EPL Game Week 3 – 2020/21 Season – Weekend Premier League Tips

Seven teams currently have a 100% win record in the EPL after Game-week 2, however, this is set to change this weekend when a number of these unbeaten teams meet, with Liverpool v Arsenal and Man City v Leicester being the stand-out ties. John Newsome previews these games along with all the other upcoming English Premier League week 3 matches. You can view all previous analysis from John’s regular column here: English Premier League Predictions For Saturday.

Please note all prices quoted below were correct at time of publication.

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BRIGHTON v MANCHESTER UNITED

September 26th

Early Saturday Afternoon football to kick-start Game Week-3.
Brighton host Manchester United at the Amex with a 12.30 PM kick-off in England, live on BT Sport.
Brighton got one of the results of the weekend on Sunday travelling the 700-mile round trip to St James Park and came away with a brilliant 3-0 away-day victory.
With just 4-minutes of the 1st-half gone, Neal Maupay scored to ease the nerves of the cardboard Seagulls and put Graham Potter’s men 1-0 in front.
Within 3-minutes and with just 7-minutes on the clock, Big Neal scored his and Brighton’s 2nd.
Late in the game, Aaron Connolly made it 3-0 and the game finished with the Seagulls getting a great victory.
One sour note to the day was that Yves Bissouma was sent off following a horror challenge on Newcastle’s Jamal Lewis.
After the dreaded VAR had switched over from the Chase on ITV, they looked at the incident and advised the on-field referee Kevin Friend to go to the pitch-side monitor and have a look himself, which Kev did and duly sent Yves off.
A great result for Harry and his boys which would have ruined a few Sunday afternoon Accas.
A strange anomaly has occurred so far in that out of the 18-Premier League fixtures played in this new campaign, there as yet to be a Draw.
All of the games have resulted in 3-points for one team or another.
After a week off due to being rubbish in Europe, United are now rubbish in the Premier League following Saturday’s disastrous start to the new campaign.
It’s becoming apparent that the result of a Manchester United fixture can be defined an hour before kick-off when Ole hands in his team-sheet.
Like in the 2-Semi-Final defeats last term, when Ole chose his eleven, which included Fred, United then lost.
With the excitement of signing Donny Van Der Beek, the United faithfuls hearts would have sunk seeing, Dan James in and both Mason Greenwood and Donny Osmond sat on the bench on Saturday against Crystal Palace.
Ole’s Wheels lacked any cutting edge against Palace and James was ineffective.
Not to dig out just DJ, all of the United players were below par.
For the Eagles first goal, Victor Lindelof just let Jeffrey Schlupp run and cross the ball in where Harry Maguire, Tim Forsu-Mensah and Luke Shaw had one player to mark and failed.

Victor should have, at worse, brought down Jeff before he had a chance to cross and one of Harry, Tim or Luke should have prevented the Palace player from scoring.
United then conceded a penalty which was awarded by the dreaded VAR.
The ball hit Victor’s hand when in a punch position, whilst a lot of the so-called experts and pundits said it was a harsh penalty to be awarded against the United player, it was probably 65/35 the correct decision.
What followed then was more controversial with Palace’s Jordan Ayew having his spot-kick saved by David De Gea.
The dreaded then had to be seen to be observing, when in truth, the referees at Stockley Park were watching Catchphrase on ITV.
To be fair, the boys did say what the saw and saw DDG, an inch off his line.
With new rules in place, that means the penalty as to be retaken.
A rule is a rule, fair enough but what then became an added farce was, instead of Jordan Ayew retaking the penalty, it was allowed that Wilfried Zaha was able to take it and promptly scored.

Surely if the rule is in place that a goalkeeper has wrongly encroached and the penalty as to be retaken, the same player should have to retake it.
What resulted, in the end, was that United were now losing 2-0 and the dreaded VAR went back to watching Catchphrase.
Say what you see.
Donny Van Der Beek pulled a goal back for the Red Devil’s to give the faithful hope but Crystal Palace scored a 3rd to put the game to bed.
A disastrous start for Ole and his Wheels which should send a message to Edward Woodward, the Equaliser, to go and get a couple of quality players in, because United won’t win anything with those players especially if Ole chooses to include Scott McTominay and Dan James in his starting eleven.
It’s always been a thought that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has a number of phases to get Manchester United back on track after the disastrous tenures of David Moyes and Jose Mourinho.

