Golden Goals: Matchday 2 Preview
After what felt like far longer than just 76 days, the Premier League returned in earnest.
Manchester City performed like they have never been away, Newcastle United opened some eyes with a Saturday night annihilation of Aston Villa while Chelsea and Liverpool played out an entertaining seventh straight draw between the sides at Stamford Bridge.
There were also victories for Brighton, Manchester United, Crystal Palace and Fulham as well as a pair of score draws as Ange Postecoglou took charge of Tottenham for the first time away at Brentford and Europa Conference League holders West Ham were held at Bournemouth.
Whether your opening weekend predictions were right on the money, absolutely miles off it or missed by just a lick of paint on the woodwork, the most popular league in football always proves to be entertaining – and that’s just the way we like it.
Yes, the Premier League has arrived… and so have we.
Every weekend BetMGM UK offers you the chance to win up to £1 million by predicting six correct scores with Golden Goals, our free-to-play football predictor game. Read more about Golden Goals here.
We will be taking a closer look at every match selected for Golden Goals in a weekly article right here on our blog so be sure to check back regularly for useful statistics, key insights and, of course, our score predictions for all six games.
Let’s get going with matchday two…
Liverpool vs Bournemouth
Form (including pre-season) Liverpool: DWLWD Bournemouth: DWLWL
No football fan on earth could have predicted the shellacking the Reds handed out to Bournemouth last season.
The 9-0 result put paid to Scott Parker's future as Cherries boss and equalled the most significant victory margin in Premier League history into the bargain.
The scorers on that day were Luis Díaz (x2), Harvey Elliott, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Roberto Firmino (x2), Virgil van Dijk, Chris Mepham (own goal), and Fabio Carvalho. Firmino left the club in the summer, while Carvalho joined RB Leipzig on loan during the transfer window.
Against Chelsea, they scored once from an xG of 1.4 but that was mustered from a substantial 13 shots throughout the 90 minutes. Can they find their scoring boots against the men from the south coast like they did last season?
Speaking of their opponents, Bournemouth’s summer sacking of Gary O’Neil feels like it falls under the ‘harsh’ column even by the standards of the modern managerial circus playbook.
Yet the Cherries showed some promising signs in their opener against West Ham under the tutelage of new manager Andoni Iraola, dominating the ball (62% possession), passing it well and forcing four saves from Hammers goalkeeper Alphonse Areola to start the season with a creditable home point.
This one, you feel, will still go to the hosts though.
Prediction: Liverpool 2-1 Bournemouth
Wolves vs Brighton
Form (including pre-season) Wolves: LWDDW Brighton: WDLWL
The last team to register as many shots as Wolves did against Manchester United at Old Trafford during Monday night’s opening game (23) was Chelsea in 2005 – also a game the Red Devils managed to win 1-0.
Now new boss O'Neil and his pack need to back up what was an impressive, albeit losing, performance against United with a result over last season's surprise packages Brighton.
Despite the encouraging signs at Old Trafford, we cannot see it happening against an attractive Seagulls outfit.
Newly-promoted Luton could not cope with Roberto De Zerbi’s irrepressible charges, with Brighton creating the highest xG of any of the 20 teams on opening weekend. It follows on their chance creation form from last year, where they finished third in the xG stakes with only treble-winners Manchester City and Liverpool above them.
They also beat the Midlands side twice in the league last season with an aggregate score of 9-2 – we wouldn't be surprised to see another convincing win here.
Prediction: Brighton 3-0 Wolves
Fulham vs Brentford
Form (including pre-season) Fulham: WWLLW Brentford: DDDLL
The Cottagers look set to lose last season’s 14-goal striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, with the Serbian reportedly set to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal.
It's less-than-ideal preparation for Fulham manager Marco Silva, who recently suggested Mitrovic was focused on his club for the upcoming campaign despite rarely featuring during pre-season amid the transfer interest.
The signing of Raul Jimenez from Wolves plugs the gap somewhat but is the Mexican forward likely to replicate the goal threat of Mitrovic? Remember: the Serbian’s 14 league goals came despite missing a considerable portion of the season with a six-game suspension due to his FA Cup quarter-final blow-up against Manchester United.
