After a busy midweek of European and Carabao Cup action, the Premier League takes centre stage again this weekend.
All eyes will be on the Etihad Stadium come Sunday when the top two go head-to-head.
Injuries to Kevin De Bruyne and Martin Odegaard mean neither side will be at full-strength, but Arsenal, particularly, cannot afford a defeat given they are already trailing the champions by two points.
As ever, Betfair Ambassador Alan Shearer previews the action for Metro.co.uk…
West Ham v Chelsea
A tough game to call on Saturday lunchtime. It is yet another London derby for West Ham and very much like the London derby I spoke about last weekend at Fulham, where I also predicted a draw, I am going to go for another score draw here.
Chelsea got another win at Bournemouth and had their keeper to thank, and it was great for Nkunku to get off the mark last week.
Aston Villa v Wolves
Aston Villa are back at home after a great week. Coming from behind against Everton here at Villa Park and getting their Champions League campaign off with a convincing win. It should be rocking at Villa Park.
It’s been a tough start to the season for Wolves, and it doesn’t help when you’ve sold your two best players in Neto and Max Kilman. I know they’ve brought players in, but I’ve looked at Wolves in these first four games and I think it’s going to be tough for them this season.
They did okay last season; they struggled at the end but I am a fan of Gary O’Neil, however, Gary has to go out and win some games pretty sharpish. I don’t think that will start here though, home win.
Newcastle v Fulham
This will be a tough game for Newcastle. We’ll see if Eddie decides to bring Harvey Barnes in from the start which would be exciting to watch as a front three with Gordon and Isak, but Fulham are decent and up front, they do have some quality now.
I’ll go for a draw.
Leicester v Everton
What a game this is already, early into the season and it feels a massive game for Sean Dyche.
There were lots of things Everton did well against Aston Villa, and even when they were 3-2 down, they still created chances. If Dominic Calvert-Lewin sticks one of those two chances away in the second half then we might be talking about a different story.
Leicester did really well to get a point at Palace, but I’m going to go with Everton to get off the mark here and get a win which would be massive for Dyche and the Everton fans.
Liverpool vs Bournemouth
No one saw last week’s result coming at Anfield against Nottingham Forest, who deserved the three points. They have had a brilliant start to the season there’s no doubt about that.
Liverpool conceded early in Milan which could have rocked them after the weekend, but they came back well to win the game in Italy.
Arne Slot will change things around in the team because of what happened last week and because of the extra game in midweek too.
I think they’ll have enough, and it’ll be a home win for Liverpool.
Southampton v Ipswich
This game is very much like Leicester v Everton, huge for both teams.
Out of the promoted teams, I think Ipswich have probably given themselves the best chance of survival and I’ve not liked what I’ve seen from Southampton in front of goal.
They’ve had a lot of possession, a lot of chances and missed the penalty against Man United. They were impressive for 30 minutes but missing the penalty was a game changer.
When you have chances against any club at Premier League level, they’re few and far between, especially when you’re a newly promoted team, so you have to take them.
It was a weird situation because Brereton-Diaz has taken and scored nine penalties, yet Cameron Archer has never scored a penalty, and he was given the task of taking it.
Southampton will struggle this season because of a lack of goals.
Away win.
Spurs v Brentford
I was hugely impressed with Brentford against Man City, particularly in the first 40 minutes and again they’ll make it difficult for Spurs here.
I really like Thomas Frank as a manager. I was lucky enough to spend some time with him in the summer at the Euros and I was really impressed with the way he spoke and his ideas. He’s an impressive guy and doing a great job at Brentford.
Unfortunately for them, it looks as if Wissa is going to be injured for a while which is a big blow, so I’m going to go for a Spurs win.
Crystal Palace vs Man Utd
Man United got that much needed win at Southampton last week, no other result would have been acceptable, but this is a tougher ask.
The promising thing for Man United is Palace have not got going yet this season, and this may not be the one to start. However, they did batter them here last season.
It is a really tough one to call but it will be a fantastic atmosphere at Selhurst Park. I will go for a draw.
Brighton v Nottingham Forest
No one had Nottingham Forest winning last week at Anfield, but they were impressive. They have had a great start to the season which I don’t think many of us saw coming.
Whether or not they can go to Brighton and do the same, I’m not sure. That might be too much of an ask to pull it off again.
Brighton didn’t get a great result at home to Ipswich, but I do think Ipswich will be the best of the promoted sides, so it remains to be seen how that result looks long term. It has still been a brilliant start by the new manager, and they have some fantastic players.
Home win.
Man City v Arsenal
If you offered Arsenal the option to go to the Etihad and get a point like they did last year, they’d snap your hands off. They don’t need to go there and win.
Arsenal are great at defending and I do believe they’ve got the best back four in the Premier League as a unit, with their organisation and with the protection that they get from in-front too.
In William Saliba, you have a very good defender, there’s no doubt about that and Saliba v Haaland is one of the battles that I’m really looking forward to watching.
You’ve got one of, if not the best centre-forward in the world and you’ve got one of, if not the best centre-half in the world, so it’ll be a fantastic, intriguing battle.
The winner on Sunday could come from the battle Haaland has with those two centre backs.
I am going for a draw in this one. It’s a long week with both teams having played in the Champions League as well, so a draw for both teams isn’t a bad result, even though Man City are at home.
For more from Betfair Ambassador Alan Shearer, head to https://betting.betfair.com/football/alan-shearer/.
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