The biggest game from the weekend of round six in the EPL is the clash of Chelsea v Arsenal at Stamford Bridge as the last time that these two sides met at Wembley in the Community Shield last month saw Arsene Wenger’s first ever win over Jose Mourinho and a snubbed handshake. Chelsea will hope to start their season after winning in the Champions League on Wednesday night, while Wenger will be looking for a response from his side after losing in Croatia.
Who’ll be celebrating and who’ll be avoiding the handshake this Saturday? We take a look at this match, and all of the other Saturday Premier League football, with Bet365.com to provide our top EPL picks.
Chelsea v Arsenal: 2.30 – 3.40 – 3.00
Although this clash of Western and Northern London sides sees the teams sitting 17th and fourth in the Premier League prior to kick off at Stamford Bridge the home team and defending EPL champions are the only English side from four that triumphed in the Champions League during the week. They’ll hope that this will see their season truly start following the collection of just four points in five league games and three defeats in their last four, but with number one goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois plus midfielders Pedro and Willian out injured while Oscar a doubt will they be able to defeat the side that triumphed against them in the Community Shield last month?
That victory for Arsene Wenger was his first in 14 attempts against Jose Mourinho and after he saw his side beaten 2-1 in Croatia against Dinamo Zagreb in midweek he’ll be desperate to record back to back wins against Chelsea. His side is still missing key players Tomas Rosicky, Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck for this game, but after Oliver Giroud performed terribly at the Stadion Maksimir before seeing red after 40 minutes he will motivated to perform at Stamford Bridge this weekend. Chelsea have been leaking goals, with a league worst 12 conceded, we can see the Frenchman bagging at least one goal in this weekend opener. Back Giroud to score any time @ 2.62.
Aston Villa v West Brom: 2.15 – 3.20 – 3.50
This match at Villa Park is the second of three local derby games for Aston Villa as they collapsed in the final 20 minutes of their match at Leicester last weekend to go from 2-0 up to lose 3-2 at the King Power Stadium and then their face their arch rivals Birmingham City in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night. They need to bounce back from the despair of that loss to Leicester with a win against West Brom this Saturday if they’re to progress in the cup and after three successive home wins against The Baggies they’ll be as confident as the odds suggest they should be.
However, Villa are missing a number of players through injury for this match, with Idrissa Gueye, Adama Traore and Jose Crespo the biggest names and with them conceding goals at an average of two per game with eight in the last four matches since winning away at Bournemouth they may be trouble defensively, just as their late collapse last week showed. West Brom have shown that they are improving defensively with three clean sheets in four following a 3-0 loss to Man City in the opening round of games as they’ve collected five points and now sit above their hosts in the table. A 0-0 draw at Watford and 1-0 win at Stoke will have the guests at Villa Park confident too and we feel that they’ll take something from this match. Back West Brom/Draw Double Chance at odds of 1.72 in the Bet365 Sportsbook.
Bournemouth v Sunderland: 1.61 – 3.80 – 5.50
These two sides meet for the first time in their history in the top flight with the first timers in the EPL sitting two points clear of their guests at the Vitality Stadium and the drop zone. The sides have taken four and two points respectively in their five Premier League games this season with both sides having bagged six goals while the home team in this afternoon clash have kept out two fewer goals, at nine. Neither of these sides has looked particularly impressive at the back, with Bournemouth hard done by as they lost record signing £8m defender Tyrone Mings for nine months to a year through a knee injury, so will we see goals in this match?
The home side have scored just one and conceded two in their pair of matches on home soil this season, while Sunderland have shipped more than half their goals, at six, in two away games while hitting the net on four occasions as they lost 4-2 to Leicester and drew 2-2 with Villa. We see goals in this match as in Callum Wilson and Jermaine Defoe both of these teams have attacking players that are more than capable of hitting the net and we can see both sides doing so this Saturday afternoon. Back both teams to score at 1.83 with Bet365.com.
