EPL Predictions: Chelsea to Tame the Wolves While Manchester City Send a Message
Well what a week this has been! This round of EPL fixtures will come off the back of a week that has saw no shortage of drama and excitement.
Manchester United learned their star man wants to leave, and Arsene Wenger has assured Arsenal fans that despite a summer of speculation, they will not be losing theirs for a while yet.
In European action, Welsh wizard Gareth Bale scored a remarkable hat-trick in a 4-3 defeat at the San Siro, while Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United all registered victories.
This weekend, Chelsea will face Wolves and Manchester United travel to Stoke. In the headline fixture of the weekend, Manchester City play host to Arsenal in a game where the winner could emerge as a title contender.
Here, we give you predictions for every game. Feel free to leave your thoughts on forecasts below.
Brutal Schedule Puts Spurs In Sticky Situation
1 of 10
To play Wednesday night in Italy and then be handed an early kickoff game on a Saturday seems especially brutal timing for a Premier League team. The fact that the Saturday game is against a hard working and confident Everton side makes Spurs' task seem all the harder here.
Tottenham's brave second-half comeback fell just short in a game Harry Redknapp may again describe as a "great defeat." The travel could leave them ripe for the picking by a hard working and powerful Everton side.
Spurs will boosted by the return to the lineup of Rafael van der Vaart, who has been in fine form since joining from Real Madrid.
Everton enter this game on the back of consecutive 2-0 victories. After a 2-0 win at St Andrews over Birmingham, goals from Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta saw Everton triumph over arch rivals Liverpool in the Merseyside derby.
Everton will be missing Leon Osman, who picked up an ankle injury in the Liverpool win, but will be hoping Steven Pienaar and Louis Saha recover from injury.
PREDICTION: Tottenham Hotspur 0, Everton 1
Blackpool to Earn Important Road Point
2 of 10
Birmingham are winless in their last six Premier League outings and face a visit from an entertaining and confident Blackpool team here. Giant hitman Nikola Zigic headed home his first Premier League goal against Arsenal last week and will be a big threat to Blackpool here.
Blackpool recently won 2-1 at Anfield and put in a solid performance losing 3-2 to high flying Manchester City. They will stick to their attacking principles here in what should be an entertaining encounter.
Ian Holloway appears to have spent much of the buildup raging to the press about how disgusting it is that Wayne Rooney is leaving Manchester United. You have to wonder if Holloway would care quite as much about Alex Ferguson if Bloomfield Road was a potential destination for Rooney.
PREDICTION: Birmingham City 2, Blackpool 2
The Blue Lion To Maul Wolves
3 of 10
Chelsea may have been held at Villa Park last week, but they returned to winning ways in the Champions League, and another victory and big score could be imminent here. Chelsea are hoping goal scorer Didier Drogba can return from a fever to partner in-form Nicolas Anelka.
Wolves do not have a Premier League win to their name since opening day, and have some personnel problems ahead of this fixture. Michael Mancienne is on loan from Chelsea and therefore ineligible, while captain Karl Henry is suspended.
PREDICTION: Chelsea 4, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
Steely Sunderland to Take Down Aston Villa
4 of 10
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce this week praised the steel of his current team. "There's a resilience about us, I don't think we're that soft touch anymore," Bruce told the BBC website.
The results bear out the words of Bruce, with the Black Cats currently riding a six-match unbeaten run from a tough stretch of games. In that unbeaten streak, Sunderland have beaten Manchester City and tied with Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United.
Villa began the Gerard Houllier era with a home draw against Chelsea, but a tough trip to Sunderland could see them fall here. Villa will be without Luke Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor due to injury, but Marc Albrighton, Richard Dunne and Emile Heskey could all return.
PREDICTION: Sunderland 2, Aston Villa 1
High Flying Baggies To Be Held By Fulham
5 of 10
West Brom were many pundits' preseason relegation favorites but have gotten off to a flying start, and currently sit in sixth place after a 2-2 tie at Manchester United.
West Brom have also managed to achieve this without adopting a tough tackling defensive persona, which should please the precious Danny Murphy.
USA forward Clint Dempsey will be a key component in the Fulham attack and should help the Cottagers collect a point on the road here.
PREDICTION: West Bromwich Albion 1, Fulham 1
North-West Derby To End All Square
6 of 10
Wigan and Bolton enter this game at the JJB Stadium in good form. A late Ivan Klasnic winning goal gave Bolton a win over Stoke last week, while a Charles N'Zogbia double helped Wigan take a point at Newcastle.
A victory could see Bolton push for the top six, while Wigan need points to pull away from the bottom three.
PREDICTION: Wigan Athletic 0, Bolton Wanderers 0
Geordies To Be Hammered As Desperate West Ham Lift Themselves Off Bottom
7 of 10
After a horrific start to the season, West Ham have seen a slight upturn in form and can lift themselves out of last place with a victory over the visiting Toon Army in Saturday's late game.
Newcastle recently lost assistant coach Colin Calderwood to Hibernian, and the preparation for this game could have been impacted by the move.
Andy Carroll may not be on fire since his early hat-trick, but his car has been;
Caroll will need to rediscover his scoring form to avoid the Toon being sucked into a relegation battle.
PREDICTION: West Ham United 3 Newcastle United 1
Stoke To Make Things More Miserable For United
8 of 10
A trip to the Britannia Stadium is a tough proposition at the best of times, and for Manchester United, these are not the best of times.
Alex Ferguson cut a dejected figure in midweek when he held a press conference revealing the Wayne Rooney situation.
Expect a passionate crowd to fire up the home team and give United a rough ride here. United may score one, but their tally should be matched by Stoke and a draw could see United fall further off the pace.
On another note, are the current Manchester United team the most criticized unbeaten team in Premier League history?
PREDICTION: Stoke City 1, Manchester United 1
Liverpool To Gain Much-Needed Win
9 of 10
It is a measure of this games importance that Liverpool fielded a largely second-string side for the midweek Europa League visit to Naples. Roy Hodgson will be well aware that a win is needed if the 'feel good factor' of the club's new ownership is to have any substance.
The inspirational Steven Gerrard has won many games single-handedly for the Reds, and he may have to do the same again here.
Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce is in confident mood ahead of this fixture, and told the Click Lancashire website this week he felt Liverpool may be ripe for the picking, Allardyce said Liverpool players could be suffering from "fragile confidence."
PREDICTION: Liverpool 1, Blackburn Rovers 0
Adebayor To Celebrate In Front Of Gunners Once More?
10 of 10
Manchester City are the form team in the Premier League and are emerging as a title contender with every win. In this game City have a chance to take three points off a fellow contender, and in the process be taken very seriously by most fans.
Emanuel Adebayor netted a Europa League hat-trick in midweek and if he starts could be a good bet to score here. The only question is, will he run 100 yards to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans after doing so?
Arsenal laid a beating on Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek and are playing some good football. However, a trip to Eastlands is tougher right now than it has ever been and City will be keen to show their victory over Chelsea was no fluke.
PREDICTION: Manchester City 2, Arsenal 0
