Midweek football — what a time to be alive. It makes you feel like the sun’s out when it’s cloudier than ever, the birds are chirping when it’s just your noisy dormmates and you finally feel like your team’s capable of winning a football match only to realize you support Liverpool.
Speaking of Liverpool, they enter this week as heavy favorites against Sunderland. While Liverpool hasn’t hit the highs everyone expected them to, they are still only three points away from third, and while I don’t expect them to win the title, they should be able to stamp their grasp onto third place with a win here.
Jumping over to London, Arsenal will face Brentford. Even though Arsenal is coming off a disappointing 1-1 draw against 10-man Chelsea, they’re currently in first place. They have — by far — the best defense in the world and are favorites to win the Premier League. I fully expect them to thrash Keith Andrews’ men this week. But who knows — bees do love to sting.
Staying in the capital, Fulham took on Manchester City and lost in a 4-5 nail-biter Tuesday. Fulham’s effort was admirable considering they faced a team with a striker who’s scored 15 goals in just 14 games. While City isn’t the consistently dominant side they once were, they are ranked first in expected goals and second in expected goals allowed, and they seem to have a chokehold on that second place spot.
Bournemouth lost to Everton Tuesday night. After going unbeaten in eight league matches, Bournemouth now tallies five matches without a win.
Well, I guess it’s a good thing they have the smallest stadium in the league, because who would want to subject themselves to that? The Cherries look quite good from an attacking perspective — though, considering Everton’s perpetual mediocrity, they should have won.
Newcastle United just faced a rather disjointed Tottenham Hotspur that ended in a 2-2 draw Tuesday. While both teams have not had the start they wanted, Spurs are facing a sort of transitional season, going from the attack-at-all-costs Ange Postecoglou to the more pragmatic Thomas Frank. I also quite like the signings they’ve made, and I expect a considerable improvement as the season goes on.
That being said, facing Newcastle at St. James Park is never easy. I predicted that it wouldn’t go beyond a 1-1 draw for Spurs.
Moving over to the land of seagulls, stolen fries and a rocky beach — because everyone wants to tear apart their soles before swimming — Brighton and Hove Albion will meet Aston Villa Wednesday.
Brighton have had an excellent start to the season, finding themselves fifth in the league — all thanks to Danny Welbeck, the league’s third-highest scorer. Wine wishes it aged as finely as he has.
Villa has done equally well, coming in at fourth. While that’s all well and good, their attack has not clicked. Ollie Watkins seems to have forgotten that his main duty is to put a ball into the net, so I’d be surprised if they won this week.
Speaking of Brighton, their rivals in Crystal Palace play Burnley this week. Palace is a reliable side under Oliver Glasner, having recently won a couple of trophies.
Burnley? They’re anything but reliable. Based on expected goals and expected goals allowed, they’re the worst team in the league.
If Crystal Palace doesn’t get the three points, they have serious questions to answer — because playing Burnley should be a guaranteed win for any half-decent team out there.
If you think I was harsh on Burnley, this is a good time to say that Wolverhampton Wanderers take on Nottingham Forest. The issue is the only thing that Wolverhampton is wandering to is relegation.
How does an established Premier League side only have two points in 13 games? They’ve scored the fewest goals, conceded the most and have brought even more misery to the English Midlands because the dreary weather simply wasn’t enough.
Nottingham Forest started off rough, but has stabilized since Sean Dyche’s appointment. With four wins, two draws and two losses in all competitions — soon to become five wins, two draws and two losses — it’s hard to see anything but a Forest win. Unless, of course, you support deforestation. Or have forgotten your glasses.
Leeds United face a weakened Chelsea this week. I say “weakened,” but if you’ve spent upwards of $1 billion over a few years and still aren’t in title race conversations, you only have yourself to blame.
All issues with Chelsea’s monetary habits aside, they’re a far better side than Leeds are, and with Cole Palmer’s return, they should find themselves comfortably winning.
And for the final game of the week, Manchester United will play West Ham. United beat Crystal Palace on the weekend and have done very well from an attacking perspective, both on actual and expected goals.
West Ham, meanwhile, hasn’t found the results they hoped to get after sacking Graham Potter, and while Nuno Espírito Santo will need his time, he has a lot of work to do before the Hammers can find themselves safe from relegation. I think United will win this week — who says no to a Bruno Fernandes goal?
