The time has come once again where soccer fans all over the globe are ready to kick off another season – Welcome to the beginning of a new English Premier League campaign. On Sunday August 11th as the second full slate of the EPL will begin as Pickswise, the home of free EPL Expert Best Bets will dive into each game on Sunday and double your earnings quickly.
Leicester City vs. Wolverhampton
Best Bet – Leicester City Money Line +125
Final Score Bet – Leicester City 2-0 +1000
With the summer drawing to a close and a new Premier League campaign dawning, Leicester City find themselves in a promising position despite losing their commanding centre back Harry Maguire during the transfer window.
The Foxes held out for a world record fee for a defender, eventually settling on an £80m deal with Manchester United. It’s a big blow to lose him, but certainly not unexpected, and with Brendan Rodgers at the helm the King Power Stadium faithful will be hopeful of what the next 9 months will bring.
Youri Tielemans has joined on a permanent basis after his successful loan spell last season, and Ayoze Perez joined their ranks earlier in the summer. Deadline day saw another deal pushed through, with £18m being spent on Sampdoria midfielder Dennis Praet. Defensively they certainly look weaker without Maguire, but Wes Morgan and Jonny Evans are hardly terrible replacements to slot in there.
For Wolves, it’s been a summer of consolidation. They achieved a remarkable 7th place finish upon their return to the Premier League last season, but even they will admit that they were fortunate to avoid any injury crises throughout the season.
Their squad depth simply wasn’t there to handle a crisis, so they have brought in a host of reinforcements in the shape of Pedro Neto, Patrick Cutrone, Leander Dendoncker, and Bruno Jordao. Not to mention the permanent signing of top scorer Raul Jimenez.
This summer spending will certainly help Wolves out as the season draws on, but it might not be enough. The Molineux outfit have already been in competitive action for 2 weeks now, playing 3 Europa League qualifiers and looking good value to reach the group stages. An excellent achievement, of course, but not one without its fixture congestion problems.
Wolves are coming into this Premier League opener on the back of a long trip to Armenia on Thursday evening, and we all saw how well it worked out for Burnley last season. Considering Leicester have won 4 of their last 6 Premier League home games, we have the hosts down as favorites here.
Add the visitors’ potential tiredness to the fact that they’ve lost 4 of their last 6 league away games, and we think backing The Foxes to get the win on Sunday is a great value option. Leicester have also kept a clean sheet in 3 of their last 4 home league games too, so a 2-0 correct score prediction looks attractive.
Newcastle vs. Arsenal
Best Bet – Both Teams To Score -145
Final Score Bet – Arsenal 3-1 +1500
Prop Bet – Pierre Emerick Aubameyang To Score Anytime +125
The gulf between fans and owner somehow managed to grow even wider at St James’ Park this summer, with the universally disliked Mike Ashley once again inviting a torrent of protests after seemingly letting Rafa Benitez leave the club without so much as a “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”
To make matters worse, they then sold Ayoze Perez to Leicester and allowed Salomon Rondon to head back to West Brom before diverting to China. That left an already goalshy Newcastle dreadfully short of firepower, and the appointment of Steve Bruce did very little to win the fans back over. That being said, Ashley has since opened the checkbook to sign striker Joelinton for a club record fee and right winger Allan Saint-Maximin, not to mention the deadline day signing of old favorite Andy Carroll.
Rondon and Perez have left big shoes to fill, and a lot of pressure will be on the likes of Joelinton and Miguel Almiron considering the rest of the squad’s seeming inability to find the net. Of the surviving teams, only Brighton scored fewer goals than Newcastle last season, and more than half of them came from Perez or Rondon.
However, getting on the scoresheet shouldn’t be too much of an obstacle against Arsenal. The Gunners, for all their significant attacking flair and threat, have proven to be terrible at the back. They kept just a single league clean sheet away from home last season, and now even Laurent Koscielny has left the club.
Unai Emery has replaced the departed Koscielny with a surprise move for David Luiz from Chelsea, but their back line is still undoubtedly the weak link in an otherwise very strong squad. Their attack in particular catches the eye, with the dynamic duo of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang being joined by Nicolas Pepe this summer.
It’s Aubameyang who we’re focusing on though. He shared the Golden Boot with Mo Salah and Sadio Mane last season and scored 9 of his Premier League goals away from home, averaging a goal every 146 minutes on the road. For this reason, he looks a top choice for our anytime goalscorer predictions.
Arsenal’s complete lack of defensive stability leads us to believe that the Magpies will score on Sunday too. Even with their limited attacking threat, Newcastle managed to find the net in 7 of their last 8 home games last season, so we’re going for Both Teams to Score here as well. In the end, we expect Arsenal’s attack to be too strong for Newcastle, so a 3-1 scoreline looks reasonable considering Steve Bruce’s admission that he’s “not a tactician.”
Manchester United vs. Chelsea
Best Bet – Manchester United To Win +125
Final Score Bet – Manchester United 2-1 +900
Prop Bet – Marcus Rashford To Score Anytime +180
The Ole Gunnar Solskjaer era begins for real at Old Trafford this weekend as he lines up for the first game of his (hopefully) first full season in charge of Manchester United.
As you would expect from a side that drew so much criticism last season, there have been a number of changes across the squad. The most pressing concern, The Red Devils’ torrid back line, has been addressed. They conceded more goals than any other team in the top 9 positions last season, but the big money arrivals of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire will give hope to the Old Trafford faithful.
However, there has been a negative side to their transfer dealings. Romelu Lukaku left in a $90m deal on deadline day, while Ander Herrera opted to move to PSG on a free transfer earlier in the summer. Neither of these key first team players have been replaced, leaving Solskjaer to rely on their unproven, albeit talented, pool of academy prospects.
Preseason has been positive for them though They have won 5 of their 6 friendlies and seen scintillating performances from the likes of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Mason Greenwood, and Angel Gomes. Whether they can continue this into the competitive season remains to be seen.
Manchester United’s potential problems look minuscule compared to what Chelsea could face. Inexperienced fan favorite Frank Lampard takes the helm at Stamford Bridge after Maurizio Sarri understandably chose to leave at the end of last season, and he has a huge task on his hands.
The Blues are in the midst of a transfer ban and were left helpless when Real Madrid came calling for Eden Hazard. Their talisman for so many years is finally gone, and deadline day saw them sell David Luiz to Arsenal. Their youth prospects are enticing, but filling Hazard and Luiz’s boots will be a big ask.
Chelsea also have a mixed Premier League campaign last year to look back upon. Sarri did manage to achieve a 3rd place finish and a Europa League title, but there were times when his Chelsea team looked completely lost. Their record away from home was a particular sticking point, and they ended the season having won just 2 of their final 9 Premier League away days.
5 of these ended in defeat too, and they lost 4 and drew 1 of their 6 away games against fellow Top 6 sides. Considering they haven’t won at Old Trafford since 2013, this could be a step too far for Lampard and company.
Both of these sides have some adjusting to do this season, but Manchester United are coming into the competition stronger than last season while their opponents look significantly weaker without Hazard pulling the strings.
We think backing the Manchester United Win here offers a lot of value, but we do think the host’s back line will take a bit of time to settle in. Old Trafford saw just 2 Premier League clean sheets for the home side last season, so Chelsea scoring looks likely and a 2-1 correct score prediction is our choice. After scoring 3 goals in Man Utd’s 6 preseason games and potentially lining up in the central strikers position, we think Marcus Rashford looks promising for our anytime goalscorer pick.