Brentford, meanwhile, were impressive against Tottenham in an entertaining 2-2 draw. Despite the two concessions, their xGA (expected goals against) value of 1.3 was offset by an impressive 2.2 xG created and good for the fifth-best in the whole league over the opening weekend.
Bees boss Thomas Frank admitted post-match that his side felt disappointed not to have sealed all three points but he has the chance to make up for it with another good old-fashioned London Derby this Saturday afternoon.
A pity, then, that we can see the spoils being shared in this one too.
Prediction: Fulham 1-1 Brentford
Tottenham vs Manchester United
Form (including pre-season) Tottenham: DLWWL Manchester United: WDWLL
The Lilywhites have been on something of a frogmarch under new boss Postecoglou so far. Against Brentford, they played with an abandon and freedom not seen even in the halcyon days of Mauricio Pochettino.
One player showcases their improvement more than any other: Yves Bissouma.
Last term, the midfielder completed 11 dribbles in the entirety of the campaign. In the first 90 minutes of this season he attempted six. He was also effective in winning the ball back too – last season, albeit in limited minutes, he won 41 duels in total. Against Brentford he did it nine times. Has Postecoglou found the keys to the Bentley with Bissouma as the purring engine?
In contrast, based on Monday night's showing, United have a long way to go before seriously entertaining any talk of a title challenge.
Clunky in possession and uninspiring in attack, they had to rely on a headed goal by central defender Raphael Varane to get the job done against a Wolves team they really should expect to be overcoming comfortably.
One note of positivity, though, is that the addition of Mason Mount looks to have worked in terms of cohesive ball recovery; the Red Devils topped the weekend in this metric with 66, five ahead of Bournemouth.
They will have to work hard again here – because there is a suspicion Postecoglou might just have his team cooking.
Prediction: Tottenham 2-1 Manchester United
Manchester City vs Newcastle
Form (including pre-season) Manchester City: WWLLW Newcastle: WWWWD
A devastating injury to Kevin De Bruyne will have rocked the Citizens – the Belgian is out for an estimated four months of the campaign due to a recurrence of the hamstring issue he suffered in the Champions League final win over Inter back in June.
A viral clip of Pep Guardiola admonishing Erling Haaland at half-time in the 3-0 opening-night win over Burnley also had tongues wagging that there may be the tiniest chink of vulnerability around the treble-winners at the moment.
That did not subside midweek when, although they eventually lifted their first European Super Cup, Spanish side Sevilla gave Guardiola’s men a bit of a scare by first going in front and then taking them all the way to penalties before succumbing.
If there is vulnerability in the City camp, it’s the exact opposite at Newcastle following a 5-1 mauling of Unai Emery’s league dark horses Aston Villa. Eddie Howe’s men scored more, created more (3.2 expected assists) and shot more accurately (70.6% on target, a full 20% higher than next-best Brighton) than the rest of the division on opening weekend.
Throw in an impressive pre-season and we reckon momentum is with the Magpies and a shock result is on the cards.
Prediction: Manchester City 1-2 Newcastle
Aston Villa vs Everton
Form (including pre-season Aston Villa: LWWDW Everton: LWWDW
It was not the start that either team would have wanted last week but, of the two managers, Sean Dyche surely came away from the opening weekend happier.
The Toffees generated the third-highest xG in the league with 2.7 – it was putting these shots in the net that was the problem and simply reinforces the notion that a forward who knows where the goal is would be of maximum benefit to Everton as the transfer window draws to a close.
You have to assume the 5-1 defeat to Newcastle is an anomaly for this Aston Villa outfit, which has immeasurably improved under Unai Emery.
They had some notable wins in pre-season, and were far the better side in a 3-3 draw played out with the Magpies during the Premier League Summer Series.
If you’re a Villa fan clutching for some positives after the opening-day humbling, they also managed the third-highest xG of the away teams over the weekend while Ollie Watkins looks as sharp as ever.
We're going with a win for the Villans.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Everton
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