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Golden Goals Matchday 3: Can Liverpool heap early pressure on ten Hag?

It’s the third weekend of Premier League action and the final matchday before the international break (yes, already).

However England’s top flight is signing off in style with a battle between two of the nation's oldest rivals: Manchester United and Liverpool. Arne Slot’s side have made the perfect start to life post-Jurgen Klopp, while United’s persistent problems seem to be rearing their ugly head once again.

Elsewhere, Chelsea host Crystal Palace after smashing six past Wolves on Sunday and Erling Haaland will look to continue his goalscoring exploits against West Ham after netting his first hat-trick of the campaign against Ipswich.

Remember: if you can pick the six correct scorelines you could win up to £1 million. If the jackpot doesn’t go, you could still win a share of our £5,000 prizepool if you top the leaderboard so every prediction matters! Read more about Golden Goals here.

Let’s delve deeper into the Golden Goals Matchday 3 schedule…

Leicester vs Aston Villa

After a creditable draw against Tottenham on the opening weekend Leicester lost 2-1 at Fulham on Matchday 2, leaving them still waiting to open their win account back in the Premier League.

Despite that draw against Spurs the Foxes are struggling to make huge inroads into defences, averaging just 12 touches in the opposition penalty area across the opening two fixtures – only Brentford and Ipswich have fewer.

Additionally, an average of 4.5 chances created per 90 minutes is the fourth fewest in the league after the opening two games. If this becomes a trend it will only increase the pressure on their frontline to be clinical – something this week’s opponents Aston Villa were not in their fixture against Arsenal.

The Villans drew a blank but ran up an xG of almost two – Ollie Watkins in particular will feel he had the opportunity to earn points for Villa in a game which ultimately ended in a 2-0 defeat to the Gunners.

Ultimately, Unai Emery will have been happy with his side’s performance but unhappy with their inability to be clinical after a game which leaves them with three points from their opening two matches.

Villa held the league’s fourth-best away record last season as they powered to a Champions League spot while Watkins will be looking to put to bed last week's missed chances and recover last season’s goalscoring form.

With Villa creating an average of 6.5 chances per 90 and having scored in both matches against the Foxes last time they were in the Premier League, Watkins is an appealing 13/2 to score at least two goals in this one.

Four of the last five head-to-heads between the sides have contained over 2.5 goals and, with just one draw across their previous eight league meetings, a win either way seems the choice in this one. Experience will tell: we’re going with Villa.

Prediction: Leicester 1-2 Aston Villa

Nottingham Forest vs Wolves

Wolves were, statistically speaking, handed the most difficult opening 10 games of the Premier League season. After just two games, that bothersome beginning is coming to the fore.

An opening day 2-0 defeat to Arsenal was followed by a 6-2 drubbing at the hands of Chelsea at Molineux courtesy of a Noni Maduele hat-trick.

However, the scoreline does not tell the entire story. Wolves had the superior xG and bettered Chelsea’s 21 touches in the area by notching 25. In fact, Enzo Maresca’s men’s single-game xG overperformance of 4.31 is the most of any team throughout this or the previous campaign.

The Old Gold can take solace in their attacking output from last weekend with Jorgen Strand Larsen scoring his first goal for the club and Matheus Cunha netting his first of the campaign. Cunha has now been involved in 17 goals in his last 19 Premier League starts – including three goals against Nottingham Forest last term – and is currently 10/3 to continue that scoring spree by netting anytime on Saturday.

In contrast to Wolves, Nottingham Forest are building a solid foundation for their Premier League campaign with four points from their first two encounters. Avoid defeat this weekend and Forest will match their 1995/96 campaign for the club’s longest streak without defeat to begin a top-flight season.

Last Saturday’s match-winner for Forest was former Wolves man Morgan Gibbs-White. Since his debut for Forest in 2022, only five players have created more chances from open play in the Premier League than his 108 and only Luis Diaz (seven) has created more than the six he has so far this term.

This game lends itself to goals: Wolves’ leaky backline will be tested once again as no team has had more shots or shots on target than Nottingham Forest across the opening two games. A repeat of last year’s 2-2 scoreline here will make it four consecutive league draws between these two.

Prediction: Nottingham Forest 2-2 Wolves

West Ham vs Manchester City

West Ham got their first win under new manager Julen Loputegui last weekend at Crystal Palace, and it came at a good time as they face champions Manchester City here at the London Stadium.

Their opening day defeat to Aston Villa was a narrow one, but the Hammers after the opening two games have the second-best xG in the Premier League - their expected goals of 2.1 is worse than only Liverpool, with Manchester City averaging 1.8 per 90 minutes despite scoring six goals in their opening two games. A small sample size for sure, but positive signs for the side from East London.

Having Erling Haaland though means that City need to create merely a sniff of goal for the net to bulge. The Norweigan’s hat-trick against Ipswich already takes his season’s tally to four, and with four goals in his four appearances against West Ham, he’ll be looking to get on the scoresheet once more to extend his lead at the top of the scoring charts.

