Premier League Preview-Gameweek 4

Manchester United to top Tottenham Hotspur? Leeds to hold Pep Guardiola's City for a draw? Everton to stay top of the table? All of the weekends games will be looked at as I predict what will happen and why.

Manchester United v Tottenham-Saturday

Let’s get straight into my thoughts on the weekend’s matches, starting with the biggest game which is Manchester United versus Tottenham.

Jose Mourinho travels to face his former side following a heavy fixture list. Spurs have played three qualifying matches just to be entered into the Europa League, with their most recent being a 7-2 victory yesterday, alongside all of their Premier League matches in September as well.

As a result of the quick turnaround of games, star forward Heung-Min Son may miss the game due to a hamstring injury and the return of Gareth Bale in a Spurs shirt won’t happen for a while as he still recovers his own knee injury.

For Manchester United this is a must win for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Fans and former team mates are starting to realise that this is his final season to prove he is still capable of managing Manchester United, with Roy Keane stating it could be the end of the road for the Norwegian manager.

You can’t concede five goals from two matches against Crystal Palace and Brighton if you’re Manchester United-it just isn’t good enough. They need to bring players in asap but with the quality they have on the pitch, it’s been poor from those in a red shirt and things need to change fast.

The club is a shambles off the pitch as they are on it, with still no breakthrough on Jadon Sancho and Alex Telles, and now Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele has linked with a possible loan move, it all just comes across as signs of desperation after not being able to secure Sancho which that in itself is an absolute joke.

So with Ole needing improvement on the pitch I think he will tell his players to knock Spurs whilst they’re already down. The big fixture list for Mourinho’s men will play a part and this could be one of the best times to play Spurs with the injuries they have- because of this, I’m going for a United win, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the game ends in a draw.

Leeds United v Manchester City-Saturday

The biggest game on Saturday for me features the other team from Manchester, being Pep Guardiola’s City who travel to Leeds in what I expect to be a goal fest.

City struggled to prevent an inform Leicester side from scoring and lost 5-2 which moves them to the bottom half of the table.

Pep’s tactics haven’t been up to scratch as of late. He didn’t take Lyon seriously in the Champions League quarter final last season and in the game against Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester he made another big error.

Guardiola brought on youngster Liam Delap in the hope the home side could get in front again, but it was done at the expense of Fernandinho and City’s balance in the midfield was lost as The Foxes went onto score four goals after the substitution.

Defensive mistakes were at the heart of City’s downfall as they conceded three penalties, but things could change at the back following the new £65 million signing of Ruben Dias from Benfica. Personally, I don’t see a 23-year-old defender from the Portuguese league just cut out all the mistakes at the back, but I’m sure given time he may turn out to be a decent defender.

Just when Guardiola need’s a good result to turn his sides league form around, they face a Leeds United side who will simply run through them if the same sloppy mistakes are made at the back.

Patrick Bamford is no Jamie Vardy, let’s not kid ourselves here, but the striker has scored in every game so far of the new season and will do that again if the newly promoted team aren’t taken seriously.

Plus, Leeds are managed by one of the greatest Managers in the world, Marco Biesla, and he certainly would have analysed every segment of City’s shocking performance. I expect the home side to be all guns blazing from minute one.

Biesla’s side showed in their opening match of the season against the champions Liverpool, they don’t care who you are. They’ll attempt to out run every opponent they face and can do it for the full 90 minutes.

The Argentine has praised Guardiola for being imaginative, but after spending over £400 million on defenders and consistent errors at the back for City, it’s pretty outrageous. I think people are starting to see defensively he clearly isn’t capable at improving his players.

Manchester City lost nine times in the league last season, and even with their defensive frailties and a shortage of fit strikers as neither Sergio Aguero or Gabriel Jesus will be fit in time to play on Saturday, I think they’ll be able to hold on against Leeds and a high scoring draw is my prediction for that game.

Chelsea v Crystal Palace-Saturday

Tough game ahead for Chelsea who face a lively Crystal Palace side despite their injury problems at the back.

Roy Hodgson’s men narrowly lost to Everton last weekend thanks to the handball rule costing the London side a point and possibly more which, as a result will hopefully lead to more discussions on how to make the game more simplified because currently, it’s gotten out of hand.

Crystal Palace have made a good start to the campaign with Zaha, Townsend and Schlupp looking sharp this season upfront for The Eagles and as they showed against Manchester United, they will exploit a disorganised defence.

New signing Ebere Eze looks like an excellent signing and showed off his talent on a number of occasions against Everton-every time he plays, he seems to create another clip for his highlight reel, so he’s the star player to watch out for.

