Premier League preview: Sunday’s action including Liverpool vs Brentford
Bournemouth vs Newcastle
Bournemouth eased to a 2-0 win at the Vitality last time these sides met – but both goals came from Dominic Solanke. With deadly Dom having departed, do the Cherries have another reliable scorer who can bring the goals on Sunday?
Despite being reduced to 10 men against Southampton with more than an hour of the match remaining, Newcastle earned a 1-0 win in their opener last weekend.
Eddie Howe’s side have also scored a total of 10 goals in their last three away matches in the Prem. Can they maintain that prolific goal rate against the team Howe previously managed?
Howe has never managed to beat his old side in four previous league meetings; but Bournemouth are slow starters, and still adjusting to life after Solanke. This looks a great chance for the visitors to take three points. Newcastle are 6/5 to win.
Wolves vs Chelsea
Wolves’ end-of-season form saw them win once in their last ten matches, losing seven of those. They started the new campaign with a defeat to Arsenal, too; can they earn a win at home against a Chelsea side with problems of their own?
The Blues finished last season winning five on the bounce, but Mauricio Pochettino departed regardless at the end of the campaign. His replacement Enzo Maresca saw the Blues lose 2-0 to City for their season opener; hardly unforgivable.
But the west London side’s transfer strategy means a cloud of negativity follows the club. Joao Felix is the latest addition, signed on a seven-year deal; he was previously at the club on a loan deal that didn’t exactly set the world on fire.
Chelsea’s bloated squad has already forced Maresca to make tough decisions, telling Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell they’re not in his plans; but so far the side’s problems have remained mostly off the pitch.
And Gary O’Neil would surely welcome some of Maresca’s headaches; the Wolves boss could use players, his club selling Pedro Neto to the Blues in the summer. Will Neto feature at Molineux?
Either way, despite the constant transfer sagas that don’t always seem to make sense, Chelsea should be capable of getting a result here. They’d probably like to atone for losing twice to this club last season too – and Wolves’ poor form at the end of the previous campaign suggests they’re vulnerable. Chelsea to win and under 3.5 goals in a double is a 31/20 shot.
Liverpool vs Brentford
The Arne Slot era started with a relatively straightforward victory over Ipswich last week; now the Dutchman looks to win his first match at Anfield.
Brentford have made a decent fist of it against Liverpool playing on home turf – at least until last season, when they lost 4-1.
But the Reds have won all three of their Premier League clashes against Thomas Frank’s side at Anfield, with the Bees failing to score a single goal in that run.
Brentford will presumably be without Ivan Toney, but it looks like the side will need to learn to cope without the England striker. And to be fair, they did okay against Crystal Palace last week, Mbeumo and Wissa both finding the net.
Will they prove similarly dangerous on Merseyside this Sunday? If they can make the most of any opportunity, maybe. But this one probably plays out the way you’d expect it to. Brentford haven’t scored on any of their previous three Premier League visits to Anfield.
Back Liverpool to win and BTTS Score No in a double at 5/4.
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