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Welcome to this season’s Premier League Picks column. We will also be throwing in the occasional Champions League picks columns as well as sprinkling in the odd selections from Europe’s other major domestic competitions.
DISCLAIMER: THIS COLUMN IS FOR RECREATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY
Next week, I’ll give you a breakdown of how everything works. This week, before we get to the picks themselves, here are my BOLD PREDICTIONS for this upcoming season:
Premier League Champions: Chelsea FC – their preseason has not left me full of confidence BUT the Blues still have the best formula. They can win games pretty or ugly and usually it’s the teams who win ugly that pull it out over 38 games.
PFA Player of the year: Eden Hazard (cue the Arsenal fans pontificating on how much better Alexis is)
PFA Young Player of the year: Raheem Sterling, Manchester City
PFA XI: Courtois, Matteo Darmian, Laurent Koscielny, Jose Fonte, Azpilicueta, Raheem Sterling, David Silva, Hazard, Alexis Sanchez, Diego Costa, Sergio Aguero (with honorable mentions to Phil Jagielka, Sadio Mane and Memphis Depay)
Manager of the Year: Alan Pardew, Crystal Palace – last season, if the Premier League had started when Alan Pardew had taken over at Crystal Palace, the Eagles would have finished sixth.
Golden Boot: Sergio Aguero
Golden Glove: Thibaut Courtois
Relegation: Aston Villa, Watford, Sunderland
Now to the picks!
Manchester United v. Tottenham
Manchester United have been handed a very winnable first five games. If they have real title aspirations they have to capitalize and go for all 15 points. The huge trap door in their season is whether David De Gea goes to Real Madrid by the end of August. De Gea is superb at erasing mistakes from his leaky backline and they don’t have good enough centre-backs to overcome his loss. Unless they go out and get another striker they will be shorthanded there as well. All this being said they should start strong out of the gate. Watch Matteo Darmian, United’s newly acquired right back – he’s the goods.
Pick: Manchester United (-160) 1 Unit
Bournemouth v. Aston Villa
Villa lost arguably their two best players in Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke this summer. Bournemouth’s home fans will be ready to go for this one, and I expect them to leave happy. Hopefully the players on the pitch are the only ones who spread their wings.
Side note, this is where Chelsea loanee, Ghanaian Christian Atsu will be playing this season.
Pick: Bournemouth (+105) 1 Unit
RANDOM FOOTY FACT West Ham have ended their last 23 Premier League campaigns with a negative goal difference
Arsenal v. West Ham
Even though Alexis won’t play I expect a big Arsenal win and goals. West Ham’s new man in charge, Slaven Bilic, is not Big Sam. The Hammers will be playing wide open, exciting football this campaign. Unfortunately this strategy plays right into the Gunners’ hands, because they’ve been doing it for over a decade. West Ham have already had to play two legs against Romanian club Astra Giurgiu in Europa League qualifying these past two Thursdays. We love fading teams who play Europa league games that week, especially those who had to travel as West Ham did. These are men, not machines and they’ll be played off the pitch on Sunday.
Pick: Arsenal to win by two or more (-125) and Over 2.5 goals (-150) 1 Unit each
Stoke v. Liverpool
In the final matchday of last season, Liverpool went to the Britannia and lost 5-1. Stoke are no pushovers at home, they have plenty of grit and players like Mame Biram Diouf who are capable of brilliance. Liverpool could win and no one would be shocked, but my money is on Stoke defending their home turf.
Pick: Stoke Draw no bet (+125) 1 Unit
West Brom v. Man City
Another bold prediction, Man City will break Chelsea’s record of 103 goals in a season this year. I think they have the firepower to do it. I also believe they will concede a bucket load of goals as well. So let’s ride that notion and take a flyer on Saido Berahino to score. Great value here.
Pick: Berahino to score anytime (+250) 0.5 Units
Last season’s record: 54-52 (+13 units)
Next: Evaluating Chelsea FC's Title Rivals: Arsenal