the premier league got off to a flying start last weekend, with upsets, stunning goals, controversy, late winners and a seven goal thriller at the emirates. we’re hoping for more of the same this weekend as we run the rule over the five biggest games of the weekend.
“the weekend” is now a full three days long (even without a monday game), thanks to the premier league’s new friday night football scheduling, meaning even more action to get our betting teeth into. we’ve got previews, betting tips and the best odds for man united v southampton; stoke v man city; leicester v arsenal; sunderland v middlesbrough; and west ham v bournemouth.
if you want to have a bet on any of those matches, one of the other premier league clashes or indeed any game of football from around the world, be sure to check out our live odds comparison. this is the quickest, easiest way to get the best odds and bigger odds means bigger winnings!
manchester united v southampton
premier league football on a friday night? what an excellent innovation! and this is a fine game to get things started, with
the saints travelling to old trafford. jose mourinho and zlatan ibrahimovic got their united premier league careers off to the perfect start last weekend. the swede’s fine low strike helped his portuguese boss to an opening 3-1 win and with £89m paul pogba coming into the team here it’s hard to see the away side taking anything from this one.
that said, southampton have a fantastic record at old trafford over the past few years. they have won 1-0 on their last two visits and secured a 1-1 draw the season before that. they certainly won’t be scared or overwhelmed and there could be some value in backing them +0.5 in the asian handicap.
ultimately though we have to believe this is a changed united (not to mention a changed saints who yet again have lost their manager in the summer). the home team are priced at best betting odds of 1/2 for the win but we predict they can win in style. as such our prediction and betting tip here is for man united to win by exactly two goals, available at odds of 10/3 with bet365.
stoke v manchester city
the early saturday game gives pep guardiola an early taste of what the premier league is all about. a sunny
saturday afternoon in stoke may not hold the same semi-mythical fear as a “wet and windy wednesday night in stoke” but even so, the citizens will be tested here.
after scraping a win against sunderland the former barca and bayern boss acknowledged the difficulties of the premier league. the fact that they play the potters so soon after their champions league play-off in romania certainly won’t help either.
stoke’s record at home against the top sides is very strong and we predict they can cause another upset here. they beat city 2-0 in the corresponding fixture last year and also beat united by the same score at home. further draws against the top two show how tricky a visit to the bet365 stadium can be and so our betting tip here is the draw. a stalemate can be backed at odds of 3/1 and that looks good value to us.
leicester v arsenal
the highlight of the weekend’s premier league action sees the teams who finished first and second meet. leicester lost at hull last weekend, whilst arsenal went down 4-3 at home to liverpool and so both will be desperate to bounce back.
arsenal are 6/4 (sportingbet) favourites here, with the draw priced at odds of 13/5 with sky bet and the foxes out at 9/5 with bet365. arsenal were woeful at the back against liverpool and are still short of numbers defensively. in contrast leicester played well at times away at hull.
with arsenal sure to attack claudio ranieri’s men we think the home side will have the space to play their normal counter-attacking game. hull stifled them and played deep but arsenal won’t do that and we think that spells trouble for wenger. leicester are great value at 9/5 and the home win is our betting tip for this one.
sunderland v middlesbrough
this “derby” doesn’t have the passion of the tyne-wear match but even so, both sets of fans will be desperate for their side to deliver the goods on sunday.
the black cats lost narrowly at man city last weekend, whilst boro got a 1-1 draw at home against stoke. this one should be a tight affair and the odds reflect that, although david moyes’ men are favourites at 31/20 with betvictor. boro are priced at odds of 11/5 with the same firm whilst the draw is decent value at 23/10 with betfred.
overall though we think the safest bet here is under 2.5 goals and that is our tip. in what we predict will be a tight, tense derby, odds of 11/20 with betvictor are good value for a low scoring contest at the stadium of light.
west ham v bournemouth
the final premier league game we are previewing is
west ham’s first at their new home. they were narrowly beaten by chelsea in their opener but with a party atmosphere guaranteed at the old olympic stadium they should prove irresistible.
bournemouth were outclassed for much of their 3-1 defeat by man united and we think a similar score could be on the cards here. odds of 10/11 (betfair) for the home win look amazing value but we’re predicting a bigger win and a fast start.
bournemouth hold no appeal at 7/2 with paddy power and our betting tip here is west ham/west ham in the ht/ft betting. that’s available at big odds of 21/10 with coral and may well be the bet of the week!