For West Ham, the addition of Aaron Wan Bissaka from Manchester United has boosted their backline, and he marked his debut with an impressive display off the bench at Selhurst Park. In attack, new captain Jarrod Bowen got off the mark last week with a well-taken goal brilliantly assisted by new-signing Max Kilman.

Bowen notched twice in the 2-2 draw here against City in 2022, and we like the look of the 8/1 for him to score in this one, and Manchester City to win.

The start has been encouraging for West Ham, but this is a big ask. City won their opening three games last year and will do so again this time around. An entertaining game lies in store though, don’t expect the Hammers to lie down.

Prediction: West Ham 1-3 Manchester City

Chelsea vs Crystal Palace

It’s West London versus South London in a match-up with a one-sided history that looks likely to repeat itself based on current form. Chelsea have not lost to Crystal Palace in eight years, beating them 14 out of 14 times since. There’s one FA Cup victory there but it’s still one of the longest winning streaks against a single team in the league. Another victory for the Blues here would put the record in joint first place with Manchester City’s dominance over Bournemouth (14 straight Premier League wins) – as if they needed even more motivation after last week.

It appears the honeymoon period is over for Oliver Glasner. The Eagles soared towards the end of last season, going unbeaten in seven games highlighted by a historic 4-0 win against Manchester United and the 5-0 taming of Aston Villa. It’s a far cry from where they find themselves now.

The win against Norwich in the EFL Cup earlier this week could instil confidence in star players like Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eberechi Eze but playing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge after a 6-2 win away from home is a monumental ask – especially with Cole Palmer feeling a chill in the air once again.

Palmer skated through Wolves, picking up a hat-trick of assists while scoring a goal himself. Might he be in the mood to do it again? You can get 17/4 for Cole Palmer to score first against Crystal Palace.

As for the final score, we see Chelsea making it 15 in a row against a Palace side still yet to find their feet. We don’t expect another eight-goal thriller but it will be another decisive victory for Maresca and co. nonetheless. Prediction: Chelsea 3-1 Crystal Palace

Newcastle vs Tottenham

Two unbeaten sides go head-to-head when Tottenham travel to St James’ Park on Sunday afternoon.

Newcastle return home after a hard-fought point against Bournemouth at the Vitality thanks to a late Anthony Gordon equaliser and some extremely late VAR intervention. Tottenham, meanwhile, squashed the wasteful demons of Matchday 1 with an emphatic 4-0 victory at home to Everton.

However, the home of the Magpies has not been a happy hunting ground for Spurs in recent times. Ange Postecoglou’s men have lost their last two games in the North East by an aggregate scoreline of 10-1, including a 4-0 defeat last term due to an Alexander Isak brace.

In general, this encounter has been goal-laden; there have been over 3.5 goals in six of the last seven meetings between the two sides and it is the most played fixture in Premier League history that has failed to produce a 0-0 (58) so over 3.5 goals at 49/50 could certainly provide value for any bet builders.

If goals are to be plentiful on Sunday lunchtime, James Maddison is sure to be involved. The former Leicester midfielder has assisted in both games so far this season and has provided an assist in four of his last five Premier League matches stretching back to the end of last season.

Dominic Solanke will not be there to put away any opportunities provided by Maddison as the English striker has been ruled out until after the international break – given the former Bournemouth forward netted a brace against Newcastle while wearing black and red last campaign, he will be a miss for Spurs.

History suggests a high-scoring spectacle on Tyneside and we are inclined to agree. Spurs flexed their offensive muscles last Saturday and Newcastle are primed to keep up with the plethora of attacking talent at their disposal. We say the away side edge it for the first time here since 2021.

Prediction: Newcastle 2-3 Tottenham

Manchester United vs Liverpool

Rewind two years. Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United have had a disappointing start to the season, losing their opening games to Brighton and Brentford. They face arch rivals Liverpool in a huge meeting in the third game of the season and come out on top 2-1 thanks to goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford.

Fast forward to today. Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United have had a disappointing start to the season, losing one of their opening games to Brighton. They face arch rivals Liverpool in a huge meeting in the third game of the season.

The parallels are there – but which way will the pendulum swing this time? Defeat at home to the Reds could see stormy clouds rolling in on the horizon for ten Hag, though he’s seen plenty of those in his time in charge at Old Trafford already.

United are going to have to stop a recently-developed habit of conceding late goals – they have lost more Premier League games (six) from goals scored in the 90th minute than any other side. In their first 30 Premier League campaigns combined, they had only lost two matches in this way.

Liverpool, meanwhile, have picked up like Jurgen Klopp never left. Two convincing victories to begin the season – over Ipswich and Brentford – means they are raising some eyebrows early on. Can they launch a challenge?

The Reds, it must be said, have a patchy recent record over their bitter rivals at Old Trafford having won just one of their previous five meetings.

There tends to be goals when these two meet in Manchester, too. Across the last five showdowns at United’s home ground there has been an average of more than four goals per game.

Given the enormity of the fixture, the importance of a result for the hosts and the form of Liverpool, a score draw seems the order of the day here.

Prediction: Manchester United 2-2 Liverpool

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