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Our next stop on the train takes us to St James’ Park, and I’m focusing on Gravenberch to win at least one foul here.

Gravenberch was one of the few Liverpool players whose level didn’t really drop last season with one of his best assets being his ability to find a way out of tight spaces.

Gravenberch won 42 fouls across his 34 starts in the Premier League last season (1.26 per 90), including winning a foul in this fixture as Liverpool came away 3-2 winners.

Newcastle may have lost Tonali and Guimaraes from their midfield but have notably brought in Aladji Bamba from Monaco as a replacement.

We can expect Bamba to be just as aggressive as Tonali and Guimaraes given that he committed 23 fouls in Ligue 1 last season across just 10 starts (2.54 per 90).

Newcastle committed 17 fouls in this fixture last season, also picking up a red card. This game has become quite intense in recent seasons given the transfer sagas and cup final between the sides last year - so I wouldn’t be surprised to see another game with a high foul count.

William Osula has shown that he can be an effective striker at this level having netted seven goals across eight starts in the Premier League last season.

It took him a while to settle at Newcastle, but he looks to be Matthias Jaissle’s preferred number nine ahead of the new season - notably scoring from five shots against Strasbourg in Newcastle’s final pre-season friendly, seeing two of those efforts find the target. 

Osula is still only 23, so he can develop even further this season if he does get consistent playing time as the main striker. Osula achieved his seven goal tally from 12 shots on target last season (1.33 per 90) and came off the bench to score in this fixture the last time the teams met at St James’ Park.

Cody Gakpo took more shots than any other Liverpool player last season (87 - 2.85 per 90), finishing the campaign as Liverpool’s second top scorer in the Premier League with seven goals behind Hugo Ekitike (11).

Gakpo saw 21 of these efforts find the target (0.69 per 90) and notably found the target in both of his appearances during pre-season for Iraola’s side, netting against Como last time out. 

Liverpool should be quite a fun side to watch under Iraola, he encourages his teams to press high and get shots away quickly after winning the ball back in dangerous areas. I think Gakpo will benefit from this style, and can see Liverpool’s general shot output improving this term. 

I can see this being a very chaotic game between two sides that have had a lot of change over the summer and landed on two managers that want to play with intensity and press high up the pitch.

Bournemouth were one of the most entertaining sides to watch in the Premier League under Iraola, but his style does take some time to be effective and it’s quite a swing from the more controlled approach that Liverpool utilised under Arne Slot.

Liverpool’s pre-season games were a good example of this, they gave up two goal leads on two occasions against Leeds and Monaco - with both of those games seeing at least five goals in total.

The recent head to head meetings between these sides also offer promise for goals. Six of the last seven head to head clashes have seen 3+ goals, with the exception of one 2-0 Liverpool win at Anfield a few seasons ago.

Another stat to keep an eye on with Liverpool this season is their card count. Iraola’s Bournemouth side ranked within the top three sides in the Premier League for both fouls and cards in each of the last two seasons - and that is no accident.

Those tallies are a direct result of Iraola’s style of play, which involves an intense press and committing multiple tactical fouls to protect the backline. Liverpool ranked 19th for yellow cards in the Premier League last season (1.5 per game), but that will definitely increase under Iraola’s instructions.

This game has developed into a bit of a rivalry too, Liverpool committed 15 fouls and picked up three yellow cards in this fixture last season - collecting two cautions after just 25 minutes of action. Each of Liverpool’s last three trips to St James’ Park have seen them collect at least two cards.

Barcelona kick off their LaLiga campaign against an Elche side that they tend to enjoy playing against, winning each of the last 14 head to head meetings between the sides - stretching all the way back to 2014.

Barcelona came away 3-1 winners in this fixture last season, racking up an xG of 6.44 from 30 shots on that occasion. They limited Elche to just nine efforts, laying the foundations for another strong performance in this clash.

Hansi Flick now has the likes of Rodri, Cancelo, Adeyemi and Gordon to call upon following Barcelona’s summer business and I think they’ll get off to a strong start here against an Elche side who can’t quite seem to find a way to beat Barcelona.

Palmeiras sit three points clear at the summit of the Brazilian Serie A and will look to maintain their title push as they take on a Vasco De Gama side who currently sit in the relegation zone.

