Premier League Predictions GW9

Premier League football returns once again which will see it run from Friday to Sunday this time around. Leeds United against West Ham will get us kick started on Friday night. They'll kick off at 8PM (GMT). On to Saturday's fixtures and we begin with Chelsea vs Sunderland at 3PM, the only other 3PM kick off will be Newcastle hosting Fulham. We then have Manchester United taking on Brighton at 5:30PM, followed by Liverpool travelling to Brentford for the late kick off at 8PM. On Sunday we have five fixtures with four kicking off at 2PM. That'll start with Bournemouth playing host to Nottingham Forest, Arsenal will take on Crystal Palace, Aston Villa will welcome Manchester City and finally Wolves will play Burnley. To close off this weekend of football we'll see Everton clash against Tottenham Hotspur at 4:30PM.

Leeds vs West Ham

Both teams had a miserable time of it in the last game week that saw them both lose. Leeds trudged to the final whistle against Burnley after they comfortably beat them 2-0, whereas West Ham were rather saved by the final whistle as Brentford were in the mood to inflict more pain. West Ham are only off the bottom of the table because Wolves have been worse. For Leeds, the relegation zone is very much catching up to them and they need to rediscover some early season form if they're to drag themselves away from trouble.

Daniel Farke will be hoping to make Elland Road a fortress as they need to make the atmosphere as intimidating as possible. Two defeats on the bounce will concern Farke, but not as much as four defeats in five games will concern Nuno Espirito Santo. They were put to the sword by Brentford on Monday night which is not a good look for Nuno, they need to react fast, but I don't think a reaction will come against Leeds.

Predicted Score: Leeds 2-0 West Ham

Notable absentees:

Leeds: Noah Okafor, Wilfried Gnoto.

West Ham: Konstantinos Mavropanos, George Earthy, Niclas Fullkrug.

Chelsea vs Sunderland

Chelsea have been in scintillating form over the last few weeks and it came to a head against Ajax in the Champions League. A huge 5-1 score, amongst all the injuries they have, is a great achievement and it's been the same in the Premier League. Since they lost to Brighton, they've won all four games which has seen them score 11 times and concede just twice. While Sunderland haven't had the midweek confidence boosting results, they have been doing very well in the league. One loss in five games is very impressive and they sit in 7th because of it, actually only two spots behind Chelsea who come in at 5th.

This fixture will be incredibly tough for Sunderland as they're up against a free flowing unit that are knocking opponents out of the park. They'll need to rely on the experience of Granit Xhaka, plus the defensive structure that has seen them concede just six goals which makes them the joint 2nd best defence in the league. However, when you're up against a side that have the 2nd most goals scored in the league, it's an unstoppable force against an immovable object kind of situation. However, I do think Chelsea will come out on top.

Predicted Score: Chelsea 3-1 Sunderland

Notable absentees:

Chelsea: Malo Gusto, Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill, Benoit Badiashille, Liam Delap, Dario Essugo.

Sunderland: Ajibola Alese, Dennis Cirkin, Leo Hjelde, Habib Diarra, Romaine Mundle.

Newcastle vs Fulham

Newcastle can't seem to settle into any kind of consistent form. They'll certainly grab some good results, but will then lose in their next fixture quite convincingly. They did very well against Benfica in the week, beating them 3-0, but succumbed to a 2-1 defeat against Brighton at the weekend. It's like they can't have the good without having the bad and the same can be said about Fulham. However, with Fulham you can't point to someone in their team who could change their fortunes. Newcastle have Nick Woltemade scoring pretty much every week, Fulham's top scorer is Alex Iwobi who has one goal.

These two sides have so much more expected of them and they're currently struggling to cope with the pressure. They linger next to each other in the league with Newcastle at 14th and Fulham in 15th. Neither of them have broken double digits for goals scored, which in eight games, is not good viewing. Newcastle need to find a way to get other players in on the goals and not just Woltemade. At the other end of the spectrum, Fulham need to find a consistent goal scorer. I can't see either side getting one over in this fixture.

Predicted Score: Newcastle 1-1 Fulham

Notable absentees:

Newcastle: Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento, Yoane Wissa.

Fulham: Joachim Andersen, Tom Cairney, Antonee Robinson, Sasa Lukic, Rodrigo Muniz, Samuel Chukwueze.

