write off, but my impression is that people keep doing it every single week. The fact that Spurs now are priced at 2.65 to leave The Amex with all three points, says a lot about how competitive Brighton have become at this level. Spurs have now experienced two disappointing results in a row, so will look to put things right by getting back on the winning track on Saturday night – but I wouldn’t back them in this one. Brighton have – unlike Spurs – had a full week of recovery and training, which will be an advantage for their propositions here. I look forward to the game and choose to steer away from wagers at The Amex.

Angry Leeds

Crystal Palace-Leeds United

The title of this sequence of the blog post is a reference to the good old “Dirty Leeds”. “Angry Leeds” is now a reference to the team’s manager, Jesse Marsch’s post-match interview after Aston Villa held them to a 0-0 draw at Elland Road. Marsch was upset that teams tend to come to Leeds to “slow the game down”. Now the Leeds boss and his team are in the same (kind of) situation when they go on the road to face Palace at Selhurst Park, where The Eagles have been so good for years. We know that Marsch likes the games to be open and with a high tempo, a type of game that also suits the Palace team, but one I don’t think Patrick Vieira is too keen on. That makes it difficult to predict. I seldom pick mid-table teams at around 2.00-2.20 (for some reason I have to dissect), but I think there’s an argument to be made for picking the Palace side in this one. 

A London Derby

West Ham United-Fulham

The Hammers have found things a tad difficult so far this campaign, having picked up a measly 7 points from their first 8 games. Only two of those eight games have been wins, but luckily for West Ham one of them came at the weekend, which hopefully (for them) gave the team a lift and some momentum before their Conference League game in midweek – which they also won. The journey to Belgium and Anderlecht won’t be a very long one, and they did rotate most of their team, but nevertheless the load on the squad as a whole is still fairly big with games coming thick and fast every single week. Fulham have been “no mugs” this season, to use a “Mick McCarthyism”, sitting comfortably in the top half of the Premier League table. They will be delighted if the league table looks the same in 30 games’ time. The fatigue from West Ham’s midweek game in Europe and Fulham’s horrendous display against Newcastle (even though they were reduced to 10 men quite early), makes this a hard game to predict. I’m more interested in the odds on West Ham at 1.80 here than laying* them.

A Juicy Game

Arsenal-Liverpool

Well, well, well. Where do we start in this one? Liverpool. Let’s start with Liverpool. The Redmen have looked a pale shadow of themselves compared to last season. Although they are starting to get some of the most important players back from injury, the rhythm and collective mojo is still completely out of sync. Why, I don’t know, but key players (Van Dijk, Salah, Robertson, etc.) have been way below their usual par. I’m incredibly vary of discounting them at any stage, so I have to admit that I’m struggling to convince myself to lay themat The Emirates, even though most things imply that they will not pick up their Premier League form any time soon. Arsenal come from an interesting game against Bodø/Glimt in the Europa League, where Arteta (as expected) rested most of the key players. The Gunners are currently marginally considered as favourites in this game, which I find reasonable. I would be tempted by a bet on the home team if they were marginally underdogs, but now, as things stands, I don’t have the cojones to go against Liverpool.

Men In The Middle

Everton-Manchester United

No, I’m not talking about the referees. I’m obviously talking of Everton’s men in the middle, James Tarkowski and Conor Coady. The two Arch British centre backs have been monumental for the Merseyside team since they signed in the summer, and look to have sorted a fair bit of the defensive issues that Frank Lampard’s teams have been associated with since he began his managerial career. I’m not that worried on Everton’s behalf now as I was in pre-season. Up next is Manchester United, who also have addressed some issues lately. The Red Devils started the season terribly and eventually improved, but recency bias is a real thing and makes the humiliation against their rivals Manchester City feel even worse. This should be a tight affair, in my eyes, and I don’t feel very comfortable placing a bet of any sorts – at least not at the moment. That can change, but probably not. Another game to look forward to without having anything concrete on it.

Another Midlands Derby

Nottingham Forest-Aston Villa

The Midlands derbies in English football are everywhere it seems, but that’s not so peculiar when you realise how many teams are located in the area. Two of them are Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, and although these two clubs aren’t particularly hateful towards each other, a rivalry of some sorts under the floodlights at City Ground is still a special thing. Forest look really bad and incoherent, and unfortunately for Steve Cooper and co. there’s not much to suggest that it will change in the short term. You should not feel very controversial saying the same about Aston Villa, so this is a game I am very curious about. Villa pressed Leeds for the winning goal last weekend, but were helped by the red card of Sinisterra early in the second half. I’m worried on behalf of Steve Cooper and his group of lads, and I’m worried on behalf of Steven Gerrard and his group of lads. I’m almost tempted to say that this is a coinflip for me, so following that logic I should be more than willing to lay Aston Villa here. I’m not though.

Conclusion

No weekend is dull in the Premier League. This weekend will probably not be very dull, either. I feel some brewing anticipation for quite a few games, and a lot of them feel open and interesting if we neglect the betting and odds perspective. I have landed on a few bets that I find interesting and of good value:

• West Ham-Fulham. West Ham -1 (asian handicap) @ 2.38.
• Bournemouth-Leicester. Leicester to win & over 1.5 goals @ 2.50.

*To ‘lay’ a bet simply means you are backing something not to happen. For instance, if you lay Barcelona in the Outright Champions League 2019 Winner market, you are betting that they will not win the tournament.