Premier League: Match Day 2 Treble

The Premier League returned with a bang last weekend, with most results going as expected. The two Manchester clubs bookended the action with anticipated wins over Burnley and Wolves – City won impressively, but United picked up the points despite an abject performance. Newcastle stole the show when blowing a heavily touted Villa side away at St. James’s Park but will be doing well to repeat that feat this week, with a trip to the Etihad next on the agenda.

With Luton Town’s home ground of Kenilworth Road still in the process of being brought up to scratch, we now have just the nine fixtures to look forward to, including the headline acts of Spurs vs Man Utd, Man City vs Newcastle, and West Ham vs Chelsea. Here we pick out our three best bets from what promises to be another cracking weekend of action.

Liverpool vs Bournemouth: Saturday 3pm – Over 3.5 Goals @ 2/1 with Betfred

Liverpool impressed in the first half of their clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, with Mo Salah and co causing plenty of problems to the Blues backline. However, as the match wore on, it soon became clear that the Reds lacked steel in the middle of the park, resulting in Enzo Fernandes bossing the second half almost on his own. With Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia both opting for Chelsea, Liverpool remain without a holding midfielder. Until resolving that issue, they will continue to find their unconvincing backline under pressure.

Bournemouth opened up with a decent enough home draw with West Ham United, with the attack-first approach of Andoni Iraola being in evidence throughout. It was good to see the previously much-coveted David Brooks back to something like his best, whilst Philip Billing also impressed in a more adventurous role. The likelihood remains that the Cherries will find themselves outgunned at the top end of the pitch, but they can cause Jurgen Klopp’s men at least a few problems, and we fancy goals may be on the menu at Anfield.

Manchester City vs Newcastle United – Over 3.5 Goals @ 7/4 with Betfred

City’s opening fixture went entirely to script, with the unstoppable Erling Haaland off the mark with a double in a 3-0 success at Burnley. Looking to defend their Premier League title, they will be hoping to get their home campaign off to an equally impressive start. However, they have been handed a rather tricky assignment, particularly as they were in midweek Super Cup action, whereas Newcastle had the week off. That said, Pep Guardiola’s men did at least win that trophy to head into this game on a high.

Newcastle flew out of the traps against Villa at St. James’s Park, and despite initially being pegged back, blew the Villains away after the interval with their devastating pace on the break. With City likely to press the action, this could be nicely set up for the likes of Harvey Barnes and Alexander Isak on the counter, whilst Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali may well fancy their chances of holding their own in the centre of the park in the absence of Kevin De Bruyne. On the downside, Villa had the chances to at least double their tally at St. James’s Park, and the Magpies' defence will be in for a far sterner examination here. This looks all set up for a Saturday night sizzler and is another game where we expect to see the net bulge more than three times.

Aston Villa vs Everton – Aston Villa to Win and Both Teams to Score @ 13/5 with Betfred

When commenting on the Newcastle vs Villa game, no less a figure than Sire Alex Ferguson stated “You can play teams off the pitch and not score - that's what Aston Villa did”. In our opinion, that take can be filed in the bizarre category, but there were at least glimmers of promise from Unai Emery’s men in the first half. Moussa Diaby looks a serious talent and appears to be striking up a decent understanding with the intelligent running of Ollie Watkins, whilst Boubacar Kamara continues to impress in the centre of the park. However, the defence was nothing short of shambolic following the injury to Tyrone Mings.

Everton will still be scratching their heads at how they contrived to lose at home to a poor Fulham outfit, despite dominating the game from start to finish. However, the reason for that defeat is all too familiar – they simply don’t have a reliable source of goals at the top end of the pitch in the absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Nevertheless, they created so many clear chances against the Cottagers that a repeat performance here will surely see them at least get on the scoresheet. Despite that, we expect the Toffees to come up short against a Villa side, who were one of the form sides in the league during the second half of last season, and shouldn’t be written off on the back of one heavy defeat.

A £10 Treble on the above three selections returns £297 with Betfred.