Louis Van Gaal is exempt from criticism as the Dutch legend wasn’t given enough time and should not have been replaced by Dracula.
Phase 1 and 2 have been completed, those being last summers signings of Harry Maguire, Aaron Van Bissaka and Dan James.
In January, Bruno Fernandes was in at Old Trafford.
Phase 3 appears to be in process with the signing of Donny Van Der Beek but Ole and the United faithful do need to see more investment, as the current squad is simply not up to the standard of Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea.
There is still 2-weeks to the end of the Transfer Window so there’s still possible movement in the Jadon Sancho saga.
Jack Grealish has just committed his future to Aston Villa so that possible deal is dead in the water.
Watford’s Ismaila Sarr is supposed to be on United’s radar after Liverpool decided not to sign the forward.
Without being disrespectful to anyone, why are United after a player who is, in essence, Odion Ighalo? and secondly, a player Liverpool don’t want?
This is Manchester United, United should be more innovative with their signings or pay the dollar.
Gareth Bale is back at Tottenham, was there a chance GB could have come to Old Trafford?
It’s unsure but Manchester is closer to Wales than London.
Gareth will enhance any team and it’s his choice as to why he chose North London instead of the North.
Ole certainly needs at least, 2-more elite, high profile signings before the window ‘slams shut’ as the pundits say.
Otherwise Phase 3 could just be stalled until January.
Last seasons fixture at the Amex was a post-lockdown game, Manchester United coming away with an easy 3-0 away-day victory.
Mason Greenwood and Bruno Fernandes scored United’s 2-first-half goals with Bruno adding his 2nd and United’s 3rd, just after the break to give Ole’s Wheels the win.

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CRYSTAL PALACE v EVERTON

September 26th

This fixture kicks-off at 15.00 PM in England live on the Amazon Prime Streaming Service.

Roy Hodgson outwitted his younger United counterpart on Saturday performing a tactical masterclass over Ole and his Wheels.
Andros Townsend opened the scoring in the 7th-minute when 4-United defenders gave Andros the freedom of Old Trafford to slot home.
In the 2nd-half, Jordan Ayew cannily flicked the ball up against a United players hand and earned a penalty.
Jordan then decided he was taking it but had his spot-kick saved.
Luckily for Crystal Palace, the VAR requested the kick to be retaken because the United ‘keeper had moved a split-second prior to the kick.
What happened then was inexplicable as the authorities allowed Wilfried Zaha to take the kick and Big Wilf promptly scored.
The strange thing in that is, surely Jordan should have been made to take it.
Jordan may or may not have scored the 2nd-time but Wilfried did.

United did pull a goal back but Big Wilf scored his 2nd and Palace’s 3rd to run out easy winners by a 3-1 scoreline.
Roy’s Eagle’s join Leicester, Everton, Arsenal and Liverpool at the top of the infant Premier League table with 2-wins and 6-points.
Wilfried is still at the club and the Eagle Ultras can’t wait for the 5th of October to come with the hope that Wilf hasn’t left for pastures new.
Everton jumped to the top of the table early on Saturday with a stunning 5-2 victory over West Brom with goals from the brilliant James Rodriguez, Michael Keane and a superb hat-trick from the next Sheffield Superstar that is Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Everton did concede 2-goals and at one point were drawing 2-2 but Carlo’s boys pulled away and with the excellent James Rodriguez, who ran the game and showed why Real Madrid paid a bucket load of dollar for him.
As well as scoring, Hammy provided assists for a couple of goals as well as dictating the midfield throughout the game and the Toffees faithful, both cardboard and real, should be full of excitement.

This fixture last season was the opening game for both teams at the beginning of August, with both teams still on the beach, producing a drab 0-0 first day draw to excite the Eagles Ultras and the Toffees faithful.

