Manchester City v Bournemouth

Manchester City flew out of the traps last weekend, earning a comfortable 2-0 win away to West Ham. The Citizens dominated the vast majority of the game having 75.4% possession and the result never seemed in doubt. All eyes were on big summer signing Erling Haaland and the Norwegian did not disappoint. The striker was in scintillating form, scoring a goal either side of the break on his full Premier League debut. No doubt, he’ll be hoping to add even more goals in this extremely inviting fixture.

There are quotes of odds as short as 1/20 for the home side to win this, so, a way of combatting this is the goal line of over 3.5. City will be looking to take the game to the Cherries from word go in this one, with the away side expected to sit in deep. We have often seen teams adopt this defensive shape but more often than not crumble to heavy defeat. 6 of the last 7 league matches at the Etihad have seen 4 or more goals and this includes games versus the ‘top six’ – Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United. There’s every chance it’ll be a similar story in terms of goals this weekend up against weaker opposition.

Many are predicting an onslaught here and I’m on board with these assumptions too! City scored a ginormous 99 goals last season and possess attacking weapons all over the pitch. Goals can arrive from absolutely anywhere, whether it’s Cancelo in his flying full back role, De Bruyne from distance or new goal machine Haaland poaching in front of goal. There are just so many lethal attacking options and I haven’t even mentioned half of them. With City likely to hit top gear early, I suspect Bournemouth could well be on the end of a hammering.

An encouraging stat for Bournemouth is that they have been on the scoresheet on their last 2 trips up to the Etihad. This can only give us further belief for goals in this particular match. They also put in a great performance at home to Villa in their opening game, winning 2-0, with goals coming from Lerma and Moore.

With Bournemouth buoyed after their opening day win, this gives us hope they may score at least a goal. City will be well up for this though and will be in the hunt for goals themselves, so I’m backing over 3.5 goals as my selection.

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Arsenal v Leicester

Leicester head to the Emirates this Saturday afternoon on what is set to be a scorcher of a day. The Foxes arrive here with only a single victory in their past 25 trips to North London, a particularly worrying statistic for the away side. Arsenal looked in excellent form in their opener away to Palace, after a tricky opening 15 minutes on the back foot. The backline of White, Zinchenko, Gabriel and in particular Saliba were in impressive form throughout, with the Frenchman scooping the MoM award. Arteta is likely to go with the same back four for this one as they look to keep another clean sheet.

The Gunners are already a totally different proposition, taking into account their excellent preseason form, along with last week’s 2-0 win. The forward line of Saka, Jesus and Martinelli hit 6 shots between them in that fixture, creating numerous dangerous opportunities in front of goal, with winger Martinelli on the scoresheet. All will be keen to take advantage of a Leicester defence that has managed just one clean sheet on their travels in the last 26 attempts. This clean sheet came against a relegated Burnley side last season and it’s hard to see Arsenal not taking advantage of this, as they target a comfortable home win.

As mentioned last week, we have still seen no new signings through the door at Leicester. There’s been further speculation too surrounding key players Maddison and Fofana, creating major doubts about the team’s immediate future.

Pereira, Barnes and Bertrand are all sidelined for this match and the team news can only add to their current woes, both on and off the field. Leicester threw a 2-0 lead away in the final thirty minutes in their fixture at home to Brentford last weekend and it’s hard to envisage a bounce back performance in what is going to be a very tough assignment.

As I’ve previously documented, Leicester’s terrible set piece defending is another way the home side will hope to pounce in front of goal. Arsenal scored in both head to head matches last season from these situations with Gabriel and Thomas Partey netting in either game.

Everything points to an Arsenal win here!

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Southampton v Leeds

After a disappointing start to their new campaign, Southampton will be looking to bounce back in a much more favourable fixture here at home to Leeds. Hassenhuttl’s side finished poorly last season, losing 5 of their final 6 home games at St Mary’s. However, the Saints have been on the scoresheet in 15 of their previous 16 at home in the Premier League. This excellent run of scoring indicates their high probability of doing so once more, and even though they were thumped 4-1 away to Spurs last weekend, they did still score. Up against a Leeds side who we all know play such an open style of football, this will lead to opportunities for both sides in front of goal.

A key player for the home side will be James Ward Prowse. The midfielder racked up 10 goals and 5 assists in the 21/22 season, a fabulous return. The England International will play a major role within this game and if we see him in full flow, we can expect to see him heavily involved. His top class set pieces will cause the Leeds defence serious problems and there’s always the chance of a worldie free kick as he hopes to add to his tally of 14 free kick goals in the Premier League.

The Whites themselves have been in scoring form on the road in recent times. At the back end of last season we saw Leeds scoring in 4 of their 5 final away matches showing their keen eye for goal. Their opening game at home to Wolves ended 2-1, with a goal from Rodrigo and the other officially credited as an own goal. Although, Jesse Marsch in his press conference claimed that Brenden Aaronson was still crediting himself with that one. The head coach then went on to mention the possibility of minutes for new signing Luis Sinisterra who has been recovering from injury since joining from Feyenoord. The forward, if gaining some valuable minutes off the bench will be a threat in front of goal alongside usual starters Bamford, Harrison, Rodrigo and Aaronson. All of whom have goal scoring possibilities between them, in particular proven striker Patrick Bamford.

All in all I’m expecting a real end-to-end game here on the South coast with chances aplenty and I can easily see both teams scoring.

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Brighton v Newcastle

After both sides picked up 3 points on the opening day of the season, Brighton and Newcastle will both want to build on that. Brighton’s 2-1 win away at Old Trafford was probably the more surprising result than Newcastle’s 2-0 victory over newly promoted Nottingham Forest. Brighton will not only be going into this game confident after last week’s victory over Manchester United but also that they have never lost at home to Newcastle United in the Premier League (W2 & 3D).

After leading Brighton to their highest league finish ever last season, Graham Potter will continue to install his philosophy and look to improve on last season’s 9^th place finish. Averaging 495.66 passes per match, Brighton will continue to be direct down the channels with Trossard and look to find poacher Danny Welbeck in the box after notching over 728 crosses during the previous campaign.

Cash-rich Newcastle on the other hand, will want to spoil the party and continue their impervious record under Eddie Howe (who has recently been rewarded with a new and improved contract). Last weekend’s goal scorer, Callum Wilson will be eager to continue his form against Brighton, contributing 9 goals (4G & 3A) in his last 7 games against the Seagulls. This could go either way on Saturday afternoon as both teams are in good form going into this game. I feel both teams will get themselves onto the scoresheet but either side could pinch a winner. I believe Newcastle have that a bit more individual brilliance but as Brighton have shown last week by ruining Ten Hag’s Old Trafford party, their style of play under Graham Potter is very hard to break down.

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