Palmeiras have only lost one of their 11 home games in the league this season, winning seven of these matches. They’ve only conceded eight goals across these games which will be a real concern for Vasco De Gama given that they are yet to win a single game on the road this season.

Palmeiras have won each of the last three head to head meetings between the teams as the home side to nil - and a similar outcome is likely here. 

Joao Pedro has enjoyed a really strong pre-season for Chelsea under Xabi Alonso as he looks to build on a successful debut campaign for the Blues, in which he scored 15 Premier League goals.

He took 73 shots in the top flight last season (2.46 per 90), seeing 28 of these efforts find the target (0.94 per 90). 

These numbers may feel a bit low, but his underlying data picked up massively in the second half of the campaign when he was actually trusted as a number nine, with Enzo Maresca always reluctant to deploy him in that role.

Joao Pedro should only improve further under the guidance of Xabi Alonso, with Palmer and Rogers now operating behind him in a dangerous front three. 

Joao Pedro scored seven goals across five appearances during pre-season, and notably had the summer to rest after not being called up to Brazil’s World Cup squad. 

I’ve always been quite defensive of Rob Sanchez. He’s definitely got errors in him, but these are often overly scrutinised and he doesn’t get the same level of attention when he actually puts in a good display. 

He was forced into making 98 saves in the Premier League last season, working out to an average of 2.90 saves per 90 with a save percentage just shy of 70%. 

He was called into action three times in this fixture last season, and Chelsea’s pre-season campaign would suggest that there are still some defensive issues for Alonso to iron out.

Sanchez made three saves in Chelsea’s final pre-season friendly against Real Sociedad, and will be tested by the likes of Garcia, Bobb, Kevin and King in this clash.

One area of Chelsea’s game that may take some time for Alonso to properly address is how reckless the Blues have been when it comes to their disciplinary record.

Chelsea ended last season with eight red cards, four more than any other team in the Premier League. They also ranked second for yellow cards, with only Tottenham picking up more cautions than the Blues. Chelsea have actually ranked in the top two teams for yellow cards in each of the last three seasons.

This won’t be a quick fix, much of these temperament issues are down to Chelsea’s young squad and this is a perfect game for that issue to tide to the fore given that it is a West London derby. 

Chelsea picked up 2+ cards in both head to head meetings with Fulham in the Premier League last season, picking up four cautions (including a red card) when these sides met at Craven Cottage last year.

One really interesting aspect of Chelsea’s recruitment this summer is how they’ve really focused on bringing in height and physicality - which are traits that this Chelsea side have desperately missed in the Premier League over recent campaigns.

Lacroix, Rogers and Palestra are all over 6 foot, and bolster the squad in all three areas of the pitch to make Chelsea look like a pretty dangerous side from set pieces on paper. They’ve also secured Austin McPhee, the set piece coach from Aston Villa, who should further improve Chelsea’s effectiveness from set piece situations.

Chelsea saw 10.24 corners per game in the Premier League last season, seeing 9+ match corners in 74% of their games. Fulham averaged 10.48 corners per game in the Premier League, seeing 9+ corners in 79% of their matches.

Chelsea’s attack on paper ahead of this season looks really promising with Morgan Rogers set to slot in alongside Palmer as the duo operating behind Joao Pedro. 

If Chelsea can get the balance between the three right, they could end up being one of the top scoring sides in the division. All three players reached double digits for goals in the Premier League last season, and you’d think that they will compliment each other really well.

I’m also not fully convinced about the direction that Fulham have taken this summer, losing Marco Silva and replacing him with Alvaro Arbeloa. He doesn’t have much coaching experience at all, and this is a very testing opening game for his side. 

Chelsea scored 3+ goals in each of their final three pre-season games ahead of the new campaign, with two of these games being against AC Milan and Real Sociedad.

Ramos also impressed in the final pre-season game, with a goal and two assists against Manchester United.

In such a star-studded line-up, it was always going to be tough for him to get the minutes at PSG. Despite never being a regular starter, he netted 27 goals in 81 appearances for the Parisians.