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WEST BROM v CHELSEA

September 26th

A 17.30 PM start-time in England with this fixture being shown live on Sky Sports.
West Brom played in an entertaining game at Goodison Park on Saturday against Everton but ultimately finished the day losing following a 5-2 defeat.
Grady Diangana put the Baggies in front early on but after conceding 2-goals and a moment of madness from Kieran Gibbs that saw the defender sent off on the stroke of half-time, it meant West Brom went in at the break, trailing 2-1.
Such was the excitement at the sending off, Slaven Bilic confronted the referee Mike Dein to show his dismay at the Red Card.
Mike was having none of it and gave Slaven a seat in the stands for the 2nd-half.
Within minutes of the restart, Matheus Pereira scored a superb free-kick to equalise and give the travelling cardboard faithful hope of a victory.
Unfortunately, that just spurred Everton on and the 10-men Baggies conceded 3 more to subsequently lose the game by a 5-2 scoreline.
The defeat leaves Slaven’s men rock bottom of the Premier League table with zero-points, the same as Southampton, Fulham, Sheffield United and West Ham after 2-games played.
When a team has lost its opening 2-games, a visit from Chelsea is probably not what Slaven would have wanted.
Chelsea were the architects of their own downfall on Sunday, with 3-key moments of their own making in the game, resulting in a 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge against Liverpool.

Some have tipped Frank Lampard’s Blues to be Premier League title winners, however, on Sunday’s display, that now appears foolish.
That said, Frank does have a number of players missing, notably Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell and Hakim Ziyech who all should be pushing for a start pretty soon.
Christian Pulisic and Billy Gilmore are big losses too through injury and Frank will want them back fit as soon as possible.
The 1st of the 3-key moments in the game against Liverpool, occurred just before the break when Andreas Christensen pulled down Sadio Mane as the Liverpool forward was racing through on goal.

After an initial Yellow Card was shown by the on-field referee Paul Tierney, the dreaded got involved and advised Paul to have another look at the incident.
Last season, the pitch-side monitors were never used due to the inefficiency of Mike Riley, the referees boss.
Now, the Premier League referees are under the guidance of FIFA who’s protocol is to check the monitor after a contentious issue.
Mr Tierney looked at the monitor and decided to upgrade the Yellow Card given to Andreas to a Red, resulting in the Dane having an early bath and Chelsea playing the whole of the 2nd-half, against the Premier League title winners, with 10-men.
Within 10-minutes of the restart, the man disadvantage started to take its toll and Chelsea conceded a goal.
Not to be content in allowing Andreas to steal the limelight, Chelsea’s under fire goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, made a disastrous error whilst trying to play out from the back and kicked the ball straight at Sadio Mane who had an open goal to simply tap into.
Chelsea were straight on the phone to the French club Rennes to ask how much they wanted for their Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
Rennes could have said anything and the Chelsea bosses would have paid it, fortunately for the Blues accountants, the French boys only wanted £22 Million and the fee was agreed.

It looks like Kepa the Keeper’s time at Stamford Bridge is coming to an end or at least a lengthy spell warming the bench is on the horizon.
Frank’s Blues were then awarded a penalty to offer up a chance to get back into the game.
With Jorginho on the pitch, there was only 1-taker, yet the usually assured Italian fluffed his lines and sent a rare wayward penalty into the arms of the Liverpool ‘keeper.

Three key moments that cost Chelsea the game and gave Liverpool a 3-point advantage after just 2-fixtures that could even prove pivotal at such an early stage.
It was mid-November 2017 when Antonio Conte’s Chelsea headed to the Hawthorns to take on Tony Pulis West Brom.
The Blues hammered the baggies that day with goals from Alvaro Morata, Marcos Alonso and a couple from Eden Hazard giving Antonio’s Chelsea a comfortable 4-0 away-day victory.

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BURNLEY v SOUTHAMPTON

September 26th

Late Saturday evening football live on Sky Sports with a 20.00 PM kick-off.
Burnley are on the same zero-points as Southampton following Sunday’s 4-2 defeat against Leicester, however, have only played the one game so far this campaign.
Chris Wood actually put the Clarets in front after just 10-minutes but Leicester were level soon after.
The unfortunate Eric Pieters deflected the ball past Nick Pope early in the 2nd-half, then Leicester scored again to take the score to 3-1.
Jimmy Dunne pulled a goal back for Sean Dyche’s men but ultimately that was just a consolation
when the Foxes added a 4th and time ran out, with Burnley suffering a 4-2 defeat.
Although a defeat, Leicester will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season and a lot will suffer defeats against Brendan’s boys so Burnley have got theirs out of the way early doors in the opening game.

