Premier League Picks Of The Week 4

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 4

Here are my Premier League Picks Of The Week 4:

27 goals - most by Arsenal = 3

272 shots - most by Chelsea and Man City = 24 each

93 on target - most by Arsenal = 11

91 corners - most by Tottenham = 10

216 fouls - most by Fulham and Huddersfield = 14 each

41 bookings - most by Arsenal = 4

1 red card - Rashford for Man United

4 penalties - 1 scored (Murray for Brighton)

What a game! Brighton made an impressive comeback despite being two goals down and missing a penalty against Fulham, extending their unbeaten home run which goes back to January. The Cottagers had lead through André Schürrle (43’) and Aleksandar Mitrović (62’), who had also scored and impressed last week. And after Pascal Groß was denied from the spot by Marcus Bettinelli, it looked all doom and gloom for the Seagulls. But Glenn Murray’s brace secured a point for the home side (67’ and 84’ pen), bringing his total to eight goals at home this year, the same as Harry Kane. Chris Hughton’s men had more chances to make it an even better comeback, but he had no complaints about his team’s character and resilience after grabbing the point. For Slaviša Jokanović it definitely felt more like two points dropped than one point won after a competitive encounter, Mitrović ending up as the villain after giving away the late penalty with his handball that decided the match. Tough luck!

What a team! West Ham’s miserable start to the season continued as Wolves made it four defeats out of four for the Hammers under Manuel Pellegrini, sub Adama Traoré with an injury-time winner (93’). Nuno Espírito Santo was understandably very happy after his side’s first top-flight win since 4th February 2012.

Newcastle have just the one point to show after four games, losing the battle at champions Manchester City thanks to a top-quality finish by Raheem Sterling (8’) and full-back Kyle Walker with his first goal for the Citizens in his 52nd appearance for the club, and what a hit it was (52' - his new lucky number?)! DeAndre Yedlin had pulled one back to level the score temporarily for the visitors (30’), but Rafael Benítez’s men could only produce one more shot on target, they were outplayed and -scored by Pep Guardiola’s side in the end, 2-1. The Magpies’ miserable run against the Sky Blues stretches to 22 top-flight meetings without a win, having lost the past 10 clashes away from home. Meh.

What a man! Southampton boss Mark Hughes was a very relieved man at Selhurst Park after his side recorded their first win of the season, only their second away win in the last 15 trips, despite missing a spot kick at Crystal Palace, thanks to goals from Danny Ings (47’) and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (92’). Roy Hodgson conceded the Saints were the better side after the Eagles struggled without surprise omission and record club goal scorer Wilfried Zaha. Christian Benteke was frustrated and denied again and again by man of the match Alex McCarthy as the home side bagged their third defeat on the trot. Low.

What a goal! I bet Alisson Becker was glad to get that howler out of the way! Liverpool clung on to the three points after Leicester’s fight back in the second half, to make it four wins out of four for the first time in 28 years. The Reds were leading by two goals at the break, thanks to Sadio Mané (10’) and Roberto Firmino (45’). But the Foxes hit back hard and pulled one back as Rachid Ghezzal netted the Brazilian stopper’s giveaway (63’), Jürgen Klopp’s men were all over the place and looked like they were going to crumble as they have done in the past. But they held on. It was not an impressive performance, but still a win, the keeper will be very relieved. It will have been a very sour birthday cake for Claude Puel to bite in this weekend. Click here for my match notes.

Both Pedro (72’) and Eden Hazard (85’) produced a fine strike and drill finish respectively to continue Chelsea’s 100% start to the season despite not exactly impressing against Bournemouth. It’s the results that count most, right?! Even Maurizio Sarri celebrated the win, which says a lot!!!

What the hell?! Huddersfield’s lead lasted only 87 seconds as Dominic Calvert-Lewin levelled the score for Everton (36’) after Philip Billing’s header had put the Terriers ahead. Marco Silva conceded it wasn’t a good game despite maintaining the Toffees’ unbeaten start to the season, whilst David Wagner was happy but a bit frustrated for not seeing more rewards for all the work. Their 81-year wait for a Goodison win goes on!

Cardiff scored their first goal of the season, two in the space of 25 minutes actually (Victor Camarasa 45’+2 and Danny Ward 70’), but still ended up losing against Arsenal in the earlier kick-off on Sunday. Some crazy football, Gunner stopper Petr Čech not at his best, but some splendid goals as well (Shkodran Mustafi 11’, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 62’ and Alexandre Lacazette 81’), all added up to 2-3, the Bluebirds shot down at the final whistle. What a relief it was for Unai Emery, whilst Neil Warnock ended gutted.

Sunday afternoon, both matches went a bit mad in the second half! Watford came back with Troy Deeney (69’) and Craig Cathcart (76’) headers turning the game around against Tottenham to make it four wins out of four season opening fixtures for the first time in 30 years after Abdoulaye Doucouré’s own goal had given Spurs the lead (53’). 
Manchester United meanwhile made a comfortable win at Burnley thanks to Romelu Lukaku’s brace (27’ and 44’) look more difficult going down to ten men after sub Marcus Rashford saw red just ten minutes after coming on (71’). Paul Pogba was denied from the spot by Joe Hart and Lukaku missed a couple of sitters to complete his hat-trick. David de Gea made a couple of late saves to keep a clean sheet, it ended 0-2, José Mourinho much happier (well, he didn’t look it saying his farewells to the fans again after the full-time whistle). It was a Super Sunday indeed, no easy rides for anyone!

My Predictions - Actual Results

Leicester 0:2 Liverpool - 1:2 or my match notes

Brighton 3:1 Fulham - 2:2

Chelsea 2:1 Bournemouth - 2:0

Crystal Palace 0:0 Southampton - 0:2

Everton 1:1 Huddersfield - 1:1

West Ham 0:0 Wolves - 0:1

Man City 4:0 Newcastle - 2:1

Cardiff 1:2 Arsenal - 2:3

Burnley 1:1 Man United - 0:2

Watford 1:2 Tottenham - 2:1

Click here for last week’s Premier League Picks.

All pictures, facts and stats were taken from the BBC match reports, Twitter, Sky Sports and SFR apps and coverage.