Across his recent seasons since breaking through, Ramos has averaged 1.34, 1.54, 1.33, 2.70 and 1.71 shots on target per 90 minutes which is some seriously impressive consistency.

Now set to be the starting number nine, we should see plenty of hits in this market from the Portuguese striker.

Simeone got his season off to an excellent start as he netted what turned out to be the winning goal in the Coppa Italia after just nine minutes against Carrarese.

Simeone has struggled in recent years following an incredible 17 goal season at Verona. His move to Napoli didn’t work out but he was back on track last season as he scored 11 times in 32 matches for Torino.

He averaged 1.13 shots on target per 90 minutes last season and will lead the line as the sole striker in this one.

He should be in the thick of it, against a MIlan side who have plenty of defensive question marks.

Casadei started off the ‘26/27 in strong fashion as he racked up three fouls against lower league side Carrarese.

Casadei is an industrious, hard-working midfielder who loves getting stuck in. He led the side for fouls last season, committing 52 - and topped the charts despite not playing as many minutes as others.

He averaged 2.34 fouls per 90 minutes throughout the Serie A campaign.

That was his biggest season in regards to fouls, having previously posted (still impressive) numbers of 1.44 and 1.53 fouls per 90 minutes.

Casadei will be up against the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek (1.51 fouls per 90 minutes drawn) and Yunush Musah, who spent last season on loan at Atalanta, where he drew 1.85 fouls per 90 minutes.

After an average loan spell at Fulham, the Nigerian wide-man is back in Italy and rounded off pre-season in impressive fashion with a goal and two assists against Manchester United, which should nail him on to start here.

Across his career, Chukwueze has been fouled an average of 1.39 times per 90 minutes in domestic matches.

He’s incredibly quick, he’s got a sharp turn and a few tricks in the locker. He’s always looking to go past his man and get balls across the box.

His direct opponent Alession Cacciamani committed two fouls in the Copa Italia to kick-off the season and committed an average of 1.12 fouls per 90 minutes for Serie B side Juve Stabia last season.

The Brazilian has been electric in his last two campaigns for Barcelona, contributing 31 goals and 12 assists in his last 58 league games.

He’s never shy of taking on a shot from distance and does have an eye for the spectacular, we saw that in his time with Leeds as well.

He should start as the central striker here, with Anthony Gordon coming in on the left-hand side.

Barcelona are 1.29 favorites to win this match and should score some goals. They netted 95 times last season, the most in La Liga by a country mile.

In a central area, Raphinha should have plenty of opportunity to impact the game.

Aguado will line-up in the centre of the park here and be tasked with stopping the likes of Fermin Lopez, Marc Bernal and Gavi from controlling the game. Pedri also returned to action in their final pre-season friendly so could see some minutes.

Gavi and Bernal combined for well over 3.00 fouls drawn per 90 minutes last season so the Elche midfield have a tough task here.

Elche averaged nearly 14 fouls per 90 last season, with Aguado averaging 0.90. He also committed a foul in their opening match of this campaign.

He’s now committed a foul in six of his last seven matches and has committed a total of eight in that run.

Villar had a busy opener to the campaign as he was involved in eight fouls - fouled six times and committing two himself and earning a yellow card.

Villar averaged 1.67 fouls per 90 minutes in La Liga last season and given Barcelona’s prowess of winning fouls in midfield, a couple of fouls here looks a good bet, especially in a game where the foul markets are quite short.

Villar’s role can also often see him settling into  a right-sided position when out of possession, which may line him up against Anthony Gordon at times.

Gordon drew an average of 2.01 fouls per 90 for Newcastle last season.

Yamal is a player you’d much sooner to back for fouls drawn, but he does make a few himself and again, in a game with some short odds, this is a nice addition to the bet builder.

Yamal committed an average of 1.12 fouls per 90 in La Liga last season. He also committed foul in five of his six starts at the World Cup, in fact he totted up a hefty 14 fouls at the tournament.

The left-hand side for Elche draw some serious fouls too. German Valera was fouled 70 times last season, the second highest total in the squad and an average of 2.21 times per 90 minutes.

Behind him, Federico Redondo should start. He didn’t play loads last season but was fouled at a rate of 2.50 times per 90 minutes.