The display did show some positives and with Chris Wood in the side, the Clarets will always have goals in them.
The Saints are now 2 from 2 in the losing column with a disastrous 5-2 defeat against Tottenham on Sunday.
Ralph Hasenhuttl and his boys could be slightly forgiven as the performance from Spurs was out of the blue following last weeks display against Everton.
Southampton actually opened the scoring with Danny Ings converting early on to give the Saints a lead.
That actually just kicked Tottenham into life, with the away team equalising on the stroke of half-time.
With 4, 2nd-half goals, Southampton were trailing 5-1 with time running out.
Wreck-It’s men were awarded a late penalty after VAR had got involved.
Danny Ings converted the spot-kick to score his 2nd but ultimately just a late consolation and with the game finishing, Southampton were on the wrong end of a 5-2 defeat.

Ralph will think it’s just a set back and will move quickly on to this fixture against Burnley.
Southampton join West Brom, Fulham, Sheffield United and West Ham with nil-points after 2-games played.
This was an opening Game Week-1 fixture last season, with Sean Dyche’s Clarets getting off to a great start, beating Ralph’s Saints by a 3-0 scoreline.
Ashley Barnes scored twice and Joey Gudmundsson added the 3rd, with all 3-goals coming in the 2nd-half.

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SHEFFIELD UNITED v LEEDS UNITED

September 27th

South Yorkshire v West Yorkshire.

Sunday fun at Bramall Lane with this fierce Yorkshire derby kicking-off at 12.00 PM in England, live on BT Sport.
Sheffield United shot themselves in the foot a couple of times at Villa Park on Monday night with the defender, John Egan hauling down Ollie Watkins in the 12th-minute.
Andreas Christensen, 24-hours earlier, had done the same, for Chelsea against Liverpool and was shown a Yellow Card, then a subsequent Red after VAR got involved.
On this occasion, the on-field referee showed John a straight Red Card, ultimately the same decision to send off the player but without the help of the dreaded.
The VAR did have a look but could not overturn Graham Scott’s original decision of a straight Red, especially following the decision made in Sunday’s sending off at Stamford Bridge.
Down to 10-men with still 80-minutes or so to play.

The 2nd-blank bullet was when the Blades were awarded a penalty, towards the end of the 1st-half.
Another John, this time Mr Lundstram had his penalty saved by the Villa ‘keeper, which definitely didn’t please Chris Wilder, his face told the story.
In the 2nd-half Villa scored and with no more goals, held on to inflict a 2nd defeat in a row for the Bramall Lane outfit.
Sheffield United, along with West Brom, Southampton, Fulham and West Ham are all on zero-points from the 2-games so far.
Manchester United and Burnley have nil points but they have only played 1-game.
It turns out, our friend from Swinton, which is nowhere near Bramall Lane, Little James the Blunt, is a secret Barnsley FC fan, he’s obviously kept that quiet from his fellow Blunts.

Back in 2008 when Yorkshire’s Premier team reached the Semi-Final of the FA Cup, including victories along the way against Liverpool and Chelsea, the Reds took on Cardiff at Wembley.
Little Jimbo, wearing his Barnsley shirt and scarf and one of those red and white Jester hats, headed to Wembley holding his dad’s hand.
James dad did actually say to the young Reds fan,
‘Stop holding my hand Jim, you’re 18 now, your too old’
Jimbo loved his day out at Wembley and like he says, it will be a long time before his adopted 2nd-team, Sheffield United get to play on the hallowed turf.
Leeds United are currently the 4-3 boys, granted not much of a catchy title but following Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites opening 2-fixtures, both games have resulted in a 4-3 scoreline.

