Stoke City v
Manchester City – Saturday 1230
Form:
Stoke D
Man City W
Key signings:
Stoke – Joe Allen (£13 million), Ramadan Sobhi (£5.5
million)
Manchester City – John Stones (£47.5 million), Leroy Sane
(£37 million), Gabriel Jesus (£27 million), Ilkay Gundogan (£21 million),
Nolito (£13.8 million)
Key departures:
Stoke – Peter Odemwingie, Steve Sidwell, Marc Wilson
Manchester City – Martin Demichelis
- Despite only winning on
the opening day via an own goal and a penalty, Manchester City must still
be fancied here. Jack Butland could be fit to return in the Stoke goal.
Burnley v Liverpool –
Saturday 1500
Form:
Burnley L
Liverpool W
Key signings:
Burnley – Steven Defour (£8 million), Nick Pope (£1.1
million)
Liverpool – Sadio Mane (£36 million), Georginio Wijnaldum
(£25 million), Loris Karius (£4.5 million)
Key departures:
Burnley – Joey Barton, Matt Gilks, Lloyd Dyer, Matt Taylor
Liverpool – Jordon Ibe, Joe Allen, Martin Skrtel, Jerome
Sinclair, Brad Smith
- Burnley are expected to
field their record signing, Belgian international midfielder Steven
Defour, for the first time. Despite the loss of Sadio Mane to what could
be a significant injury, expect Liverpool to add to their amazing first
day win over Arsenal.
Swansea City v Hull
City – Saturday 1500
Form:
Swansea W
Hull W
Key signings:
Swansea – Leroy Fer (£4.75 million), Mike van der Hoorn
(free)
Hull - Jonathan Edwards (free), Will Mannion (undisclosed
compensation)
Key departures:
Swansea – Ashley Williams, Andre Ayew, Eder, Alberto
Paloschi, Bafetimbi Gomis (loan)
Hull – Mohamed Diame, Ryan Taylor, Sone Aluko
- There was no doubt about
the surprise of the opening weekend, and it came at the KC Stadium were
Hull, despite all their problems, defeated champions Leicester. Although
Swansea also won last week, Hull could have great chance to make it a
fairytale start here.
Tottenham Hotspur v
Crystal Palace – Saturday 1500
Form:
Tottenham D
Crystal Palace L
Key signings:
Tottenham – Vincent Janssen (£18.6 million), Victor Wanyama
(£11 million)
Crystal Palace – Andros Townsend (£13 million), James
Tomkins (£10 million), Steve Mandanda (free)
Key departures:
Tottenham – Alex Pritchard, Federico Fazio (loan)
Crystal Palace – Dwight Gayle, Alex McCarthy, Brede
Hangeland, Marouane Chamakh, Adrian Mariappa, Yannick Bolasie, Mile Jedinak
- Tottenham were not
entirely convincing in drawing with Everton, but have the stronger side on
paper for this match and will start as favourites against Palace, who lost
to West Brom last time out. Spurs’ goalkeeper Hugo Lloris will miss four
weeks of football after last week’s injury, but will be replaced by the
more than capable Michel Vorm.
Watford v Chelsea –
Saturday 1500
Form:
Watford D
Chelsea W
Key signings:
Watford – Isaac Success (£12.5 million), Christian Kabasele
(£5.8 million), Brice Dja Djedje (£3 million), Jerome Sinclair (free), Juan
Camilo Zaniga (loan)
Chelsea – Michy Batshuayi (£33.2 million), N’Golo Kante (£32
million)
Key departures:
Watford – Almen Adbi, Jose Manuel Jurado,
Chelsea – Mohammed Salah, Baba Rahman (loan), Nathan Ake
(loan)
- Chelsea came through a
potentially difficult opening match against West Ham to bag three points,
and they must be favourites to make it six points here.
West Bromwich Albion
v Everton – Saturday 1500
Form:
West Brom W
Everton D
Key signings:
West Brom – Matt Phillips (£5.5 million)
Everton – Yannick Bolasie (£28 million), Ashley Williams
(£12 million), Idrissa Gueye (£7.1 million), Marten Stekelenburg (free)
Key departures:
West Brom – Stephane Sessegnon, Victor Anichebe
Everton – John Stones, Leon Osman, Tim Howard, Tony Hibbert,
Steven Pienaar
- Both teams will be fairly
satisfied with their first result – a 1-0 away win for West Brom and a
draw with Tottenham for Everton. Perhaps a draw is most likely here.
Leicester City v
Arsenal – Saturday 1730
Form:
Leicester L
Arsenal L
Key signings:
Leicester – Nampalys Mendy (£13 million), Ron-Robert Zieler
(£2.6 million), Ahmed Musa (undisclosed), Luis Hernandez (free)
Arsenal – Granit Xhaka (£34 million), Rob Holding (£2
million)
Key departures:
Leicester - N’Golo Kante, Andrej Kramaric, Mark Schwarzer
Arsenal – Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta
- In contrast, this pairs
two sides who will definitely not be satisfied with their opening day
performance. Leicester fell to a shock defeat at Hull, while the Emirates
faithful turned on Arsenal after their defeat to Liverpool. Laurent Koscielny
is expected to return after his extended break, which should shore up
Arsenal’s defence, but they now have injuries in midfield to the likes of
Aaron Ramsey and Alex Iwobi. The best news of the week for Leicester is
that Riyad Mahrez has signed a new four year contract. Perhaps a score
draw here?
Sunderland v
Middlesbrough – Sunday 1330
Form:
Sunderland L
Middlesbrough D
Key signings:
Sunderland – Paddy McNair, Donald Love (£5.5 million
combined), Adnan Januzaj (loan)
Middlesbrough – Marten de Roon (£12 million), Viktor Fisher
(£3.8 million), Victor Valdes (free), Bernardo Espinoza (free)
Key departures:
Sunderland – Emmanuel Giaccherini, Danny Graham, Steven
Fletcher, Wes Brown
Middlesbrough – Jonathan Woodgate
- The return of this
particular North East derby to the Premier fixture programme. Perhaps
don’t expect many goals here, and if there is a winner, it could well be
by a single goal.
West Ham United v
Bournemouth – Sunday 1600
Form:
West Ham L
Bournemouth L
Key signings:
West Ham – Andre Ayew (£20.5 million), Manuel Lanzini (£9.4
million) – previously played for club as loan player, Arthur Masuaku (£6
million)
Bournemouth – Jordon Ibe (£15 million), Lys Mousset (£5.4
million), Lewis Cook (£10 million), Brad Smith (£6 million), Marc Wilson (£2
million), Nathan Ake (loan)
Key departures:
West Ham – James Tomkins
Bournemouth – Tommy Elphick, Matt Ritchie, Lee Tomlin
- Two sides who lost on the
first weekend, albeit both to teams who are among the favourites for the
title (Chelsea and Manchester United). Andre Ayew starts a lengthy layoff,
which will be a blow to the Hammers, but they still may have enough to see
off the Cherries.
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