Palace’s defence may be strengthened ahead of the early kick off on Saturday with former Chelsea players Patrick van Aanholt and Gary Cahill returning to fitness.

But Chelsea fans will still have to wait for Hakim Ziyech as he currently side-lined, and also winger Christian Pulisic is unlikely to return in time for the match. Good news though as new signing Ben Chilwell should be starting after playing against Tottenham in their fourth round Carabao Cup loss.

Frank Lampard will be looking for a big performance from his side following their 3-3 draw to West Brom and their midweek loss to Spurs-after spending £200 million there’s no excuse to draw to West Brom, especially when scapegoat Kepa isn’t between the sticks.

He talks a lot on the side-lines, but he needs to start backing it up now, and Crystal Palace will not make it easy for the ex-Blues legend.

Another tight game to call but now that new Chelsea signing Timo Werner is firing after scoring his first goal for the club midweek, he should be able to score against the Palace defence which may continue to keep Checkiou Kouyate as a makeshift centre back, therefore I’m predicting a win for Lampard’s side.

Aston Villa v Liverpool-Sunday

As of today both sides sit in the top four after their unbeaten starts to the season, but ultimately Liverpool will have too much class for Villa to deal with.

Even without new statement signing Thiago, after the Spaniard tested positive for COVID-19 midweek, Klopp’s men should ease past Villa-Mane and Salah have made a strong start as they compete for the golden boot and I can’t see the likes of Matty Cash and Matt Targett having world class performances against the two African wingers.

Aston Villa have done some good business in the transfer window. Ollie Watkins is a strong young striker who can cause teams problems, as shown last season with his 25 goals for Brentford.

Bertrand Traore and Emiliano Martinez are also sensible signings with the pair having excellent debuts, one scoring and one keeping a penalty out. Dean Smith has also managed to sign Ross Barkley on loan from Chelsea who may be able to start on Sunday for the midlands side and keep Jack Grealish at the club for another season.

Villa looked good against Fulham, but everyone looks good against Fulham, and there other win was against a Sheffield United who’ve yet to score this season, so this game will end in another dominant win for the Premier League Champions.

Arsenal v Sheffield United-Sunday

Arsenal bounced back on Thursday and beat a reserve Liverpool side in the Carabao Cup which will give Mikel Arteta’s side a great deal of confidence ahead of their home match with Sheffield United.

The Blades, on the other hand, are in desperate need of confidence after failing to score in any of their opening Premier League matches, but things might improve for Chris Wilder’s team as they have completed a £23.5 million signing for Liverpool youngster Rhian Brewster.

Now, I’m a big admirer of Rhian. I think he’s a clinical striker with bags of potential and he did very well for Swansea on his short loan where he scored 10 goals in 20 matches for the Welsh side, but Sheffield United will need to scrap to stay up this season and it’s a lot of pressure on a 20-year old’s shoulders since it is his first chance at game time in the Premier League.

The signing may of come too late for Rhian to make his debut for his new club, meaning I can’t see the away side ending their goal drought and I fully expect Arteta’s Arsenal to steam roll Sheffield United.

Arsenal’s finishing against Liverpool in their 3-1 loss in the league showed Alexandre Lacazette needs to work on his own after missing two huge chances, for his side to at least level the scoring.

In this match, I expect the Frenchman to have plenty of chances Infront of goal and Arsenal as a whole will want to maintain their good start to the season. For me, this match is an easy three points for Arsenal.

Everton v Brighton-Saturday

The current Premier League leaders Everton, I know, it doesn’t sound normal, will face Brighton.

Now on paper, especially with the new signings Carlo Ancelotti has made at the club, Everton should breeze past Brighton, but there are some ways Graham Potter’s Seagulls can cause damage to that shaky Everton backline.

Tariq Lamptey will bomb forward and carry the ball on that right channel where he’s been terrific since joining from Chelsea last season. The young English full back has won a couple of penalties early on this season for his darting runs into the opposing box, and against a full back in Everton’s Luca Digne, there will be space to push forward as the Frenchman is prone to drifting forward as well.

Neil Maupay has also made a strong start to the season after scoring in three goals in his last 2 league games and after his controversial handball against United which cost them a draw in the league, I’d back the Frenchman to score against Everton who despite their quality have a mistake in them.

When West Brom played Everton, The Toffees went a goal down after failing to close down Grady Diangana as the winger ran straight through the Everton half to make it 1-0 early on in that match-if Brighton start fast there’s a serious chance they can get three points because when compared to West Brom, Brighton can hold a lead.

