it’s been a long summer with so little top class football action to entertain us, but – not a moment too soon – the premier league returns this weekend. with a host of cracking matches to choose from, here we assess four of the best as we bring you our predictions and betting tips to help you make some cash. also check out our live betting odds comparison for all the games to gain the best value around.
arsenal partly made up for missing out on a champions league spot at the end of last season by landing the fa cup. victory over chelsea (albeit on penalties) in the community shield on sunday will mean the gunners will be in high spirits ahead of their friday night season opener. arsene wenger will hope his side can start positively against a leicester side who finished 12th in the table last term.
leicester have been active in the transfer market thus far, bringing in the likes of kelechi iheanacho from man city, and craig shakespeare will be keen for his side to rediscover some of the form that took them to the title in the 2015-16 season.
we feel the foxes will be very much up against it at the emirates, however, and the bookies agree. the best price on a home victory is just 8/15 with betway, while leicester can be backed at a chunky 13/2. for us, backing wenger’s men to win both halves looks decent value at 13/5 with betfair.
betting prediction: arsenal to win both halves at 11/8 with bet365
watford finished in 17th place in the table last term but they were six points clear of the drop and with the appointment of former hull boss marco silva they will be hoping for more this term.
the rumours about barcelona taking philippe coutinho from liverpool for an astronomical fee will not help jurgen klopp’s preparations for the new top flight season. but the german maestro has enough experience to ensure his players are fully focussed ahead of this one and we think the reds will edge the three points.
we don’t think they’ll have things all their own way though, and our prediction here is for liverpool to win the game, but with watford scoring at least one goal of their own at tasty odds. liverpool did the double over watford last term – including a 6-1 hammering at anfield – but with silva in charge of the hornets we feel that the home side will at least make a decent game of this one.
betting prediction: liverpool to win and both teams to score at 12/5 with bet365
brighton stormed to promotion from the championship last term, losing just nine times in the process and finishing merely a point behind eventual champions newcastle. the premier league, however, is a different kettle of fish, and chris hughton’s men are going to have a task on their hands to stay in the division.
there are easier games to start the premier league season than against man city, but then pep guardiola’s men might not fully fancy a trip to the south coast to kick things off either. having said that we think the visitors are highly likely to prevail in this one.
over the summer pep has had a real clear out of the deadwood from the squad with no fewer than 22 players having left either permanently or on loan. the addition of kyle walker from tottenham could prove a canny move, while bernardo silva, danilo and ederson will no doubt add some class.
in short, this is going to be a very difficult game for hughton’s men and we’re backing city to be winning at half time and full time as pep attempts to guide his side to the title he so craves. while we think brighton have a fair chance of staying in the premier league, we also predict they will pick up the points they need against the lesser teams and that the like of man city will be able to pick them off with relative ease.
betting prediction: man city to be winning at half time and full time at 10/11 with bet365
another side that is new to the premier league this season takes on one of the other title contenders as newcastle host tottenham on sunday. spurs finished second last term, seven points adrift of champions chelsea, but they finished the campaign very strongly, beating man united 2-1 then hammering leicester 6-1 and ending with a thumping 7-1 victory at hull. we fancy they could hit the ground running here and we wouldn’t put it past them to put the magpies to the sword.
as things stand, mauricio pochettino is putting his faith in his current squad, having not yet made any major signings. this might prove a bad move once the champions league gets going, but for the early weeks of the campaign we feel spurs could well get off to a flyer and be the early pacesetters.
as such we think backing tottenham to win this one with a -1 goal handicap looks a great value bet at 2/1 with ladbrokes. newcastle could well take a few weeks to readjust to life in the top flight and pochettino’s men are well placed to take full advantage on sunday.
betting prediction: tottenham to win with a -1 goal handicap at 7/4 with bet365