Manchester United vs Brighton

These two sides are each playing their best football of the season at the moment, so it's unfortunate they should meet now. Brighton have been very crafty in how they're picking up wins this season as they seem to be taking down the major scalps. Manchester City, Chelsea and Newcastle have all fallen victim, Tottenham Hotspur just about survived. This will be a real test for United, despite home advantage. As I said last week, a win against Liverpool could be such a definitive and season changing result and they only went and did it. 2-1 was a massive result and they were fully deserving of it. Liverpool had their chances, but so did United.

Ruben Amorim knows that his players will be brimming with confidence, but he has to be careful not to get complacent. Crystal Palace beat Liverpool and they've struggled since. However, that mentality of 'we can beat anyone' will be coarsing through those United players and Brighton will be subjected to 90 minutes of probing and unrelenting football. Amorim has received a lot of criticism, but he has got his side playing much better football this season and they're starting to get the results to reflect that.

Predicted Score: Manchester United 2-1 Brighton

Notable absentees:

Manchester United: Lisandro Martinez.

Brighton: Joel Veltman, Kaoru Mitoma, Adam Webster, Jack Hinshelwood, Brajan Gruda, Solly March.

Brentford vs Liverpool

It seemed like things were just going from bad to worse when Eintracht Frankfurt broke the deadlock against Liverpool in the Champions League. But, five goals later and Liverpool look way more like themselves. This stopped a rout of four defeats on the bounce and will be a major boost to the morale around the club. However, the Premier League is a different beast and Brentford will provide an awkward challenge. Keith Andrews will be delighted with how his side dispatched West Ham on Monday night. They subjected the East London side to a night of trauma and they were able to win 2-0.

Facing Manchester City and Liverpool in the space of three game weeks is a daunting prospect, but having only just lost to City, they'll be looking to claim at least one of their scalps. Brentford can certainly turn on the style in attack, but they do leave themselves vulnerable defensively. Arne Slot will be looking to take advantage of those defensive frailties. I think the Merseyside club will struggle to get going, but once they hit their stride they'll be hard to stop.

Predicted Score: Brentford 1-3 Liverpool

Notable absentees:

Brentford: Aaron Hickey, Gustavo Gomes.

Liverpool: Alexander Isak, Jeremie Frimpong, Alisson, Giovanni Leoni, Stefan Bajcetic.

Bournemouth vs Nottingham Palace

One team is flying high, the other is effectively sinking, but the latter have gained a new captain of the ship. Nottingham Forest have seen their third manager in what will be their ninth game of the season, the kind of rotation that is not often seen in the Premier League. It's fair to say Forest's owner got it all wrong when they sacked Nuno Espirito Santo, but they've landed on Sean Dyche who managed to get a win in Thursday nights game against FC Porto. The Portuguese side are a tough outfit and a 2-0 win is a great result. On the flip side, Bournemouth are still on a high and find themselves third in the league. They engaged in an epic 3-3 draw against Palace last weekend, but that draw still means they're unbeaten since the Liverpool game which was GW1.

Dyche is known for his incredible defensive structures that have saved numerous teams from relegation, so it'll be an interesting challenge for Andoni Iraola. Bournemouth will continue to attack with pace and power, but Dyche will install his system prior to this game. It'll be tough for Bournemouth, but their form suggests they won't be beaten, it's just whether they can sneak a win.

Predicted Score: Bournemouth 1-0 Forest

Notable absentees:

Bournemouth: Evanilson, David Brooks, Enes Unal.

Forest: Dilane Bakwa, Ola Aina.

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace

A London derby. North vs South. Arsenal have been in almost perfect form since the draw against Manchester City. They've won their last six fixtures in all competitions, keeping clean sheets in five of them and conceding just once. They've also scored 13 in the process. For Palace, that's about as daunting of a task as they'll get this season, but having already beaten Liverpool they'll be confident in getting a result. Having said that, Palace's form has dipped slightly in the last few games. No wins in their last three fixtures which contain two defeats, with one against AEK Larnaca on Thursday this week. A 1-0 defeat at home to a team that sits fifth in the Cypriot top flight division is quite embarrassing.

