Good day everyone,

I hope you are all well and having a great start to the weekend, welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things sports. After the sad passing of the Queen which saw the previous weekend's games cancelled, we have another big weekend of matches here after the second round of group games in Europe during the week. This will now be week 7 instead of what was scheduled to be week 8, and we will only have seven matches as three were postponed due to the Queen's funeral and other circumstances. They will include Wolves hosting Man City, new boys Forest and Fulham facing off, and Brentford welcoming Arsenal.

Fixtures - Times are shown as U.K. Time

This weekends round of fixtures will see the games kicking off on Friday evening and finishing on Sunday evening.

Friday 16th September 2022

Aston Villa - Southampton 8pm KO (Kick Off)

Nottingham Forest - Fulham 8pm KO

Saturday 17th September 2022

Wolves - Manchester City 12.30pm KO

Brighton - Crystal Palace 3pm KO - POSTPONED

Newcastle - Bournemouth 3pm KO

Tottenham - Leicester 5.30pm KO

Sunday 18th September 2022

Brentford - Arsenal 2pm KO

Everton - West Ham 2pm KO

Manchester United - Leeds 2pm KO - POSTPONED

Chelsea - Liverpool 4.30pm KO - POSTPONED

Predictions

Now for the most exciting part, as I go through the latest info regarding each team to make an attempt at predicting the results for this weekends matches. Remember this is just my fun analysis and should not be taken as advice or a guarantee. 

Aston Villa - Southampton

After the extended break, Aston Villa will look to build on their draw with Man City last time out as they welcome a Southampton side who lost to Wolves last time they played. Gerrard will hope the additional time off has given his side time to get themselves together, with Villa sitting 17th on four points from six games. They managed to stop the rot and ensured it was not a fourth loss in a row at home against City but cannot let the momentum from that game be lost heading into this one. Southampton are sitting in 12th with seven points from six matches and the Saints have been somewhat mixed of late, losing to United, beating Chelsea, before losing to Wolves. They have only won once on their travels in the Premier League since the start of February so they are up against it, but Hasenhuttl will look to push back into their earlier form which saw them battling hard in their games. Villa will be without Bednarek, Cash, and Diego Carlos, while Martinez, Watkins, and Olsen will all need late fitness tests. As for Southampton, they will travel without Lavia and Livramento while Caleta-Car will be pushing to prove his fitness to be in the squad. These sides finished one spot and five points apart last season and it should be another tight contest between them. A share of the spoils is the most likely result on Friday night, with this game most likely ending in a 1-1 draw.

Nottingham Forest - Fulham

These two new sides will meet with Forest aiming to avoid a fourth straight defeat which seem them in 19th with four points, while Fulham are flying high in 10th position on eight points. Forest have struggled at times this season, a lot of that down to their team being mostly assembled over the summer and completely different from the one which managed promotion. They need to adapt and learn if they want to stay in the league, but so far it has been an exciting and eye opening journey for them. Fulham meanwhile are showing they are more prepared than in a long time for the Premier League as they have been unable to secure back-to-back Premier League campaigns since 2014 but will hope to end that curse. They are relying on Mitrovic but so far he has been producing, scoring six in six so far. Forest will be without Niakhate, Richards, and Mangala. As for the Cottagers, they will be without Wilson and Solomon, while Robinson will need to be assessed. This should be an exciting clash between two sides who got promoted last year, but unless Forest have managed to click over the break, which is possible, I think Fulham will have too much for them. It will be a close match and could easily finish as a draw, but I think it will end up as a 1-2 win for Fulham.

Wolves - Manchester City

With Wolves sitting in 14th and on six points they will hope new signing Diego Costa can help fire them up the table when they welcome the Champions Man City. The Citizens are fresh out of their Champions League win against Dortmund, sitting second in the league and a point behind leaders Arsenal. Wolves had to act to replace Kalajdzic after his ACL injury on his debut, and it will be interesting to see the fire of Costa up front for Wolves. They have strengthened their side but have lacked in attack and he could add the badly needed goals.  Lage's side still possess a three-game unbeaten run ahead of the visit of the Champions and have only conceded once at Molineux this season, meaning it wont be an easy game for City. Pep saw his side come back on Wednesday night to win, and even compared Haaland to Cruyff. They were pushed all the way by Dortmund and Pep will need to manage his key players, but should not underestimate this Wolves side. Last time out Pep saw his side draw with Villa and will be determined to get three points here to put pressure on Arsenal at the top. They are unbeaten in eight games in all competitions and will fancy themselves to extend that run here. Kalajdzic and Chiquinho are both ruled out for Wolves, while City will expect to be without Walker and Laporte. This will be a real test for Haaland, as Dortmund proved he can be kept quiet until he decides to spring into life. Lage will relish seeing his team face the Champions and will fancy his side to keep their opponents out. The best Lage can probably hope for is a draw and I am going to back him to take a point off City, who will be tired compared to their opponents, and this game will finish 1-1.