This time at Elland Rd, Leeds got the victory by that score, following last weeks 4-3 defeat against Liverpool.
Helder Costa scored Leeds first Premier League home-goal in 16-years after just 4-minutes to calm the nerves of cardboard faithful, however, Osama Bin Laden has been removed from the crowd, due to him throwing the top of a Coca-Cola bottle at a steward.
The football authorities frown upon plastic bottle tops being thrown so advise the staff to remove them from the bottles when purchased.
The daft thing about that is, the bottle is still full of coke, plus can be refilled with other less savoury liquids and is a slightly more dangerous weapon than the top itself.

After conceding a penalty, allowing Fulham to equalise, Leeds were themselves awarded a spot-kick just before the break, which Mateusz Klich despatched giving the Whites a half-time lead.
The goal-machine that is Patrick Bamford, scored his 2nd of the new campaign after the break and when Helda Costa added his 2nd of the game and Leeds 4th, just before the hour mark, it looked all over at Elland Rd.
However, Fulham staged a comeback and scored 2-quick goals to make it a nervy last 25-minutes for the cardboard Whites.
One thing that Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa instils in his players is fitness and the Whites will be one of the fittest teams in the Premier League which told on Saturday against Fulham, as although the Cottagers had come back within a goal, Leeds held on for the victory by a 4-3 scoreline.
These 2 Yorkshire powerhouses last met at Bramall Lane back in December 2018, whilst both teams were in the Championship.
Pablo Hernandez scored the only goal to give Leeds the 1-0 victory.
Although Leeds won the battle at the Lane, Sheffield United ultimately won the war, finishing 2nd in the league and gaining automatic promotion with Leeds United finishing 3rd but failing in the play-offs.

The date 13th of March 1994 may not mean much to anyone, even both United’s faithful but this date is the last time the two Yorkshire clubs met at Bramall Lane in the Premier League, with the game finishing in a Desmond 2-2 draw.
Goals from the legendary Gary Speed and Brian Deane actually gave Leeds a 2-0 lead, with Brian scoring against the club he was also a legend for.
Jostein Flo and Brian Gayle scored for the Blades to give both a share of the points.
The Sheffield United starting eleven consisted of Allan Kelly in goal, Carl Bradshaw, Roger Nilsen, Brian Gayle and Dave Tuttle as the defenders, with a midfield of John Gannon, Glyn Hodges, Franz Carr and Chris Kamara (unbelievable!).

Jostein Flo and Bobby Davison were the Blades strikers sent out by Dave Bassett.
Leeds United had John Lukic between the sticks, Gary Kelly, Chris Fairclough, David O’Leary, David Wetherall, as the defenders, Gary Speed, Tony Dorigo, Gary McAlister and Gordon Strachan in midfield and Brian Deane and Rodney Wallace up top, under the guidance of Howard Wilkinson.

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TOTTENHAM v NEWCASTLE

September 27th

Mid-Sunday Afternoon Football with this game kicking-off at 14.00 PM in England live on Sky Sports.
After the home defeat against Everton in the opening fixture Tottenham surprised everyone by travelling to St Mary’s and getting a comfortable 5-2 victory against Southampton.
The Saints actually took the lead midway through the 1st-half but instead of crumbling, Spurs fought back with 4-goals from South Korea’s favourite son, Son Heung-Min.

The first on the stroke of half-time then the remaining 3, after the break.
Harry Kane wanted some of the action and after having a goal chalked off early doors, scored Tottenham’s 5th.
Jose’s men did concede a late penalty which was given by the dreaded VAR after the ball had struck the hand of Matt Doherty.
The on-field referee, David Coote initially played on but once VAR had switched over from Countryfile on BBC 2, they stopped play and checked the incident on the monitor before awarding the spot-kick.
The good thing about that decision is it was an almost exact same incident as in the game between Manchester United and Crystal Palace when the ball struck the hand of Victor Lindelof.