Newcastle v Watford: 2.50 – 3.30 – 2.80
While we see goals at the Vitality Stadium, we are fearful that the Newcastle v Watford game at St. James’ Park will see a barren, desolate and goalless wasteland of a match. Ten games featuring these two teams have seen them score five goals in total as Newcastle have gone more than 6.5 hours without hitting the net since drawing 2-2 with Southampton on the opening day of the season and Watford’s 59th minute winner at home to Swansea last weekend was their first since the opening day of the season too.
Their two matches in the Championship during the 2009/10 season saw five goals as Newcastle won home and away, but with two or fewer goals available at the low odds of 1.66 for this game we’re taking a chance on neither side finding the net in the North East of the country. Back Newcastle v Watford to end 0-0 @ 9.00 with Bet365.
Stoke v Leicester: 2.30 – 3.30 – 3.10
Stoke v Leicester sees a meeting of two sides sitting at opposite ends of the table as Stoke have taken just two points so far to sit in the relegation zone and Leicester are unbeaten in five to sit second only to Manchester City on 11 points. The Midlanders are continuing their fine form from the end of last season that saw them move from bottom of the table to safe in the league and confidence is booming at the King Power Stadium. They travel to the Britannia Stadium this weekend with a full squad to choose from against a Stoke team missing a number of players with Glen Johnson, Peter Odemwingie and Ryan Shawcross still all injured while Ibrahim Afellay and Charlie Adam are suspended.
Stoke have also lost both home matches this season without a goal scored as Liverpool and West Brom have left with 1-0 wins to their name as things have not gone as well as Mark Hughes would have wanted. Leicester won here last season 1-0 and after beating West Ham 2-1 and securing a late draw at Bournemouth on the road in the league they will fancy their chances at this stadium for a second season in a row. We believe that they’re the better side too and our money is on Leicester to net the first goal at the Britannia at odds of 2.20 at Bet365.com.
Swansea v Everton: 2.20 – 3.40 – 3.20
We’re five matches into the season and both teams in this Swansea v Everton match having won two, drawn two and lost one of their five games so far. They’ve both conceded five goals and the Merseysiders sit above their Welsh hosts this weekend thanks to the fact that they’ve bagged one more goal, but Swansea will fancy their chances in front of their home support despite a poor record since their promotion to the EPL. Everton have won five and drawn three Premier League meetings between the sides since they were promoted for the 2011/12 season, but a 0-0 draw at Goodison Park and a 1-1 at the Liberty Stadium last season has seen the home team for this weekend’s clash avoid defeat in a season for the first time.
After defeating Newcastle and Manchester United at the Liberty Stadium this season Swansea will be confident for claiming their first league win over The Toffees this weekend and just their second ever win after claiming a 3-0 win in the Capital One Cup almost a year ago to the day. Everton, however, are yet to concede a goal away from home in their pair of away matches with a 3-0 at Southampton and drawing at White Hart Lane against Tottenham. They too will be confident for this match and we believe that we’ll see another closely contested match between these two sides. We’re backing a continuation of the results from last season and we believe that these two sides will still be inseparable at full time. Back the draw @ 3.40 at the Liberty Stadium.
Man City v West Ham: 1.25 – 6.00 – 10.00
Although they have won all of their five matches this season in the Premier League, bagging 11 goals and conceding none, Manchester City will need to pick themselves up for this match against West Ham quickly if they are to succeed when no-one else has managed to this season. City were beaten 2-1 in the Champions League on home soil by last season’s finalists Juventus when a comfortable win was expected and they saw captain Vincent Kompany injured to the extent that he is a doubt for this game. He has been a rock at the back for the league leaders this season and will be sorely missed if he cannot take the pitch, but will this allow West Ham the chance to snatch all three points?
They have already beaten Arsenal 2-0 at The Emirates and Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield on their Premier League travels this season and a Man of the Match performance with both goals by Dimitri Payet saw them take all three points at home to Newcastle on Monday night to move into the top five in the league. They are full of confidence right now and we feel that this team will be the toughest challenge that City’s back five have had this season, and with City rocking from that unexpected defeat on home soil we foresee an entertaining match at The Etihad with goals from both of these sides. Our money is on both City and West Ham to score at odds of 1.83 in the Bet365 Sportsbook.
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