Premier League predictions and predicted lineups, matchweek 3: Arsenal vs Chelsea on Sunday, and Enzo Fernandez's City debut
Ten games from Friday to Sunday, with Arsenal vs Chelsea closing it four days after the £125m sale that linked them. Predicted lineups for all twenty clubs, who is missing, and our read on all ten — including three calls we have flagged ourselves.
The Premier League is back on Friday night and runs to Sunday afternoon, and the fixture list has done something neat: it finishes with Arsenal vs Chelsea, four days after Chelsea sold Enzo Fernández to Manchester City for £125m.
Four teams sit on maximum points, and one of them is Hull City, promoted last season, two wins, three goals scored and none conceded. Three teams have yet to score at all.
The debut, and the club he left
Enzo Fernández is expected to make his first appearance for Manchester City at home to Coventry on Saturday. We covered the £125m move and the chain of collapses behind it on Wednesday.
Chelsea, meanwhile, go to the Emirates without the replacement they had agreed and without Moisés Caicedo. Arsenal are missing Saliba, Timber and Bruno Guimarães.
Friday and Saturday
Ipswich vs Liverpool opens at 19:00. Liverpool have drawn both games and sit thirteenth; Ipswich conceded five at Old Trafford. We say at least two goals.
Saturday starts at 11:30 with Newcastle vs Bournemouth: Newcastle to score at least once. Then a block of five at 14:00 — Brighton vs Leeds (fewer than 4.5 goals), Brentford vs Sunderland (at least two goals), Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham (fewer than 4.5 goals), Manchester City vs Coventry (at least two goals) and Fulham vs Crystal Palace (fewer than 4.5 goals).
The side to watch there is Tottenham: bottom of the table, no goals in two games, and without Kulusevski, Maddison and Kudus.
At 16:30, Hull City vs Aston Villa is third against nineteenth, which is not a sentence anyone expected in September. Fewer than 4.5 goals.
Sunday
Everton vs Manchester United at 13:00: Everton rebuilt half their squad on deadline day and start Brennan Johnson, United arrive off a 5-2 win with Bruno Fernandes leading the scoring charts on three. Fewer than 4.5 goals.
Then Arsenal vs Chelsea at 15:30, first against fourth, both on six points. Arsenal have won twice without conceding; Chelsea have scored seven and conceded five, and line up with Emiliano Martínez in goal and Cole Palmer behind João Pedro. Our call: Arsenal to score at least once.
The predicted lineups, game by game
Ipswich - Liverpool
Ipswich Town (4-2-3-1)
Kjell Scherpen, Dara O'Shea, Issa Diop, Jacob Greaves, Leif Davis, Marcelino Núñez, Saša Lukić, Abdul Fatawu Issahaku, Julio Enciso, Daizen Maeda, Emersonn
Liverpool (4-2-3-1)
Alisson, Jeremie Frimpong, Jérémy Jacquet, Virgil van Dijk, Miloš Kerkez, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Víctor Muñoz, Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo, Alexander Isak
Newcastle - Bournemouth
Newcastle United (4-2-3-1)
Lukáš Horníček, Amar Dedić, Sven Botman, Malick Thiaw, Lewis Hall, Nico González, Lewis Miley, Anthony Elanga, Joe Willock, Harvey Barnes, Yoane Wissa
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1)
Đorđe Petrović, Adam Smith, António Silva, James Hill, Adrien Truffert, Alex Scott, Lewis Cook, Rayan, Justin Kluivert, Marcus Tavernier, Evanilson
Manchester City - Coventry
Manchester City (4-2-3-1)
Gianluigi Donnarumma, Abdukodir Khusanov, Rúben Dias, Marc Guéhi, Joško Gvardiol, Elliot Anderson, Nico O'Reilly, Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki, Antoine Semenyo, Erling Haaland
Coventry City (4-2-3-1)
Carl Rushworth, Milan van Ewijk, Bobby Thomas, Aurèle Amenda, Jay DaSilva, Caleb Yirenkyi, Matt Grimes, Loum Tchaouna, Gustavo Hamer, Brandon Thomas-Asante, Taiwo Awoniyi
Nottingham Forest - Tottenham
Nottingham Forest (3-4-2-1)
Matz Sels, Jair, Nikola Milenković, Murillo, Ola Aina, Xaver Schlager, James McAtee, Neco Williams, Dan Ndoye, Morgan Gibbs-White, Igor Jesus
Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1)
Antonín Kinský, Archie Gray, Jan Paul van Hecke, Micky van de Ven, Andy Robertson, Sandro Tonali, Rodrigo Bentancur, Pedro Porro, Mateus Fernandes, Mathys Tel, Omar Marmoush
Fulham - Crystal Palace
Fulham (4-2-3-1)
Bernd Leno, Timothy Castagne, Joachim Andersen, Calvin Bassey, Antonee Robinson, Sander Berge, Alex Iwobi, Oscar Bobb, Joshua King, César Palacios, Gonzalo García
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1)
Dean Henderson, Jaydee Canvot, Chris Richards, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Anan Khalaili, Daichi Kamada, Adam Wharton, Tyrick Mitchell, Eddie Nketiah, Yéremy Pino, Jørgen Strand Larsen
Brighton - Leeds
Brighton & Hove Albion (4-2-3-1)
Bart Verbruggen, Ferdi Kadıoğlu, Luka Vušković, Lewis Dunk, Olivier Boscagli, Mats Wieffer, Pascal Groß, Diego Gómez, Malick Yalcouyé, Maxim De Cuyper, Charalampos Kostoulas
Leeds United (3-4-2-1)
James Trafford, Nico Elvedi, Jaka Bijol, Tarik Muharemović, Jayden Bogle, Ethan Ampadu, Anton Stach, James Justin, Brenden Aaronson, Harry Wilson, Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Brentford - Sunderland
Brentford (4-2-3-1)
Caoimhin Kelleher, Michael Kayode, Kristoffer Ajer, Nathan Collins, Keane Lewis-Potter, Mamadou Sangare, Vitaly Janelt, Kevin Schade, Mikkel Damsgaard, Dango Ouattara, Igor Thiago
Sunderland (4-2-3-1)
Robin Roefs, Thomas Meunier, Nordi Mukiele, Daniel Ballard, Reinildo Mandava, Noah Sadiki, Granit Xhaka, Trai Hume, Enzo Le Fée, Nilson Angulo, Brian Brobbey
Hull City - Aston Villa
Hull City (5-4-1)
Konstantinos Tzolakis, Lewie Coyle, Semi Ajayi, John Egan, Nobel Mendy, Ryan Giles, Mohamed Belloumi, Regan Slater, Matt Crooks, Elliot Stroud, Oli McBurnie
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1)
Zion Suzuki, Matty Cash, Victor Lindelöf, Pau Torres, Ian Maatsen, Boubacar Kamara, Ross Barkley, John McGinn, Emiliano Buendía, Alysson, Nicolas Jackson
Everton - Manchester United
Everton (4-2-3-1)
Jordan Pickford, Merlin Röhl, James Tarkowski, Jarrad Branthwaite, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Harrison Armstrong, James Garner, Brennan Johnson, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Tyrique George, Thierno Barry
Manchester United (4-2-3-1)
Senne Lammens, Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martínez, Luke Shaw, Kobbie Mainoo, Youri Tielemans, Bryan Mbeumo, Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Matheus Cunha
Arsenal - Chelsea
Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
David Raya, Ben White, Cristhian Mosquera, Gabriel Magalhães, Riccardo Calafiori, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard, Christos Tzolis, Kai Havertz
Chelsea (3-4-2-1)
Emiliano Martínez, Wesley Fofana, Maxence Lacroix, Levi Colwill, Pedro Neto, Malo Gusto, Roméo Lavia, Jorrel Hato, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, João Pedro
Predicted lineups can change until an hour before kick-off, when the official teamsheets are released.
The individual calls — and three we have flagged ourselves
Before publishing this we ran our player calls against the injury and suspension lists, and then against the predicted lineups. Three of them do not stand up, and we would rather say so here than explain it on Monday: Jeremy Doku is out with a calf problem, João Gomes is serving a suspension after his red card against Brighton, and Joelinton has a thigh injury with a mid-September return date. None of the three appears in his side's predicted eleven. Those calls are under review and Friday's update will say where they landed.
The rest stand, and all of them start. Erling Haaland to score against Coventry is the most direct. Then Szoboszlai on shots at Ipswich, Tavernier at Newcastle, Igor Jesus against Tottenham, Strand Larsen at Fulham, Matheus Cunha at Goodison, and for the Emirates João Pedro on shots and Morgan Rogers on fouls.
On Monday we count every one
When the round closes we publish the tally with nothing removed. Last time it was eighteen correct out of the twenty that settled, with one void. The full record is in the results history.
Our analysis stays updated until kick-off on the Premier League page, and the individual calls are in the Player Predictions section.