Whether both incidents were correct and it’s possibly argued that they were 65/35 in favour of the right call, either both should have been given or neither.
If Southampton hadn’t been awarded a penalty then it would have made a mockery of the VAR once again.
The victory put Tottenham back on track after last weeks defeat and Jose will want much of the same against Newcastle.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg had a better game than against Everton, however, it was against the club he’s just left, so needs a performance against Newcastle to try and get the Spurs faithful on board.
The Messiah is back! Gareth Bale is a Tottenham player once again, however, the lads injured and might not play for a month.
In that month, Gareth will have earned a staggering £1 Million and not even got stripped into his new Tottenham kit.
Most will assume that Gareth is joining up with Jose Mourinho after Jose’s spell at Real Madrid but although Dracula wanted to sign GB whilst at the Bernabeu, Mr Bale arrived in Spain after Jose’s spell and was actually signed by Carlo Ancelotti.
Regardless of the way Tottenham are at the moment under Dracula, Gareth Bale will enhance any team, however, the Spurs faithful won’t want it to be Wales/Golf/Tottenham.

Following a superb 2-0 away-day victory against West Ham in the Capital last weekend, it was a surprise to everyone that Newcastle were rolled over at St James Park against Brighton on Sunday.
It was probably for the best that the fierce Toon Army weren’t allowed in to watch the game as Steve Bruce’s men were trailing 2-0 after just 7-minutes.
A further goal late in the game resulted in a defeat for the Magpies by a 3-0 scoreline.
Steve picked the same starting eleven that did so well at the London Stadium but the team appeared flat against the Seagulls and lacked any real cutting edge.
Although it is only the 3rd-fixture of the new campaign, this game could actually define both teams season.
Last seasons fixture at the Chas and Dave Memorial Stadium took place at the end of August 2019, with Steve Bruce’s Magpies getting a shock 1-0 away-day victory via a rare Joelinton goal.

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MAN CITY v LEICESTER

September 27th

Late Sunday Afternoon Football at the Etihad starting at 16.30 PM in England live on Sky Sports.
Man City sent out an early warning on Monday Night Football, travelling to Molineux and comfortably beating a good Wolves team by a 3-1 scoreline.
Most will look at that and think, ‘so what?’
However, City lost twice against Wolves last season so to beat Nuno’s Gold and Blacks in the opening fixture is a great start in the quest to regain their Premier League crown which Pep will feel is only on loan at Anfield.

The magician that is Kevin De Bruyne put in another Man of the Match performance in the victory which included converting an early penalty to give City the lead.
Phil Foden, fresh from his England misdemeanour, added a 2nd before the break and although Wolves did have a couple of chances in the 2nd-half, as well as pulling a goal back, City never looked like losing and it looked like they could step up a gear if needed.
In the dying seconds, Gabriel Jesus scored to give Pep and his Blues an opening day victory.
Barnsley boy John Stones made a rare start along side Nathan Ake and although wasn’t completely assured in his display, didn’t do too much wrong and will be hoping to keep his place at the back for this early title decider against the Foxes.

New boy Ferran Torres got game time coming on in place of Raheem Sterling in the 80th-minute, whilst Nathan Ake made a solid start to his career at City.
Leicester head to the Etihad as current Premier League leaders after their victory over Burnley on Sunday.
The Foxes sit at the top, purely on goal-difference with the same 6-points as Everton, Arsenal, Liverpool and Crystal Palace.
Brendan’s Wonderful Human Beings were simply too good for the Clarets despite falling behind to an early Burnley goal.
Man of the Match, Harvey Barnes equalised for the Foxes midway through the 1st-half and was a constant threat throughout the game, providing a number of assist for his fellow colleagues, one being for the 4th goal scored by Dennis Praet.

Prior to that strike, Burnley had scored an own-goal and a goal themselves after James Justin had made it 3-1 in favour of the Foxes.
On 90-minutes, Brendan took off Harvey to let the cardboard faithful give the lad a standing ovation after such a good individual performance that earned Brendan’s Boys a great 4-2 victory and sent them to the top of the pile by way of goal-difference after just 2-games.
Harvey is remembered fondly at Oakwell following a loan spell back in 2017 and the Barnsley boys wish him well for the future.
Rod Stewart wasn’t happy, taking off his Clarets shirt with ‘Stewart’ and ‘75’ on the back and throwing it at his dog.
The dog, named Lennon, just laid there in front of the fire, use to Rod’s bouts of bad temper after Leicester’s games.
Most will think that because Rod is a crooner, his dog is named after the legendary ex-Beatle John Lennon, however, the pooch is named after Rods beloved Celtic manager Neil Lennon.

