Chelsea v Wolves

Graham Potter’s Chelsea had a comfortable victory midweek against AC Milan, with a 3-0 over the Italian side. Potter will be aiming to mirror that result as they welcome managerless Wolverhampton Wanderers to the Bridge on Saturday afternoon.

Recent meetings haven’t been kind to the London side, last beating Wolves back in July 2020. Since then, it has been 3D & 1L. That being said, a single win in 8 games for Wolves this season doesn’t bode well against a side who have won 3 of the last 4 with a 2-1 score line.

One player who will be desperate to play for Wolves is new signing Diego Costa, the former Chelsea striker scored 52 goals with 16 assists in 89 PL appearances. The rough and ready Spaniard will look to bully the Chelsea defenders and hope to cause an upset on his return to the Bridge.

The worrying stat for Chelsea is their inability to keep clean sheets, conceding in every game since their 1-0 win over Everton on the opening day. A 0-goal difference after 7 games isn’t something we usually associate with Chelsea but conceding 10 goals against sides Chelsea fans will feel should be teams that should be routine wins for The Blues. Averaging 1.43 goals a game means that failing to keep a clean sheet, usually results in dropped points for Potters side. 

The Englishman will be eager for his second win as Chelsea boss and I fancy him to do it, with Aubameyang leading the line gives him a new dimension in attack with the Gabon international looking to use his pace in behind and position previously filled by Kai Havertz who usually adopted the ‘False 9’ role and coming to feet and linking others into the game.

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Manchester City v Southampton

It’s all smiles around the City camp after last weekend’s 6-3 thrashing over local rivals Manchester United to claim the bragging rights in the city. Boasting their unbeaten start to the season (the only side yet to taste defeat). Welcoming a Southampton side who are yet to keep a clean sheet in the league all season, a stat that will have Erling Haaland licking his lips at the thought of being able to add to his unbelievable 14 goals in 8 Premier League appearances (scoring just under 50% of City’s 29 goals). 

It’s a less than ideal time for Southampton to visit the Etihad, winning just one of their last 11 away games in the league, and after losing 2-1 at home to Everton last weekend, confidence will be low in the Southampton dressing room.

There will be a slight bit of satisfaction for Southampton based on last season’s performances against the Premier League champions, being one of only two sides that stopped Pep Guardiola’s men from finding the back of the net at home last season and pinching two points across the two fixtures. 

Goals don’t come by often for Southampton averaging 1.63 chances per game. As for City scoring 3.63 goals per game with an average of 3.38 chances, it really shows how clinical the champions have been this campaign.

The saying ‘An easy day at the office’ springs to mind for Manchester City in this one, with the only real question is how many are Manchester City and Haaland going to score?

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Brighton v Tottenham Hotspur

The high flying Seagulls host Tottenham in the Saturday evening kick off this weekend. They come into this off the back of another eye-catching performance at Anfield last weekend. Leandro Trossard was in scintillating form, scoring a sensational hat trick and the current 4^th spot in the table looks to be no fluke. The point picked up at Anfield is no doubt an excellent one and they’ll be hoping to kick on further in this encounter. Brighton will have had a full week’s rest in preparation for this too, as Spurs travelled to Germany midweek for their Champions League encounter with Frankfurt. Tottenham managed a 0-0 draw in that particular game and were heavily beaten by their fierce North London rivals last weekend 3-1. Although their recent form may have taken a slight dip, they continue to maintain a 100% goal scoring record this campaign. It’s now 13 Premier League outings in a row they’ve scored in, dating back to May of last season.

Brighton themselves have been finding the back of the net on a regular basis too. It’s now 11 out of their previous 12 matches in the Premier League that they’ve been on the scoresheet. New manager Roberto De Zerbi will be keen for this to continue and there’s every reason to believe they will do so. As previously mentioned, the 3 goals scored at Anfield confirms their strong attacking output. They became only the 2^nd team to score 3+ in an away match at Liverpool since February 2017, a quite staggering statistic. In terms of the personnel who have been hot in front of goal, well 3 players have been firing; Alexis Mac Allister, Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard. The attacking trio have 12 goals between them thus far and it would come as no surprise to see one of them hit the onion bag once again. I firmly believe the home side have all the tools to unlock the Spurs defence at least once within the 90 minutes.

In opposition, Tottenham arrive into this game needing a bounce back performance. Conte will have his side fired up for what could well be a tough assignment. Harry Kane has been the main man up front and he’s set to spearhead the away side’s attack here. The Englishman has now scored 7 goals in his previous 7 Premier League matches, a fabulous return. This red hot form is not to be sniffed at and he’ll be hoping to add to his tally here. I believe the other danger man to be Heung Min Son, after a sluggish start in terms of goal scoring. He came on as a substitute in the game against Leicester just 2 weeks back, where he smashed a magnificent 13 minute hat trick in. The relentless South Korean won the Golden Boot last season and will be in the hunt for more moving forward. Overall, as a team, Tottenham are in a rich vein of goal scoring form and that’s all we’re after for the BTTS selection. I find it hard to imagine either side not having multiple opportunities throughout, therefore BTTS gets my vote.

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Arsenal v Liverpool

A Super Sunday treat at the Emirates as Arsenal take on Liverpool. The hosts have been purring all season long and go into this clash currently at the top of the table! They dispatched North London rivals Tottenham with ease last week, running out 3-1 winners. It’s now 9 wins in 10 in all competitions for the Gunners and they’re averaging a whopping 2.5 goals per game. This could be a breakthrough year for Arsenal and they’ll no doubt be hoping to continue their strong start to the season in this huge encounter. In comparison, the visitors have been in indifferent form in the opening months of the season. This may have come as a surprise to many but there’s no reason why this cannot be turned round with the talent they possess. They’ve picked up back to back wins in the Champions League either side of their crazy 3-3 draw at home to Brighton last weekend. Personally, I believe this game to have all the ingredients to be a goal fest and to be a very entertaining game for the neutral

The goals have been flowing for the home side ever since the get go back in August. Eleven different players have hit the back of the net in total; this impressive stat goes to show that success in front of goal can come from all areas of the pitch. The main threat has been the Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus who has 5 goals to his name and has notched in the last 2 Premier League games. Young starlet Gabriel Martinelli and captain Martin Odegaard have both hit 3 goals each too. Not just the attackers have contributed however; many others have chipped in throughout the season. A key area, as ever will be set piece situations, both William Saliba and Gabriel will be the primary targets in these situations. Between the pair, they’ve racked up 3 goals in total, an excellent return for the centre back partnership. In recent weeks, the Gunners have put 9 goals past their opposition in all competitions and they’ll be confident of keeping this up against Liverpool here. 

On the contrary, opponents Liverpool have been in patchy form and this could be an ideal opportunity to kick start their season. In recent seasons the Reds have got the better of their counterparts in four straight H2H battles. They have outscored Arsenal 12-1 in this particular run dating back to September 2020 and this may well count for something come Sunday. However, with Liverpool arriving into this one having attained just 2 wins all season, this has enabled me to lean on the goals angle within the game. The away side have top class attacking talent in their ranks in Mo Salah, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz, all of whom are vying for a start here. All of the aforementioned aren’t shy of a goal either having proved so successful in a goal scoring sense in recent times. It’s Roberto Firmino though who has 5 goals to his name and has been finding the back of the net most regularly.  

All the signs are there for a high scoring affair and I’m taking over 2.5 goals as the pick in this one!

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