The opening Super Sunday of the Premier League season contains two matches as we see three of the supposed title challengers getting their campaigns underway. Man City laid the marker down to the rest with a win on Saturday and it is over to Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool to respond on Sunday.
Bournemouth vs Man Utd
The Jose Mourinho competitive era at Old Trafford begins with a lengthy trip to Bournemouth who more than proved their worth in their first season in the top flight last year and will be looking to better that this year.
Bournemouth have Callum Wilson back to fitness for the coming season and he will be like a new signing for them. Speaking of new signings Jordan Ibe is one of a few incoming players who will most likely get a debut in this fixture. Junior Stanislas is not going to be involved as he is out through injury.
Man Utd are expected to give Zlatan Ibrahimovic his competitive debut but Jose Mourinho will have to do without record signing Paul Pogba for this match as he is suspended. All eyes will be on Mourinho’s team sheet to see how many, if any, of United’s promising set of youngsters he picks.
I’m not going to be on this match. I need to see a couple of matches under Mourinho to see how he is going to set this side up and how it is going to cope, especially on the road where their potential lack of movement up front could count against them. Bournemouth aren’t really a side to take on when they are fresh anyway.
Arsenal vs Liverpool
The match of the weekend comes from the Emirates Stadium as last season’s runners up Arsenal host a side who many expect to have improved enough to get into contention to win the title this season in Liverpool.
There has been a lot made about Arsene Wenger’s quiet transfer activity but this is nothing new and we shouldn’t think his side will do little on the back of that. Two signings he did make are Granit Xhaka and Rob Holding and they are expected to start with Per Mertesacker and Gabriel both injured and Laurent Koscielny not match fit. Danny Welbeck is injured and Olivier Giroud isn’t match fit either.
Liverpool aren’t without their own injuries with Daniel Sturridge and James Milner both out injured. They made a number of new signings in the summer and the likes of Georginio Wijnaldum, Joel Matip and Sadio Mane are being lined up to make a debut here. We can expect Liverpool to be much more offensive this season and on the front foot.
I’m expecting goals here. Arsenal’s defence has been decimated by injuries while Liverpool haven’t been able to defend for a good while. Both sides are going to be much better when they attack than when they defend and so that leads me to think there will be more than 2.5 goals in this match.
Premier League – Tips
WON – Back Arsenal vs Liverpool – Over 2.5 goals for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Bwin
Back her here: