The last Premier League weekend prior to the international break begins on Saturday when we have another seven matches taking place as teams look to settle into the season now that the transfer window has closed in the UK.
This is a typical Saturday in that two of the matches will be live on the TV in the UK for us to enjoy at the beginning and the end of the day and then the other games will have all their usual updates in the normal places.
Early Kick Off
We begin at the Emirates Stadium where for the second week in succession Brighton and Hove Albion are involved in the lunchtime kick off. After beating Manchester United in that slot last week, the Seagulls now go on their travels looking to maintain their perfect start to the season when they take on another team with two wins from two in the form of Arsenal. Arsenal are expected to push for the title this season and this is a test they need to overcome but Brighton have hit the ground running and certainly won’t be pushovers.
3pm Matches
Five matches take place in the traditional 3pm slot on Saturday with the highest ranked team on show from last season being Aston Villa. They will be looking to bounce back from their defeat to Arsenal last week when they make the short trip to take on Leicester City. Nottingham Forest have four points from their opening two matches and they will be looking to remain unbeaten and pick up another three points when they play host to Wolverhampton Wanderers who have a few early issues to resolve in this campaign.
Two of the other three promoted sides are also on show in this part of the day with Southampton back on their travels when they head to the Gtech Community Stadium to take on Brentford while Ipswich Town and their merry band of big spending are back at Portman Road where Fulham are the visitors. The other match in this time slot sees two sides who are winless on the campaign so far meeting at Goodison Park where Everton look to bounce back from two convincing losses when they host AFC Bournemouth.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for the Premier League! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Late Game
We conclude at the London Stadium where West Ham United will be hoping to build on their first win of the season at Crystal Palace last week when they entertain the champions Manchester City. City are one of the three sides with two wins from two to begin the season and a third one away to a West Ham side with a lot of creditable players in their ranks would really show that they are here to play. If West Ham can come out on top here then it would really justify their early season spending and give them a great platform to build from.
Betting
This is the round of matches where I try not to get too involved given the relentless changes that were made to squads in the run up to the games but there is no way that I am letting the over 2.5 goal line in the match between Ipswich Town and Fulham go by without me getting involved. I don’t think it is particularly useful to judge Ipswich on matches against Liverpool and Manchester City but they certainly can be judged here and I expect to see that gung ho Ipswich which got into the Premier League.
Fulham might be the ideal dance partners for that because they are not the best travellers in the Premier League. Last season they conceded an xGA per game on their travels of nearly 2 and nothing changed in their one away game this season where Man Utd ran up a 2.04 xG total. Ipswich have signed a number of attacking players in the last week or so which means that they can get going and keep on going at Fulham. Fulham have more goals in them with some attacking midfielders in their ranks so the over looks a bit of an obvious bet to me.
Tips
Back Ipswich Town vs Fulham – Over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back it here:
