This weekend's clubgowi english football previews ...............
Aug 25, 2019
Below you can view all the Saturday/Sunday clubgowi english football previews, in addition, we have also previewed games from France, USA, Japan and Brazil.
Leicester City won 2-1, Arsenal scored one goal, Leeds United won 3-0 and PNE-Wednesday saw 3 goals, Manchester City starts in a couple of hours and the Wolves-Burnley game later this afternoon.
Saturday:
Premier League:
Sheffield United- Leicester City
I previewed both teams last weekend and not very succesfully ! United at home to Crystal Palace ................
I opposed United at Bournemouth last week, they fell behind , worked hard to earn a first point and are up and running following promotion last season. They deserved to come up from the Championship, but were not a stand out second tier team for my money and discipline, hard work and being well organised can take you a long way outside the top flight, but you need more at the "Big Show" and I see too many Championship level players in this group and if I am being really brutal, one or two who had overachieved to even reach that standard and I think that lack of real quality will find them out sooner or later. I see this very similar to Villa - Bournemouth yesterday, a newcomer under huge pressure from an expectant and buoyant home crowd facing an established top flight team who know that these are the sort of games where points are up for grabs. If Palace do not give the host and their supporters anything much to feed off early, they should win this. Palace will have star player Wilfried Zaha as a starter today, his "head was not in the right place" to face Everton last week after his summer big money move did not materialise, but they created enough chances to have beaten the Toffees with visiting keeper Jordan Pickford earning MOTM plaudits. Zaha did come off the bench late in that and to be honest, looked a bit sulky, but has probably come to terms with things now and reports are that he has been very good in training this week and "unplayable". Palace scored in 13/14 away games last season versus non Big 6 teams and collected over 59% of their points away from Selhurst Park and only Manchester City (24) have scored more away Premier League goals in 2019 than Crystal Palace (20).
Leicester City away to Chelsea ..................
Chelsea opened with a 4-0 hammering at Old Trafford last weekend when they had a very young team with limited top flight experience in key areas, but I still felt that scoreline was a little flattering to the Reds and if the Blues had taken one of several good early opportunities it might well have been a different story. Chelsea had a much more senior look for the Super Cup game in Turkey in midweek and were unfortunate to lose on penalties, they will be looking to kick start the Frank Lampard reign today and have not lost their two opening top flight starts since 1973, they have also won their first home league game in 14/16 seasons. The Foxes won 1-0 at Stamford Bridge last season, but Chelsea had more than enough chances to have won that and that was City's only win on the road to a Big 6 team in the last three seasons, losing 14 of the other 17 games, but scoring in 13 of those . Chelsea have a 70.18% home win rate in the last three campaigns which suggests decent value today and Lampard will be desperate to clain three points on his home debut, but best value of all has to be that win along with City scoring. The Blues backline has looked a little suspect and vulnerable to pace which the Foxes have. 2-1 feel about right.
United won 1-0, Palace were a no show and got what they deserved, I am expecting a far more upbeat and industrious performance and for 90+ minutes from the Foxes who drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge and should perhaps have won, being the better of the two after the break. One player who will definitely be super motivated today and sure of a "welcome" is Jamie Vardy, he is a Sheffield lad, but from the blue half, Wednesday were his first club as a youth and he grew up supporting the Owls and a goal for him at Bramall Lane would be worth a hat-trick at any other stadium. Away win.
2 units Leicester City -0.5 ball 2.26 asian line/Sportmarket.
Liverpool- Arsenal
This is traditionally one of the most entertaining fixtures in the Premier League, with 30 goals in the last six meetings at Anfield with all producing 4+ at an average of 5.0. Three of the last five in North London also produced 5+ goals.
Pool have conceded in all four starts so far and have looked more vulnerable defensively and that is always and remains the case with the Gunners, despite only having conceded one goal in two PL starts so far, however, they were against Burnley and Newcastle United and neither can compete offensively with the Reds.
Both to score and a bit of a shootout at some stage.
1.75 units Arsenal to score "over" 1 goal 1.95 asian line/Sportmarket..............
Championship:
Preston North End- Sheffield Wednesday
Stoke City- Leeds United
Let's start with midweek when I previewed PNE- Stoke City..............
Stoke City got off the mark too on Saturday, but only with their first point of the season in a 2-2 draw at home to Derby County. City reports have not been too bad, but they have conceded 7 goals in three starts, at least twice in each, despite giving up the fewest attempts on goal, only six per game, 2.33 pg fewer than the next best. That hints at good overall performances, but issues at the back and reports on their own forum suggest that they have been too slow in closing opponents down defensively. We have discussed head coach Nathan Jones and his preferred formation and style of play several times and despite now having his own team in, they do feel in transition still and definitely vulnerable at the back, but with a lot of potential. Tonight they go to Preston who have scored 9 in three league and cup starts, but who are coming off a loss by the odd goal in five at Swansea City and they also look a little suspect at the back. City signed Scott Hogan from Villa late in the transfer window, he had a terrible , terrible time after his big money move to Villa Park and lost confidence which is nightmare for a striker, but Jones has paired him with Lee Gregory and the two have played together at non league level so know each other well and Hogan has hit the ground running with a brace against County. Hogan is just about the deadliest out and out striker I have seen in the Championship, he doesn't bring the same to the game as Neal Maupay, but in terms of finishing, I have not seen many better in the second tier and if Jones can restore that confidence, he could/should be a 20+ goal man and that is waht the visitors so desperately need.
I went with Stoke and thank goodness, also the "over" as Preston won 3-1 and City did not get a look in until late and when three goals down !
Let's start with City, they again conceded 2+ , Jack Butland made errors for the first two goals, but I am not as quick to make him the scapegoat that others have, defensively City are in a mess and again failed to close down the opposition, the space they were allowing North End in and around the box was absolutely criminal at times and I just don't see how they are going to sort out these issue in a month, let alone the four days inbetween these fixtures. They also have to face one of the stronger Championship teams today in Leeds United who are ideally set up to play on the road and have the pace to exploit any additional space. United beat Brentford in midweek, scoring a late winner, Bees were at least as good as United in the first half, but the home side upped their game after the break and look good, Brentford tired and have too many players struggling with the adjustment to Championship football, they will be a good team in 4-5 weeks and will have to try and just hang in there and not lose too much ground in the interim. United lost 2-1 in this fixture back in January (last season) and as I mentioned before their win at Wigan ,
Marcelo Bielsa doesn't strike as the kind of man to forget or not learn from a defeat and another slice of cold revenge is on the cards....................
I think Leeds are at their best on the road (when teams come onto them more and don't just sit back) and in early season, when all those double and treble training sessions give them an edge, before it is worn away by a 46 game gruelling Championship campaign, something we spoke of often last season. anyway, they looked very good in an opening weekend win at a decent Bristol City team, where United appeared on another level and they also ran in three without reply at Salford in the cup on Tuesday. They return to Greater Manchester today and the wide open spaces of the DW stadium should suit them very well indeed as it did last season in a comfortable win. There is also the small matter of some revenge for the April win at Elland Road from Wigan, which came totally out of the blue and was the catalyst for United blowing their automatic promotion spot. Athletic were a goal and player down early in the game and somehow won after almost 80 minutes a man light. Marcelo Bielsa said a month later that still didn't understand how that happened, so we know it hasn't been forgotten and time for a little payback.
I was a little surprised that Athletic beat Cardiff City here on opening day, but the truth is that the visitors conceded three poor goals and should have perhaps scored more, the Latics then went to Preston and lost 3-0 and were fortunate to score nil ! They might have sconceded 8-9 across the two games and there has to be goals in this for United. The visitors will have circa 6,000 supporters in the ground and will make up some 40% of the attendance.
Preston are at home again, are scoring for fun, but are not as solid at the back as they looked in midweek ( see above), I expect them to be asked more questions today offensively by Wednesday who narrowly edged past Luton Town on Tuesday ahead of which I noted............. In addition, the Owls have also had 50 attempts on goal, a total only beaten by Leeds United , with a whopping 21 on target, six better than any other team. They will be hungry to get back on track after losing 1-0 at Millwall on Saturday, where they had enough chances to have won three games but lacked a real cutting edge.I do expect this to be open, the two shared six goals in this fixture late last season and three definitely feels do-able , with the visitors possibly having an edge with 24 hours more recovery time.
2 units Leeds United -0.75 ball 2.47 asian line/Sportmarket
2 units PNE-Shefffield Wednesday "over" 2.5 goals 2.12 asian line/Sportmarket.
Sunday:
Premier League:
Bournemouth- Manchester City
Plenty of notes on Bournemouth in pre and early season and we sided with them to win at Aston Villa last weekend, which they did and that form was franked by the Villans beating Everton on Friday. However, they have to step up a whole new level or two today and will be facing the defending champions who are still frustrated by dropping two points at home to Tottenham last week, a game they totally dominated, I won't list all the numbers as I am doing that in another preview today and it can get boring, but this one stands out............City "won" the attempts inside the box 22-1 ! That Spurs managed just one highlights the superiority that City had, that the visitors scored twice, further emphasizes how fortunate Tottenham were to avoid a thumping, let alone steal a point.
Raheem Sterling scored his 4th goal in the opening two starts there and in pre season I had written .............
I also think Raheem Sterling is likely to break through the 20 goal barrier this season, he has scored 18 and 17 respectively in the last two campaigns, is a far more confident player now and played the second most minutes of any outfielder for City last season, his goals to attempts record last season was very good indeed, far better than reputation might suggest. He missed four games last season (Huddersfield/Burnley/Watford/
He and Kevin De Bruyne have started the campiagn on fire and look unplayable and I expect City to win and Sterling, who has 8 goals and 2 assists in seven starts against the Cherries, scoing in the last two of three here at what will always be Dean Court to me, to score. Bournemouth have also never kept a clean sheet in a Sunday Premier League game, giving up 2.67 goals on average in their 21 starts, losing 16. City to win and possibly by a decent margin, Sterling on the scoresheet all look likely. However, it will be interesting to see how Bournemouth, who are a very offensive minded team, set up, it was in this fixture last season that we saw them sit back against any team for the first time, they had just 18% possession, zero attempts on goal , zero corners and City held the ball forever, with over 800 completed passes. It was most un-Bournemouth like and they did hold out for almost an hour and did not change tactics after conceding, it was odd, hardly played to their strengths, but whether it was just a one off experiment, or a tactic they will try again in a game like this I do not know for sure, it means home head coach Eddie Howe is trying different things , however, "damage limitation" is not going to help againt this City team and being the first PL team not to record a single attempt on goal, is not a record I feel Howe will be happy about and I expect a return to a more normal approach from them, but either way it will not be enough and I expect Bournemouth to pay the price for Tottenham's good fortune and for City to come out all guns blazing. City have conceded just one FH goal in their last 9 away starts and one in 7 at the Etihad.
2 units Manchester City -1 ball 2.14 asian line/Sportmarket FIRST HALF betting.
Wolverhampton Wanderers - Burnley
Wolves have featured more than any other team this week and served us well with a 1-1 draw with Manchester United on Monday and 3-2 with in Turin on Thursday ahead of which I wrote ............
This is quite interesting as it pitches the teams who finished 7th in Serie A and the Premier League and a rare chance to see how "equal" teams from elite leagues match up outside the Champions League.
A very quich turnaround and busy week for Wolves as they hosted Manchesetr United on Monday and entertain Burnley in three days time, ahead of the first I wrote ............
Hard to know what to make of Manchester United as a bit of a gloss was put on some poor performances by that mid season overachievement (in terms of results compared to expected goal difference) when Ole Gunnar Solskjær first took charge, either side of which they played at a pretty low level for a Big 6 club. That overachievement was also true of almost all of 2017-18 when they collected 18.5 points more than they should have , scoring an extra 9 goals and conceding 16 fewer than "expected" numbers. Last season they finished 6th, 9 points clear of Wolves who were 7th, but XP indicate the gap should fave been far closer (2 points) and Wanderers did not have a lot of luck against some of the weaker teams, but showed their true worth against the name clubs, taking 16 points from the 12 games versus Big 6 teams, including four against United, scoring in 9 games , two plus goals in five . They also beat both United and Liverpool 2-1 here at Molineux in the FA Cup. That is an unbelievable record against the cream of the Premier League. Wolves have not been afraid to spend big, even in the Championship their Chinese owners were flashing the cash and another £100m or so was spent in the off season, most on making the deal for Raul Jimenez permanent but almost strengthening across the pitch and adding further to offensive options. They should be a little ahead of most teams in terms of match fitness having played four Europa League games. United did open with that hammering of Chelsea which looks good on paper, but the Blues had a youthful line up, were missing several key players and yet had good chances early which might have put a different complexion on the scoreline if they had been taken. I am not convinced yet by United, far from it, I expect them to concede at least once today as a minimum, with Wolves scoring in 7 of 8 home games versus the top 6 last season, but also conceding in all 14 (league and cup). 2-1/1-1.
They battled hard for a point in a 1-1 draw, but head coach Nuno Espirito Santo spoke about having great confidence in the recovery process of the team and staff and, that as a club, they had prepared all summer for Europa League involvement. He have good options at his disposal, he had £80-90m + worth of talent on the bench on Monday and the Premier League team's squad value is about double that of the visitors, probably more. There is a bit of a gulf now between the two leagues, a pretty big one and we can highlight that in a simplistic way, with last years record in the two major competitions, the Big Six in the PL all made the last 8 and provided the two finalists in each, Serie A had one quarter finalist in each and both were eliminated at that stage. That is at the top of the pile and I would argue that the further down the respective leagues you go, the greater the difference and that the PL teams are more battle hardened in terms of competition they face week in week out. The speedy turnaround is nullified by this being early in the campaign and that Wolves have depth and players hungry to impress and that they are two games into their domestic season, whereas Serie A doesn't start until this coming weekend. We spoke about how much Wolves spent this summer, Torino made a couple of loan deals permanent, sold a couple and look about the same as for 18-19, maybe a little weaker and have not really addressed a lack of quaility options from the bench issue and I wonder if this, or the home game with Sassuolo on Sunday will be given priority .
Wolves twice led by 2 in midweek and were comfortable winners, but it has been a super tough week, 7 players started in both, 9 played in the two games and there are bound to be some tired legs for today. Burnley are not a PL big name, but a very well run club and a team who always play to their strengths, they know how tough EL/PL is having attempted it last season and I suspect they will be looking to test the fitness levels of Wolves this afternoon. The Clarets looked good in putting three past Southampton on opening day and created chances in a 2-1 loss at Arsenal eight days ago, since when they have been preparing for this, while the hosts have played twice and flown to Turin and back. Visiting striker Ashley Barnes has 12 goals in 2019, a total only beaten by Mane and Aguero and he and the Clarets will trouble Wolves offensively, I would not rule out the "upset" away win, but feel best value is again with both teams to score, the option we took on Monday.
2 units both to score 2.10 general quote.
1 unit Burnley level ball 3.91 asian line/Sportmarket.
Good Luck.
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