EPL Predictions: Picks, Top Players for Week 8 Premier League Fixtures

Just as it was starting to look like a one-horse race, Manchester City's sharp fall in form has seen the Premier League standings blown wide open as bitter rivals Manchester United took their place atop the English perch.

Manuel Pellegrini's men suffered a shock 4-1 hammering at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur, while the Red Devils amassed a four-match running run in domestic competition thanks to their 3-0 win over Sunderland.

Manchester's rise just so happens to fall in conjunction with Chelsea's ongoing issues, and a 2-2 draw at Newcastle United on Saturday was hardly the result to lift Jose Mourinho's spirits.

The Premier League has been typically unpredictable thus far, but Week 8 presents another chance to look forward in anticipation of the drama to come, discussing which players are primed to peak in the upcoming schedule.

Date	Time	Home	Prediction	Away
Saturday, October 3	12:45 p.m. BST/7:45 a.m. ET	Crystal Palace	2-0	West Bromwich Albion
Saturday, October 3	3 p.m. BST/10 a.m. ET	Aston Villa	1-0	Stoke City
Saturday, October 3	3 p.m. BST/10 a.m. ET	Bournemouth	1-1	Watford
Saturday, October 3	3 p.m. BST/10 a.m. ET	Manchester City	3-1	Newcastle
Saturday, October 3	3 p.m. BST/10 a.m. ET	Norwich City	1-2	Leicester City
Saturday, October 3	3 p.m. BST/10 a.m. ET	Sunderland	2-4	West Ham United
Saturday, October 3	5:30 p.m. BST/12:30 p.m. ET	Chelsea	1-1	Southampton
Sunday, October 4	1:30 p.m. BST/8:30 a.m. ET	Everton	2-1	Liverpool
Sunday, October 4	4 p.m. BST/11 a.m. ET	Arsenal	2-3	Manchester United
Sunday, October 4	4 p.m. BST/11 a.m. ET	Swansea City	1-2	Tottenham Hotspur

Dimitri Payet vs. Sunderland

Slaven Bilic has made an astonishing start to life at the West Ham United helm, and a great deal of that success is thanks to the short amount of time it's taken Dimitri Payet to settle among England's ranks.

The Frenchman sits as joint-top scorer for the east London outfit after bagging three goals already this season, but as OptaJohan has illustrated, it's his potent creativity that tends to set him apart:

And yet drifting more centrally into a No. 10 has gifted the former Marseille star his opportunity to have a more direct impact on the opposition, which he'll look to impose against Sunderland this Saturday.

Payet makes the trip to Sunderland on the back an inspiring individual performance in the 2-2 draw against Norwich City, too, as shown by WhoScored.com:

Only Arsenal have scored more goals away from home this season than West Ham, and the prospect of seeing Payet run rampant against the division's leakiest defence is an enticing prospect in itself.

The Black Cats have conceded seven goals in their last two games and are yet to keep a clean sheet this season, and Payet is in prime position to maintain his place as Bilic's key man in attack.

Anthony Martial vs. Arsenal

Tim Ireland/Associated Press

It almost seems a fate-like coincidence that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger would speak of how aware he was of Anthony Martial's great potential only for the player to come back and hurt him on behalf of another club.

And that's the risk the Gunners run as they host Manchester United on Sunday. Martial's agent Philippe Lamboley recently told French radio station RMC what he thought of Wenger's opinion his client was "more a winger-type" than a striker, per the Daily Mail's Joe Strange:

"

Anthony is a true modern centre forward. I don't agree with him because Anthony scored between 25 and 30 goals a season at Lyon's youth academy while playing as a centre forward and having never played as a winger.

When he gets free and leaves the centre, it's actually to speed up and get away from the central defenders. If Arsene Wenger's analysis is made with the aim of justifying not having signed Anthony, then I accept his remarks and he's therefore a winger. But in football, there are those who follow players and those who buy them.

"

It's no secret the Red Devils' £36 million signing is quickly going about proving Wenger's assessment wrong, having netted five goals in his first five appearances for Manchester United.

Martial is proving to be not only a star scorer himself, though, after re-igniting team-mate Wayne Rooney's scoring form against Sunderland this weekend. The Guardian's Daniel Harris provided a glowing assessment from manager Louis van Gaal following that display:

The Gunners haven't kept a clean sheet in any of their last four outings and face a United team out to claim their fourth win in succession, with Martial standing out as their man of the moment.

Wenger may have known the player's prospect, but it was Van Gaal who lunged for his signature, and if the Arsenal chief wasn't regretting the miss already, there's a strong chance he will be come Sunday evening.