Rod’s still not happy with Brendan for leaving his Green and Whites but the dogs happy he’s called Lennon and not Rodgers.
He’s Celtic, United but Brendan has decided that Leicester is the best place to be.
This was a pre-Christmas fixture at the Etihad last season with Man City taking all the presents following a 3-1 victory.
Jamie Vardy had put the Foxes in front midway through the 1st-half but City were quickly back on level terms through a Riyad Mahrez strike.
Ilkay Gundogan converted a penalty just before the break to take Pep’s boys in at half-time leading.
Gabriel Jesus rounded off the scoring to give Pep the victory over Brendan.

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WEST HAM v WOLVES

September 27th

Early Sunday Evening Football starting at 19.00 PM in England live on BT Sport.
West Ham have joined West Brom, Southampton, Fulham and Sheffield United in the 2 from 2-loss column after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat against Arsenal at the Etihad.
After conceding an early Gunners goal Michail Antonio equalised for the Hammers on the stroke of half-time to set up a spirited 2nd-half.
However, the spirited 2nd-half never materialised and West Ham conceded late on to register another defeat.
David Moyes wasn’t happy and despite seeing countless replays of the winning Arsenal goal, still thought it should have been ruled out for off-side.
Unfortunately David, the camera never lies!
After doing the double over Pep’s Man City last season, Nuno would have been confident going into this opening fixture at Molineux.
Unfortunately the confidence disappeared after just 19-minutes when Romain Saiss dove in on Kevin De Bruyne in the area and conceded a penalty, which was quickly despatched.
Wolves then conceded a 2nd-goal 10-minutes later to make the task even harder.
The home team did rally a bit after the break but missed a couple of guilt-edge chances before Raul Jimenez scored a superb header from a great Daniel Podence cross.
In truth, City were the dominant side and even if Wolves had equalised it looked like they could move up through the gears and score again.
Nuno’s men did concede a late 3rd-goal to ultimately lose the game by a 3-1 scoreline.
There isn’t really any disgrace in losing to City as most teams will, so the cardboard Wolves just need to put that game to bed and move on to this game against West Ham.
At the London Stadium, post-lockdown, Wolves came away with the spoils following a 2-0 away-day victory.
Raul Jimenez and Pedro Neto with the 2nd-half goals for Nuno’s boys.

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FULHAM v ASTON VILLA

September 28th

Early Monday Evening football at Craven Cottage, with an 18.00 PM start-time in England, live on Sky Sports.
Fulham put up a great performance against fellow promoted team, Leeds United on Saturday but ultimately lost the game by a 4-3 scoreline.
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored from the penalty spot to equalise an earlier Leeds goal.
Leeds then scored 3-more to lead at one point 4-1 but Fulham staged a mini-comeback with a Bobby Decordova-Reid goal and a 2nd from Aleksandar to make it 4-3 and give the travelling cardboards hope of a point.
Unfortunately time ran out and Fulham succumbed to another defeat to match West Brom, Southampton, Sheffield United and West Ham in the 2 from 2-loss column.

It was always going to be a tough season for Scott Parker and his boys but the likes of Fulham need to at least target their fellow promoted teams in the hope of getting valuable points to stay in the division.
Aston Villa somehow registered a 1-0 victory against Sheffield United at Villa Park, early Monday evening, with not a Goal-line Technology controversy in sight.
Somehow, because Villa were helped on their way a couple of times before Ezri Konza headed home the winner in the 2nd-half.
Sheffield United were firstly reduced to 10-men after Ollie Watkins was manhandled on his way through to the goal and secondly after gifting a penalty to the 10-men Blades, the new Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez saved the spot-kick to keep the Villa level.
Big Ezri then scored his goal midway through the 2nd-half to give Dean Smith’s Claret and Blues the victory.
Jack Grealish had a decent game, always wanting the ball and always looking to create chances.
Ollie Watkins was another who shone, although the new lad from Brentford didn’t score, Ollie was a threat throughout the game and will eventually open his Villa Premier League account.

