The first batch of midweek Premier League fixtures continue on Wednesday evening with both Manchester City and Liverpool in action, while on Thursday Manchester United travel to the King Power to take on Leicester.
We previewed those three matches below.
Citizens should make light work of Forest
Four points from four matches so far is a more than respectable return for newly-promoted Nottingham Forest and they’ve impressed many with their start. With every passing day a new player seems to come through the door, but the Forest board have always stated their plan was to back manager Steve Cooper and the additions of the likes of Renan Lodi show they are sticking to their guns. They’ve signed a whole host of new stars and it won’t be easy to integrate them all but the early omens have been good and Cooper has plenty to work with.
They played well against Spurs and were perhaps a bit unlucky not to take something from the game, but they are taking on the best of the best here in City and given the gulf in class, Forest are the huge outsiders at 25/1.
Their opponents have started their title defence in pretty solid fashion winning three and drawing one of their matches. Their only blip came against Newcastle and they’ll have taken plenty of positives from that as they managed to salvage a point having been 3-1 down. They gave themselves another mountain to climb again against Crystal Palace last weekend having gone 2-0 down but when you have Erling Haaland in your side, you’re going to score goals and so that proved as the Norwegian grabbed his first hat-trick for his new club as the Citizens stormed back to win 4-2. Haaland is 13/2 to score another hat-trick here, while his side are just 1/14 to win this.
Check out all the latest betting offers at William Hill
Reds hoping to build on Bournemouth drubbing
The doom and gloom around Anfield might be lifting. The critics were out in force after a pretty dismal start to the new Premier League season which saw them take just two points from their opening three games, including an abject performance against arch rivals Manchester United. However, you don’t turn into a bad team overnight and so that proved as Jurgen Klopp’s side roared back to their brilliant best, matching the league’s biggest ever win as they stuck nine past a sorry Bournemouth side.
As bad as Bournemouth were, Liverpool were superb and in all honesty could have scored four or five more than they did. Luis Diaz was brilliant again as was Trent Alexander-Arnold and perhaps the most shocking occurrence of the afternoon was that Mohamed Salah didn’t get on the scoresheet. It was a much needed win for Klopp’s side who really couldn’t afford another slip-up with title rivals City starting the season in ominous fashion. And with them expected to get past Nottingham Forest easily, a Reds win at 1/4 is a must against Newcastle.
Salah missed two chances that he’d bury in his sleep usually against Bournemouth and he’ll be keen to right those wrongs back at Anfield. The Egyptian is 7/2 to score first.
Things are pretty rosy on Tyneside at the moment with recent memories of relegation battles and supporter unrest a thing of the past. The new investment in the club has brought a new sense of optimism amongst the fans and while Eddie Howe hasn’t spent the vast sums that people thought he might, he’s certainly recruited well as Newcastle look towards the top-half of the table as opposed to the bottom. Howe has largely stuck to players he’s familiar with so far, but he bucked that trend when the Magpies broke their record transfer fee on Swedish international Alexander Isak. The Toon’s new star is 17/5 to score anytime and 12/1 to score first, while Newcastle are the 10/1 outsiders with a draw priced at 24/5.
United aiming for three wins in a row
The critics certainly haven’t disappeared and they’ll be ready to swing from the hip if another bad performance takes place, but as things stand Erik ten Hag appears to have steadied the ship at Manchester United. Things couldn’t have got much worse after their 4-0 defeat to Brentford and whatever was said in the aftermath seemed to work as United put in a much better performance against Liverpool subsequently, particularly for the first 30 minutes or so. Much credit has to go to Ten Hag for the reaction to the Brentford loss and while the jury is still out on his side, the hard-fought victory against Southampton at the weekend was further evidence that they are moving somewhere in the right direction.
A trip to the King Power is never easy, though, and the Red Devils are priced at 21/20 for a third consecutive victory.
The table isn’t pretty reading for Leicester fans at the moment with their side rock bottom with just one point. The Foxes have still failed to bring any new players in – the only side in the league do have done so – and with star defender Wesley Fofana seemingly on his way to Chelsea, it hasn’t been the transfer window manager Brendan Rodgers would have wanted. They have some talented players but this is a squad that needs new blood and several new faces and it just feels as if the Foxes are a bit stuck in first gear at the moment.
James Maddison is a big part of what they do and Rodgers will be praying the Englishman is available for this one as he makes his side tick and they look severely lacking in ideas without him.
It should be noted that Leicester do often turn it on against the big sides, the 23/10 about them winning this one will do for many, while Jamie Vardy loves a goal against the Premier League’s big boys. He is 4/1 to score first and 6/5 to score at anytime.
Check out all the latest football betting odds at William Hill