Everton mean business this season with the signings of midfielders James Rodriguez, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Allan. So far, the three have proved to be an exceptional balanced midfield and if Everton carry on winning games there’s no reason why they can’t challenge for fourth place.

Dominic Calvert Lewin’s call up to the England squad is thoroughly deserved. The tall striker looks to be consistently slotting the goals away after already scoring two hat-tricks in all competitions so far this season- any doubts over who to play up top for your fantasy team, get him in. I think he could get 20 plus goals this season so long as he doesn’t get injured.

In the hot form Everton are in, I think it’ll prove too much for Brighton, but I wouldn’t be surprised if an error at the back for Everton cost them a couple of points.

Leicester City v West Ham-Sunday

If you’d have asked me last week for my prediction for this fixture, I’d of said Leicester wipe the floor with West Ham. Now if you ask me, I still think Leicester win, but I can see The Hammers causing a few issues on the counter.

David Moyes tested positive for coronavirus so West Ham assistant Alan Irvine stood in the technical area for the home side and they actually played very well in a 4-0 drumming of a top six contender in Wolves.

West Ham in the past have looked like a team full of individuals with no real plan. Now, whether it’s Irvine’s magic touch or not, the team in claret and blue were very organised and direct against Wolves and could mean that they're up to the challenge of facing Leicester.

However, Leicester just breezed past Manchester City so I think The Foxes should be fine in securing the win and continuing their winning run, but if Jamie Vardy misses because of his hip injury sustained at the weekend, it’ll make things much harder for Brendan Rodgers.

Very curious to see if it was just a lucky one off for performance by West Ham or whether they can sustain their good play against a top, top Leicester side. The Foxes should have enough power to secure the three points, but if the away side come away with anything, I’d think about getting Irvine in charge permanently.

Southampton v West Bromwich Albion-Sunday

Another match that could go either way is Southampton versus West Brom on Sunday.

The home side beat Burnley 1-0, with Danny Ings making it his third of the season despite not having too many clear-cut chances against Sean Dyche’s side-if Ings can find the net against a resilient Burnley, he’s bound to score against The Baggies who failed to keep their three goal lead against Chelsea.

West Brom did well to capitalize on the Chelsea mistakes, but Southampton won’t dilly dally on the ball and I expect The Saints to play direct to Danny Ings and Che Adams.

Ralph Hasenhuttl has made a couple of solid signings for Southampton. I’m excited to see how Kyle Walker Peters performs this season, and in the match on Sunday, he may be able to show off his attacking strengths.

There are a few bright sparks in the away sides team. Matheus Periera was their player of the season last year when they got promoted, and Grady Diangana looks to be a bargain for only £12.5 million, but I think the likes of Bartley and Ajeyi will struggle to stop Ings from scoring.

Unless Slaven Bilic has a way to prevent The Saints from finding their number nine, I expect a comfortable Southampton win.

Wolverhampton v Fulham-Sunday

I can’t see anything other than relegation for Scott Parker’s Fulham. They’ve had a poor start to the season, and things won’t get any better for them as they face a Wolves team who just got battered by West ham 4-0.

Wolves underperformed massively last weekend, but I expect them to bounce back immediately with a dominant display on Sunday. The midlands side didn’t even play midweek, so they’ve had a whole week to prepare for the game, whereas Fulham lost 3-0 on Thursday to their former Championship rivals Brentford in the Carabao Cup.

Probably been the easier game to predict really. Fulham are in desperate need of quality Premier League proven signings and won’t be able to sign anyone in time for Sunday, meaning this game will go down as a Wolves victory and will prompt the Fulham board to buy players fast.

Newcastle v Burnley-Saturday

The final game to talk about is Newcastle v Burnley. Nothing against these teams but the way the pair have been playing I wouldn’t be surprised if the match ended goalless.

Both sides played midweek, with Jonjo Shelvey saving Newcastle against Newport, but Burnley struggled against Manchester City and lost 3-0.

Newcastle haven’t been great defensively but going forward they’ve been very average too. Callum Wilson is a top player but the service he has had in his first matches for the club has been poor-he’s capable of scoring 20 goals this season but with the players behind him I’ll be amazed if he pulls it off.

Burnley are predictable. Organised and aim to cross the ball into Chris Wood at every chance they get. Problem they have is the longer the match goes on they struggle to keep up with the opposition with a lack of squad depth and no real signings. You know the situation’s bad when you’re being strongly linked with a £20 million signing of Harry Wilson...

The longer the match stays level I think Steve Bruce’s team might nick it. Andy Carroll can cause real problems for teams and I can see the big centre forward scoring the winner for Newcastle.