Premier League Round 2 Fixture Predictions

                                                                                                                                     Forest 2 – 0 Sheffield United

Nottingham Forest have arguably the most enviable fixture this season, as they take on a heavily depleted Sheffield United side at home. Neither side managed to pick up any points on the opening day, but Forest did start to look good in the last 20 minutes of their tie against Arsenal. Its safe to assume they will be slightly more front footed from the off in this fixture than last week, so hopefully we will get more of a realistic suggestion of how this Forest side will play this year. The Blades have signed former Everton midfielder Tom Davies to add to a thin squad, and they certainly didn’t disgrace themselves in their last outing against Palace, but they are still seem to be lacking the necessary firepower to really threaten most sides.

                                                                                                                                    Liverpool 3 – 1 Bournemouth

 

We got a decent glimpse into how Bournemouth’s new boss wants them to play this season as they dominated possession against West Ham last week, however despite this, the game finished even both in terms of the score line and the chances created which suggests they still have  some work to do before we see the best from Iraola’s methods. An away trip to Anfield is a very different test than West Ham at home though, and they will almost certainly find themselves with less possession than they would like, couple this with a wealth of options up top for Klopp, and we can only see this game going one way.

                                                                                                                                         Wolves 1 – 1 Brighton

 

This felt like a hard game to call, and if we hadn’t seen Wolves on Mnight then we would be predicting a very different outcome. A lot of the discourse around Wolves has been  very much doom and gloom, the catalyst of which of course has been losing their manager coupled with a lack of signings, but Gary O’Niel has proven to be able of winning a relegation battle, with a team many would regard as worse than this current Wolves side. A dogged display at Old Trafford in which they were unlucky to not get all 3 points let alone jus the 1! But Brighton have proved year on year now that they are one of the most difficult sides to play when they are on form, and a dominant win against Luton has them full of confidence going into this game.

                                                                                                                                          Fulham 0 – 1 Brentford

 

Leno was the difference maker for Fulham last week as they scraped past an unlucky Everton side 1-0 and there is a slight worry that without Mitrovic, their attack will become toothless. Brentford on the other hand, held their own against Spurs, playing in their typical swashbuckling style, and despite missing their own Star man in Ivan Toney, they still looked dangerous throughout the 90. Fulham’s strong backline will always give them a chance in any game but unless they can get Jimenez firing like it’s 2020, we can’t see them getting anything from this fixture.

                                                                                                                                 Tottenham 3 – 2 Manchester United

 

This is a hard game to call, but with 18 goals in the last 5 fixtures between these sides, we can expect it to be exciting. Big Ange has the difficult task of guiding Spurs in their first game post Kane, but despite not taking all 3 points against Brentford, they did look a threat throughout and were a joy to watch. United on the other hand looked really poor in their outing with Wolves,  but such is football, they did walk away with maximum points! If they show up for this game with the same approach they did last week, then they could be in for a long 90 minutes! Hopefully for the Red Devils it was just a wake up call though, and they do have the chance to make a statement to the rest of the top sides.

                                                                                                                                      Man City 2 – 2 Newcastle

 

Both sides would probably prefer to have this fixture slightly later in the season, City due to picking up numerous injuries in recent weeks (most notably De Bruyne) as well as just returning from their Super cup final in midweek. While Newcastle would like to build on the momentum they gained from their dominant victory over Aston Villa. We initially had City down to win, but the Geordies looked very impressive last week and will be hoping to take advantage of some of the defensive casualties the City side are dealing with.

                                                                                                                                    Aston Villa 1 – 0 Everton

 

Villa fans will be wanting to forget about their second half collapse last week, but there is no shame in losing to that Newcastle side! Talks of a top 4 challenge may prove to be slightly over the top, but there were a lot of positives to be taken from their first game. Everton on the other hand will be tough to break down, but we think they may be lacking the cutting edge needed to take any points on the road in this game.

                                                                                                                                  West Ham 0 – 3 Chelsea

 

I’m predicting West Ham to have a much better season than they did last year, but with that being said, they are coming up against a Chelsea team full of new faces and off the back of an impressive performance against Liverpool. With as many changes as they have made this summer, It won’t be smooth sailing for the whole season, but right now Chelsea are riding high and West Ham are still a little light on who they have recruited. As seems to be the theme for many sides, the Irons are in the hunt for a striker and could struggle without one in this fixture.

                                                                                                                          Crystal Palace 1 – 3 Arsenal

 

Roy showed he still has some fight left in him and he will be hoping that translates to the Palace side. Buoyed by the new contract of seemingly Chelsea bound Olise, they will be looking to swat away another London side, but we feel Arsenal will just have too much firepower for them to deal with. Saka and Martinelli look like they haven’t missed a beat from their good form last year, but with Zinchenko a doubt and Timber picking up a devastating long term injury, there may be gaps for Palace to exploit.