Premier League matchweek 2 predictions: how every game of the weekend will end
Manchester City have already won 4-1 at Selhurst Park. Nine games are left until Monday night, in a season that started with nine new managers: here is our call on each one, with odds, confidence and every player pick on the site.
Matchweek two of the Premier League opened on Friday night at Selhurst Park and closes on Monday at Villa Park. In between there are nine games, a transfer window that shuts at 23:00 on Tuesday 1 September and a league that looks nothing like last season's. Below you will find our analysts' call on every fixture, with the odds and the confidence level, plus all the player picks published on the site.
City make it two out of two
The Friday opener turned into a statement: Manchester City won 4-1 at Crystal Palace, with a brace apiece from Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki, while Palace's goal came from a deflected free-kick that went in off Donnarumma. City are now on six points from six, Palace are still without one. Our call on the game, City to score, was never in danger.
A league with nine new dugouts
This is the real story of the opening weeks. Nine of the twenty clubs began the season with a manager appointed after the end of last campaign, which Opta rates as the most first league games by new bosses in an English top flight season since 1946-47. Pep Guardiola stepped down at City and Enzo Maresca took over; Liverpool sacked Arne Slot and handed the job to Andoni Iraola; Xabi Alonso is the new man at Chelsea, Matthias Jaissle at Newcastle, Oliver Glasner at Nottingham Forest, Pierre Sage at Crystal Palace, Marco Rose at Bournemouth, Alvaro Arbeloa at Fulham and Gary O'Neil at Ipswich.
What matchweek one told us
The promoted clubs stole the show. Hull City, back after nine years, beat Manchester United 2-0; Ipswich won 2-1 against Sunderland; only Coventry, back in the top flight after twenty-five years, went down 3-0 at Arsenal on opening night. The rest: Everton 2-0 Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest 0-1 Leeds, Brentford 3-0 Tottenham, City 2-1 Bournemouth, Brighton 4-0 Aston Villa, Newcastle 2-2 Liverpool and Chelsea 3-2 away at Fulham. Villa are bottom with nothing, Brighton lead the pack of teams on three points behind City.
The stories of the week
Arsenal travel to Villa Park without William Saliba, out with a back problem until after the September break, while Bruno Guimarães, their 75 million pound signing, is back on the grass. Villa have had a summer of subtraction: Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne all left, Ollie Watkins is close to Saudi Arabia and Tammy Abraham is heading to Ipswich, with Leon Goretzka arriving on a free and Nicolás Jackson waiting to be registered in time. Elsewhere Crystal Palace lose Chadi Riad to a ruptured cruciate, Manchester United are without Amad Diallo and Carlos Baleba for two to three weeks, Brighton travel to Stamford Bridge missing Mitoma, Ferguson, Minteh and Hinshelwood, and Tottenham face Newcastle without Xavi Simons, Odobert and Kulusevski, with Maddison a doubt. Everything closes on Tuesday night, when the window slams shut.
How the nine games will end: our predictions
Unlike Serie A, the grid here is split. Our analysts go for goals in three games and containment in six, which says a lot about how differently these teams are set up after one round.
Match | When | Our prediction | Odds | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sat 29, 13:30 | Over 1.5 Goals | 1.20 | 7/10 | |
Sat 29, 16:00 | Under 4.5 Goals | 1.14 | 7/10 | |
Sat 29, 16:00 | Under 4.5 Goals | 1.16 | 7/10 | |
Sat 29, 18:30 | Under 4.5 Goals | 1.20 | 7/10 | |
Sun 30, 15:00 | Under 4.5 Goals | 1.21 | 7/10 | |
Sun 30, 15:00 | Under 4.5 Goals | 1.12 | 7/10 | |
Sun 30, 15:00 | Under 4.5 Goals | 1.14 | 7/10 | |
Sun 30, 17:30 | Over 1.5 Goals | 1.20 | 6/10 | |
Mon 31, 21:00 | Over 1.5 Goals | 1.27 | 6/10 |
The pick that says the most is Manchester United vs Ipswich: a United side beaten at Hull on the opening day, at home against a promoted team that has already won once, and our analysts still expect the game to open up. At Anfield, Iraola's first home league game comes against a Forest team he described this week as one that concedes almost nothing and hurts you on the break, and the call is still on goals. The safest number of all is at the Stadium of Light, where Sunderland and Fulham meet with nought points between them.
The player picks for the round
Eight player picks are live across five of the nine games.
Player | Team | Pick | Confidence | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Nottingham Forest | Shot (1+) | 5/10 | Liverpool-Forest | |
Everton | Shot (1+) | 7/10 | Bournemouth-Everton | |
Coventry | Shot (1+) | 6/10 | Coventry-Hull | |
Newcastle | Shot (1+) | 6/10 | Tottenham-Newcastle | |
Chelsea | Shot (2+) | 7/10 | Chelsea-Brighton | |
Chelsea | Foul Committed (1+) | 5/10 | Chelsea-Brighton | |
Manchester United | Shot (2+) | 7/10 | Man United-Ipswich | |
Ipswich | To Be Fouled (1+) | 6/10 | Man United-Ipswich |
The two strongest, both at 7 out of 10, are shot picks on players who carry their team's attack: Matheus Cunha at Old Trafford, where United need to react, and João Pedro against a Brighton side arriving with half its forward line unavailable. Sunderland-Fulham, Leeds-Brentford and Aston Villa-Arsenal have no player picks yet: they usually go live in the 48 hours before kick-off.
Where to follow it all
Every prediction stays updated until kick-off on our Premier League page, while goalscorers, shots, assists and cards for every player are in the Player Predictions section. With deadline day on Tuesday, one warning matters more than usual this weekend: wait for the confirmed line-ups, because a name that was in the squad on Friday may be somewhere else by Monday.
