Premier League Week 1 Tips & Preview

Liverpool had a historic season in 2018/2019 and it was just good enough to finish as runners up in the Premier League… and Champions League winners but we’ve heard enough of that from the Kop since June. How can they bounce back this season? Well they get an easy scalp first up with recently promoted Norwich who could be a good warm up opponent for Liverpool’s attacking superstars. Let’s not overcomplicate things in this first game, Liverpool should win and score a few here.

Get ready to hear this phrase a lot over the next nine or so months, “where the hell is the value for City?” Actually that’s been said for quite a while but the answer to that question is in the Same Game Multi plays. When City are at $1.27 away from home you have to find a few added plays to find some value. Raheem Sterling is one of their best attacking threats and could profit from West Ham focusing on stopping the likes of Aguero through the middle. City should also be able to overcome the loss of Vincent Kompany with a still solid defence and repel a rejuvenated West Ham attack to keep their first clean sheet of the season.

Let’s be completely honest, the main novelty in this game is seeing Sheffield back in the Premier League for the first time in 13 years. Once that’s gone in the first two minutes though, there’s not a lot of reason to stick with this game. Unless of course you find a betting play and in this case, it’s two sides that are probably pretty close to each other’s standard so I’ll back the home side at even money to get up.

It’s finally happened, Southampton has run out of talented players for Liverpool to poach! The good news is that means a largely intact Saints squad returns this season but it also does mean that most of these guys weren’t deemed good enough for a bigger club. Burnley on the other hand are one of those sides that make scoring look more difficult than running a marathon on your forehead with ankle weights on. Chances are we won’t see more than two goals in this game if that so I’ll add in a draw for a Same Game Multi.

Somehow, it looks like Palace have been able to hold on to Wilfried Zaha despite his best efforts to engineer an exit over the offseason. That at least does something to make Palace watchable considering for the most part he is their primary threat going forward with daylight between him and the next best option. The problem for Palace here though is the fact they have to take on an Everton side that has spent like a big club and will have much more talent at their disposal compared to last season. Let’s not overcomplicate this, Everton is at a really encouraging price here so it’s worth jumping on that while you can.

With all due respect to Matty Ryan, he’s probably going to have a lot to do this weekend against a Watford side that should be a lot better than his Brighton outfit. While we want (and hope) him to play a starring role for the sake of the Socceroos, he’s operating from behind the 8-ball against a side that has some really strong attacking options that should take advantage of a questionable Brighton defence.

Could this be the season Tottenham ends its trophy drought? No we don’t count the Audi Cup as a competitive trophy so they’ll have to make a run at something this season. They open things up with the recently promoted Aston Villa in a game that, let’s be honest, if they don’t win by three or more questions should be asked of the hierarchy. Dele Alli is out injured but given how poorly he played at times last season, that might actually help them out. One player who will be an asset is Harry Kane who, when healthy scores for fun so I’ll back him to get a brace on opening day and help guide Spurs to a win.

Last time these two played it was a ripper of a game finishing 4-3 Wolves but it really could have gone either way. I’m going to back another high scoring encounter since Brendan Rodgers occasionally forgets to come up with defensive tactics instead relying on his attackers to win the game. Thankfully he’s got a pretty good group of players to rely on here with new signing Ayoze Perez teaming up with Jamie Vardy while Wolves have their own scary good attackers lead by Raul Jiminez. In short, this game could go either way, so just back goals.

For a while there it looked like Arsenal would comfortably cruise home as the club that had the worst offseason, but lo and behold, Newcastle managed to lap the field in July. In the end Steve Bruce has taken over the highly dysfunctional club and Arsenal has at least managed to assemble a pretty damn scary group of attackers. Of course they may need that group to fire early considering they may be left with a bare bones defence without Laurent Koscielny and still with Shkodran Mustafi. I’m pretty confident that the Gunners should be able to handle their business here and come away with a comfortable victory here.

It’s the “we both got rid of Mourinho” derby to close out the weekend as United and Chelsea face off with both sides looking to finish in the top four. I’d be lying if I said I was overly optimistic about Frank Lampard’s chances of success at Stamford Bridge with several departures and a transfer ban limiting his options to replace them. Manchester United on the other hand have talent but are wildly inconsistent and could go either way. I’ll just back a low scoring, cagey affair that will leave you questioning why on earth it seemed like a good idea to stay up/get up to watch live.