With the signing of Ollie and Emiliano, Villa should be good enough to cause teams a few problems and should stay away from the relegation places as there are definitely 3-worse teams in the division, if not more.
These two teams last met at Craven Cottage in February 2018, however, that was a Championship fixture with Fulham beating Villa by a 2-0 scoreline.
Ryan Sessegnon and Floyd Ayite with the Cottagers goals, as Fulham headed to the Premier League at the end of the season, coincidentally beating Villa in the showpiece final at Wembley.

Bet 365 offer Fulham at 17/11, the Draw at 9/4 and 7/4 for Aston Villa to come away with all 3-points
Bet 365 offer 10/3 that Anthony Knockaert Scores Anytime and slight Odds On 4/5 that there are Under 2.5 Goals

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LIVERPOOL v ARSENAL

September 28th

The final Game Week-3 fixture kicking-off at 20.15 PM in England live on Sky Sports.
To win the Premier League title, any team needs its fair share of luck and scenarios to go their way.
To retain the title is even harder and again luck and scenarios have to be in ones favour.
Liverpool arguably had their fair share of luck and scenarios going their way against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
With the game evenly matched and entering the final moments of the 1st-half, a seemingly harmless long ball over the back line of the Chelsea defence changed the game dramatically.

The Blues defender Andreas Christensen brought down Sadio Mane and after an initial Yellow Card was shown by the on-field referee Paul Tierney, the dreaded VAR, who were watching Songs of Praise on BBC 1 at the time, told Paul to have a look at his pitch-side monitor to which he did and changed his original Yellow Card to a Red and an early bath for Andreas.

Against 10-men, Liverpool took control in the 2nd-half and went in front from a headed goal by Sadio Mane after immense pressure.
Jurgen’s Red didn’t need much help but got some when Kepa the ‘Keeper misplaced a pass straight to Sadio, who tapped home for his and Liverpool’s 2nd.
Not content with gifting Liverpool goals, Chelsea thought to themselves,
‘We are not going to spoil Jurgen’s party and score a goal today’
Having been gifted a penalty to get back into the game, Jorginho, who never misses a spot-kick, missed a spot-kick.
So the luck and scenarios offered up for Liverpool, that of Chelsea being reduced to 10-men, Kepa’s error and the usually reliable Jorginho missing a rare penalty meant Jurgen’s Reds beat Frank’s Blues by a 2-0 scoreline and stole an early march on a fellow title-challenger.

Thiago Alcantara made his Reds debut, showing some of his ability and looks a decent player that will enhance Liverpool.
Manchester United take note!

It’s early days yet but after Liverpool’s very entertaining 7-goal thriller against Leeds United last week, this victory against Chelsea was a little bit more professional but a lot more luckier, which bodes well for the Reds as they joined Leicester, Everton, Arsenal and Crystal Palace on 6-points from 2-games so far.
Arsenal join Liverpool at the summit along with the other 3-teams that are currently 2 from 2 in the win column.
Alexandre Lacazette opened the scoring on Saturday against West Ham and despite conceding a goal on the stroke of half-time, Mikel Arteta’s men were comfortable, with Eddie Nketiah scoring the Gunners winner with 5-minutes to play.
Although 2 victories in a row that no one can take away from them, both games were against reasonably easy opponents that Pep 2 would have expected his chargers to win.
The real test comes today at Anfield.

If Mikel can prevent a hammering and match Liverpool for the majority of the game, then it will be a marker as to how much Arsenal have improved, however, Liverpool should be too good for the Gunners and a home victory is expected.
This was a Game Week-3 fixture also last season, with Jurgen’s Reds getting a 3-1 victory against Arsenal, still under the guidance of Unai Emery.
Joel Matip scored first just before the break with Mo Salah adding 2 and 3 early in the 2nd-half, the first being a penalty.
Lucas Torreira got a late consolation for the Gunners.

Bet 365 offer Liverpool at slight Odds On 1/2, the Draw at 7/2 and 19/4 for Arsenal to come away with all 3-points
Bet 365 offer 7/2 that Mo Salah Scores Two Plus Goals and 11/4 that Liverpool Win Both Halves

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