Newcastle - Bournemouth

Eddie Howe will look to end a five-game winless run in the Premier League as his side sit 11th on seven points and welcome managerless 13th side Bournemouth who are also on seven points. Newcastle drew with Crystal Palace last time out, albeit with plenty of VAR controversy, meaning they have not won since the opening day. So far they are comfortable but will need to turn those draws into wins to put pressure on the European places. Isak could be key to that and will have had plenty of time amongst his new teammates now, along with new sub keeper Karius. The Cherries will continue with O'Neil as the hunt for a new manager continues, and while they came back to win last time out against Forest, this will be a much tougher task. They still have -13 as goal difference after the drubbing at Anfield but things have somewhat taken a positive turn since Parker was dismissed from his duties. If they concede three or more goals however, they will set a new record for the most goals conceded in the opening seven games of the season. Krafth, Darlow, and Shelvey are all ruled out, while Guimaraes, Saint-Maximin, and Wilson will all have outside hopes of being fit enough to play some part of this one. As for Bournemouth, Pearson, Rothwell, and Brooks are out while Stanislas will need to be assessed. Newcastle will be a step up for Bournemouth, especially with Pope on form in goal and their steady defence. The potential returns of Saint-Maximin and Guimaraes will help to make St. James park a fortress, meaning Bournemouth will need to be at the top of their game and I just dont see that happening. Newcastle should win this one and push themselves up the table in the process, getting a 2-0 home win.

Tottenham - Leicester

Conte will look for a reaction from his side after their late loss at home to Sporting during the week when they face a Leicester side devoid of confidence. Spurs are sitting in 3rd with fourteen points so far, while Leicester sit bottom of the table with one point and no wins after six games. Conte saw his side struggle to create many clear-cut opportunities on Tuesday night and will certainly have drilled them over the performance. Domestically they have been excellent, having beaten Fulham 2-1 last time in the league. While Spurs are on a seven-game winning streak at home in all competitions they will be tired after their European adventures, meaning Rodgers could have some advantage here. The Foxes have been awful however, as they fell to a 5-2 loss against Brighton last time out. They have conceded 16 goals so far and many will point to the lack of serious transfer activity which has led to this downfall. A result here could give them a huge confidence boost ahead of the international break, but they need to remove those defensive errors which have plagued them since last season. Lucas Moura is the only player unavailable for Spurs, while Leicester are without Ricardo Pereira and Bertrand, while Praet needs to be assessed. While Spurs need to work on their creativity, this is the perfect game to rediscover their goal scoring touch, especially for Son. He is without a goal yet and last seasons joint top scorer in the league could do with hitting form again. Spurs are too strong for Leicester, and Rodgers could have some serious concerns for his tenure if this go horribly south here. I expect a comfortable home win, with the result being 3-1 for Spurs.

Brentford - Arsenal

A bright start to the season has seen Brentford sitting in 8th with nine points ahead of this one, and they welcome table toppers Arsenal who currently have fifteen points from six games. The Gunners lost to United last time out, but showed a very impressive desire and performance which will give the fans hope they can continue their push towards Champions League and possible even a title charge. Brentford meanwhile beat Leeds 5-2 last time out and following on from their early campaign 4-0 win over United they will be full of confidence after six games of this season. Toney has been called into the England squad for the first time to further boost the confidence within Franks side, and if they can get him firing on Sunday the Bees will have real hope. Arteta did not have to endure a Europa League game this week due to the Queen's death, but that will impact their schedule further down the line with their game against Man City postponed in October to facilitate this game. As it stand their loss to United was all that stopped their perfect record this season and facing Brentford should prove a real challenge. Brentford will be missing Norgaard and Pinnock while Canos will need assessment before making a decision on him for this game. Smith Rowe, Elneny, Nelson, and Partey are all expected to be out of this one for Arsenal. While this should prove a tough test, it will also bring Arsenal back into competitive action for the first time since their loss to United and I expect they will be raring to go. Brentford wont make it easy and will be competitive throughout, but I expect Arteta's side to scrape through this with a 0-1 away win.

Everton - West Ham

Lampard's side are currently 16th in the table with a total of four points, and will welcome a West Ham side fresh off the back of their match in Demark who are sitting in 18th also with four points. Everton have not played since their goalless draw with Liverpool at Goodison, and will certainly be hoping their freshness can play a key role here. The Toffees are still waiting for their first win of the season, with a relegation battle similar to last year seemingly on the cards. They have drawn four in a row in the league and not since 1994 have the Toffees failed to win any of their opening seven league matches. West Ham meanwhile saw controversy in their last league game against Chelsea, but were the beneficiary of it this time in their Europa Conference League tie when Silkeborg were aggrieved to see a goal ruled out. They have won two from two in their European Group but a return of only three league goals so far this season makes for poor reading. Moyes will need to rediscover that golden touch which has seen his side cemented amongst the leagues top seven over the past few seasons. Townsend, Godfrey, Mina, Pickford and Holgate are all ruled out, while Doucoure needs to be assessed for Everton, but they do hope to have Calvert-Lewin back. Johnson and Aguerd will be missing for West Ham. This should prove a tough one for Everton without their star keeper with Begovic set to stand between the sticks. West Ham just need to apply their goal scoring touch from Europe into their league campaign and they will be alright, and this could be the perfect game for them. While Goodison is always a tough place to go, I see it ending up as a draw I am going to go with a 2-2 here.

Check out my 2022/23 Season Preview and Predictions here: Premier League 2022/23 Prediction

Also check out my review of the group draw and prediction of the Champions League for this season here: Champions League 2022/23 Prediction

Have a great day, I hope you enjoyed the preview of the matches and get to see the games over the weekend. 

Peace. CryptoGod-1.

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