1. Watford and Crystal Palace to draw (9/4)
THESE ARE PRETTY decent odds and definitely worth a sneaky few quid. Both Watford and Palace are sitting comfortably in 10th and 8th respectively on the same amount of points, and I fancy them to still be level on points come 6pm on Sunday evening.
Alan Pardew’s charges travel to Vicarage Road having lost their last two Premier League games (both 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City respectively). However, they recorded an impressive victory at Chelsea on 29 August and thumped Championship Charlton Athletic 4-1 in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday night.
Watford though are coming into this game having won their last two league outings at home to Swansea and at Newcastle, and if Odion Ighalo can keep up his form, the newly-promoted Hornets may well pick up another point this weekend.
2. Manchester United to be leading v Sunderland at 20 minutes (7/4)
Not counting a disappointing Champions League defeat at PSV Eindhoven, United have been quite impressive so far this season under Louis Van Gaal.
Anthony Martial has been in fine goalscoring form, having nabbed four in his first four games for the Red Devils, and with Sunderland’s defence as leaky as it is, don’t be at all surprised if he adds to that tally on Sunday.
United are often considered a team that scores plenty of late goals, but not even John O’Shea will be able to halt an early one for United this weekend if the Black Cats continue their horrendous recent form.
3. Riyad Mahrez to score anytime for Leicester v Arsenal (11/4)
This one seems like a no brainer given Mahrez has been on fire so far this season for the Foxes.
The Algerian winger scored four goals in Leicester’s opening four games of the season and was named the Barclays Premier League Player of the Month. He also takes the spot-kicks for Claudio Ranieri’s side and hit the net from a penalty at Stoke the last day out in the league.
Arsenal have only kept one clean sheet in their five away games in all competitions so far this season (and that was against lowly Newcastle) so I expect Leicester to score this weekend and Mahrez is the likely man if they do.
4. Chelsea -1 away to Newcastle (17/10)
Newcastle could well go down to the Championship if their form doesn’t swiftly improve, but I can’t see a sudden change in their performance levels against champions Chelsea in Saturday’s evening kickoff.
The Blues’ goal difference so far this term is -3 which may put many people off this bet, but the quality of the opposition this weekend is nowhere near enough to worry John Terry and co.
I can certainly see the St James’ Park tie going Chelsea’s way by at least two goals.
5. Jonathan Walters to score 2 or more goals v Bournemouth (17/1)
Here’s the long-shot. Walters has two in four games for the Potters in all competitions so far this season, and why not double that this weekend at home to newly-promoted Bournemouth?
He will be keen to impress ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s two crucial Euro 2016 qualifiers in two weeks’ time, and there’s no better way for a striker to do that than to hit the back of the net (twice hopefully).