That defeat will do one of two things, get the team fired up or ruin the morale. Arsenal will be hoping it's the latter and they'll look to compound that misery. However, this fixture last season generated a 2-2 draw, so Oliver Glasner will look to draw inspiration from that result. The game will have all the makings of a midweek European hangover with both sides looking to manage player fitness. But, I do think home advantage will play a part in this and you can't bet against Arsenal keeping a clean sheet.

Predicted Score: Arsenal 2-0 Crystal Palace

Notable absentees:

Arsenal: Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke.

Palace: Chadi Riad, Caleb Kporha, Cheick Doucoure.

Aston Villa vs Manchester City

Unai Emery has seen his side enter the kind of form that he's come to expect of them, but a midweek defeat away to Go Ahead Eagles will teach him that he's still got a way to go. Hosting Manchester City will be a marker as to where his team are in terms of progress. Beat them and it confirms that they're ready to climb the table, lose and it suggests that they're still not at the level they have been over the years. City have seemingly recaptured their form from two seasons ago which saw them snatch the Premier League trophy from Arsenal's grasp. Erling Haaland has been instrumental for them, but is there a sense of over reliance creeping in. If Villa can stop him, we'll have to see what else City can come up with.

Villa were excellent against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, that win pushed them to four wins in a row. As mentioned above, Go Ahead Eagles gave them a reality check. Almost in the same way that Monaco did with Manchester City. That game ended 2-2, but it suggested that there was still some work to do for Pep Guardiola. Having said that, they've played three times since then and have won all three games without conceding a goal. You can't bet against Haaland and co.

Predicted Score: Aston Villa 1-3 Manchester City

Notable absentees:

Villa: Youri Tielemans.

City: Nico Gonzalez, Abdoukodir Khusanov, Rodri.

Wolves vs Burnley

Not exactly the most exciting of games to look forward to, but this is an important fixture for Wolves. At home against a newly promoted side is a great moment in time to pick up your first win of the season. However, they've got to look at getting more balls into the back of the net. Only five in eight games is a terrible return, Burnley have almost double what they've got. Burnley themselves grabbed an extremely important win last weekend as they overcame the challenge of Leeds. It lifted them out of the relegation zone which will only help the morale of the team.

Both teams have a habit of conceding goals, but one team is much better at scoring them. However, the latter have the disadvantage of playing away. Wolves need to make the Molineux a fortress and it can start here. I think Wolves pick up something from this one, I'm not sure what, but I don't think they'll lose.

Predicted Score: Wolves 0-0 Burnley

Notable absentees:

Wolves: Hee-Chan Hwang, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde

Burnley: Jacob Bruun Larsen, Lyle Foster, Connor Roberts, Jordan Beyer, Zeki Amdouni.

Everton vs Tottenham Hotspur

To round off this weekend of fixtures is clash of the old guard. A fixture steeped in history, but the 2020's have seen both teams enter a new phase. Everton haven't had a great time of it recently as they've only picked up one win in their last five fixtures, picking up three defeats in that time. For Spurs it sounds better than the reality in the way they've only lost once in their last five fixtures, however that run includes three draws. Both teams are relatively out of form and Spurs haven't had the cushion of a midweek confidence boost.

It's hard to say which way this one will go, but Thomas Frank hasn't yet found the right system for his side yet. David Moyes will hope to emulate the kind of result that Aston Villa picked up against Spurs, but it will be extremely tough as the North London side are capable of tearing an opponent apart.

Predicted Score: Everton 1-1 Spurs

Notable absentees:

Everton: Jarrad Branthwaite, Nathan Patterson.

Spurs: Cristian Romero, Mathys Tel, Ben Davies, James Maddison, Dominic Solanke, Yves Bissouma, Dejan Kulusevski, Radu Dragusin, Kota Takai, Destiny Udogie.

That's it for this weekend's predictions. Good luck to all teams involved! Here's my predictions from last weekend and how I did.

Forest 2-1 Chelsea - Incorrect result

Brighton 1-1 Newcastle - Incorrect result

Burnley 1-3 Leeds - Incorrect result

Crystal Palace 3-3 Bournemouth - Incorrect result

Manchester City 3-1 Everton - Correct result!

Sunderland 2-1 Wolves - Correct result!

Fulham 0-2 Arsenal - Correct result!

Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Aston Villa - Incorrect result

Liverpool 3-1 Manchester United - Incorrect result

West Ham 1-0 Brentford - Incorrect result

3/10 correct results

0/10 correct score

7/10 incorrect result