The first Saturday of the Premier League season is one which has six matches in it as we continue the opening weekend of the new campaign with two of the three promoted sides on show as well as two of the top three from last term.
So much has changed in terms of the football coverage landscape since last season but one thing that hasn’t is that the Premier League day begins with a TV game and ends with one with the matches in between having updates in the regular places.
Early Kick Off
The Saturday action begins at the home of one of those promoted sides when Ipswich Town play their first Premier League match since 2002 when they host a Liverpool side who are beginning a new era under Arne Slot, the Dutchman who has replaced Jurgen Klopp as manager. Ipswich are sure to be excited for this one with their fans undoubtedly bang up for this but Liverpool are seasoned campaigners at quietening a crowd down and they will expect to get off to a winning start in the early game.
3pm Matches
We have four matches in the traditional 3pm slot on Saturday afternoon. Arsenal were a win away from winning the title last season and they get their quest to go one better underway with a home match against a Wolves side who for the second campaign in a row have lost their best player in the summer. Southampton are the other promoted side in action on Saturday. They have a lengthy trip to St James’ Park to take on a Newcastle United side who will be eyeing up a higher finish this season than they achieved in the previous one.
Everton will be hoping for a better season this time around and they get it underway in the last opening day game at Goodison Park when Brighton and Hove Albion are the visitors. The away side begin life after Roberto de Zerbi with 31-year-old Fabian Hurzeler taking charge of his first match in the Premier League. The other match comes from the City Ground where Nottingham Forest will be hoping to stay further away from the bottom three than they did last season when they host a Bournemouth side who will finally be looking to crack the top 10 this term despite the departure of Dominic Solanke.
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Late Game
The opening Saturday of the new season concludes in the late game which comes from the London Stadium where another team begins a new era. That team is West Ham United who have replaced David Moyes with Julen Lopetegui who has overseen a large summer spend and will be expected to deliver a higher finish than the ninth they achieved last season. They start off against Aston Villa who will be out to back up their top four finish from last term. The Villans are another who have seen a number of players come into the building during the summer.
Betting
Southampton conceded a lot of goals in the Championship last season. They shipped 63 of them in the second tier to go with the 73 that went against them the last time they were in the Premier League and I don’t see that trend ending against a Newcastle United side who are among the best in the league in terms of scoring goals on their own patch. Newcastle put five past Aston Villa in their opening home match last season so they are perfectly capable of hitting the ground running.
Southampton might well be good for a goal in this match though. They have brought a couple of useful attacking players into the club to add to Adam Armstrong while Newcastle remain without Sven Botman and might not be as settled as they would like at the back. We know Newcastle will go on the front foot and they scored a barrel load of goals against the promoted sides last term. The goal line for this one is 3.25 which had it been any other game might have looked high for the opening match of the season but neither of these sides had too many players away in the summer so I’m expecting them to be among the more cohesive from the off. I like the over here.
Tips
Back Newcastle vs Southampton – Over 3.25 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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