Premier League Round 1 Fixture Predictions

                                                                                                                                        Burnley 1 – 1 City

 

This will be a controversial pick, but here at Sports N All we are all about narrative, and you don’t get more classic narrative than master vs apprentice, Jedi vs Padawan, or in this case Kompany vs Pep. Now we know that this isn’t technically the first time these two have faced off, but we are going to ignore the 6-0 demolition of Burnley last year on the basis that it was a cup game. City tend to start the season relatively slow but we are talking about the treble winners here so factoring all these variables we’re going with a score line of 1-1.

                                                                                                                                       Arsenal 3 – 1 Forest

 

Arsenal have a mixed bag of results regarding their opening day fixture over the last 10 years winning 5 and losing 5, and if this game were an away fixture we may have been tempted to give a different scoreline. But morale is at a high with this side after their penalty shoot out victory over City last week and thanks to having done the majority  of their business nice and early they have a very settled side! Interesting note will be the debut of Forest keeper Matt Turner who of course joined from Arsenal earlier this week, what did we say about narratives earlier?

                                                                                                                          Bournemouth 3 – 1 West Ham

 

Many felt the sacking of Gary O’Niel was a harsh one, however the appointment of replacement Iraola is seen as somewhat of a coup for the coastal side who have followed that up with a string of impressive signings such as Kluivert and most recently Max Aarons. West Ham on the other hand have moved at a relatively slow pace in the transfer market when it comes to transfers in, although they did finally make their first signing this week in the form of Ajax midfielder Alverez. Still though, it feels as though this West Ham side is a little thin on the ground, and I feel they are lacking some fire power in their front line to really put up a strong fight in this fixture. It’s the first game post-Rice, but we don’t truly know too much about West ham until the transfer market  is over i feel.

                                                                                                                                      Brighton 1 – 1 Luton

 

This prediction may be led with the heart rather than the head, but the Caicedo saga is bound to cause some unsettlement amongst the Brighton side and Luton will be hoping they can utilise the element of surprise to kick start their unlikely Premier league season. De Zerbi is a cool, calm and collected figure though and does seem to be handling the situation with on brand ease. New signing Ross Barkely has caught the excitement of the Luton faithful though and no better way to make yourself a hero than on your debut!

                                                                                                                                        Everton 1 – 1 Fulham

Neither team has been too active this summer so far, although for Fulham, being able to hold on to Mitrovic, Paulinha and manager Marco Silva will be seen as just as important as any signing they could make! Dyche has had his first pre-season with this Everton side and they will be predictably tough to break down especially at home, while Fulham surprised many last season with how well they performed. Tough game to call but we think it will be Even Stevens in this fixture

                                                                                                                Sheffield United 0 – 3 Crystal Palace

 

You can’t keep a good Roy down, and there is no better example of that than last season. The Palace icon returned to steady the ship and ensure premier league safety once again, and on top of that, saw some attractive football at Selhurst park too. They are however without arguably their greatest ever player in Wilfred  Zaha but he has left behind two very worthy understudies in Eze and Olise. Sheffield on the other hand have seen very little investment in the side, other than Austin Trusty who did become somewhat of a fan favourite during his year in Birmingham. But clearly more needs to be done, especially considering they have sold some of their top performers from last season. Worrying times ahead for the Blades.

                                                                                                                                  Newcastle 2 – 2 Villa

 

This is going to be a very interesting game. Two very well organised sides, managed by two tactically astute managers, filled with attacking talent. Last season saw Aston Villa shoot up the table under Emery and they did get the better of this Newcastle side quite convincingly. Hard to separate the two sides but I think this will be the game of the weekend.

                                                                                                                                   Brentford 1 – 0 Tottenham

 

There isn’t a much worse way to start the season than by losing your greatest ever player on the eve of its beginning. Ideally, they would have liked an easier test against a team at home to help boost morale, ,but such is life, they have the hard task of facing a Brentford side that has a great record against top teams at home. It can’t go unmentioned that it’s not just Spurs who will be missing their star man though, Ivan Toney is of course  out and now we will find out how Brentford will cope over the next few months without him, not to mention top keeper Raya. we have Brentford to just edge this one but really it could go either way

                                                                                                                                        Chelsea 0 – 0 Liverpool

 

If you include the two games these sides went to penalties, then they have had 6 draws in a row. For one reason or another this fixture always fails to deliver for me, however there will be an added layer of spice to this occasion given the transfer tussle over Caicedo that seems to be changing by the hour! Chelsea are still somewhat an unknown entity with many new faces and a new manager, it’ll be interesting to see if last year was just a blip, or if there is a rot starting to form. Klopp’s Liverpool on the other hand have a new look midfield that will hopefully inject a breath of fresh air into a side that underperformed for most of last year, although they did look a new side with the reinvention of TAA’s role in the side

                                                                                                                              Man United 3 – 0 Wolves

 

We mentioned the unenviable situation Spurs are in losing Kane right before the season starts, but Wolves are not looking too great either after losing their manager this week. Gary O’Niel has stepped in to steady the ship after performing admirably during the second half of the season for Bournemouth, but can he do the same this year with a Wolves side who are limited in what they can do financially due to FFP. Manchester United on the other side feel steady for the first time in years. This is a real opportunity to build on the great work that Ten Hag did last year, and the board have shown they back him completely by splashing out on young striker Hoijland, who unfortunately looks to miss this game as he is eased into the side. United will be looking for a strong start and will want to lay down the gauntlet and show City and Arsenal that they would be foolish to think this season will be a 2 horse race.