EPL Predictions Today – Premier League Betting Preview Matchday 1
EPL Betting Preview Including Predictions and Picks
WagerTalk Premier League handicapper Kevin Dolan presents his EPL predictions today heading into Matchday 1. He gives betting previews for key matches including Burnley vs Manchester City and Chelsea vs Liverpool. Which teams is he looking to pick up points and which will have goals being scored? Read his betting preview now!
Burnley vs Manchester City | Friday, August 11 | 3:00pm ET
Burnley +815 | Manchester City -325 | Draw +475
The English Premier League returns this Friday night with an interesting matchup over at Turf Moor in the north-west of England as last season’s treble winners Manchester City take on newly promoted Burnley in the opening game of the new season.
Friday also sees the return of former Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany facing his old club for the first time in the Premier League since leaving back in 2019.
First he went to Anderlecht as a player-manager before then moving to Burnley last summer and guiding the Clarets to a fantastic first-placed finish in the Championship, topped off with a massive 101 point haul as well.
Burnley plays a much more dynamic brand of attacking football under Vincent Kompany than they did under former boss Sean Dyche, and that led them to rank as the Championship’s overall top scorers last season with 87 goals total (1.89 GPG), with an even more impressive 49 goals at Turf Moor specifically (2.13 GPG).
However, that open, fluid attacking style of play is unlikely to be an optimal strategy against a team in Manchester City that absolutely shredded opponent defenses last season for 62 goals from open play in the Premier League, including owning the second-highest number of counter-attacking goals in the EPL as well.
Manchester City went on the road in their opening game of last season also winning comfortably 2-0 against West Ham and owning a 75% possession rate in that game.
While Turf Moor will no doubt be bouncing ahead of the arrival of the current champions and an optimistic new season ahead, Manchester City are just so well versed in this role of winning efficiently that we believe they likely dampen Burnley’s attacking threat in this one and run out routine 2-0 winners on Friday.
Prediction: Manchester City -1.5 (-115)
Newcastle vs Aston Villa | Saturday, August 12 | 12:30pm ET
Newcastle -130 | Aston Villa +360 | Draw +285
Arguably one of the games of the weekend on Saturday as one of the EPL’s hottest performing teams to close out last season, Aston Villa, travels up to the north-east of England to take on top four side Newcastle in what should be a standout game in St. James’ Park this weekend.
Aston Villa were simply sensational under Unai Emery to close out last season, beating Newcastle comfortably 3-0 back in April, and winning nine of their final fourteen games to rank as the third-best team in the league over that timeframe, only behind Liverpool and Manchester City in that regard.
A lot of that success for the Villains came on the defensive end, with Aston Villa ranking second behind only champions Manchester City in terms of defensive xGA since March 1st.
The Newcastle faithful will be expecting big things ahead of this season also as they’ve brought in strong Serie A talent Sandro Tonali from AC Milan and Harvey Barnes from Leicester as well, with Eddie Howe looking to strengthen his squad before embarking on a European conquest this season.
That said, Aston Villa are possibly one of the worst games Newcastle could have gotten out of the gate as while they no doubt possess the quality to win this game, Aston Villa rank as a serious force themselves, with Emery beefing up his squad considerably since last season also.
Expect a tight game on Saturday that Aston Villa could well squeeze out a point in.
Prediction: Aston Villa +0.75 (-115)
Chelsea vs Liverpool | Sunday, August 13 | 11:30am ET
Chelsea +190 | Liverpool +135 | Draw +260
While both teams saw their sheen come off somewhat last season, on paper at least, this is still the game of the weekend over in the EPL as both clubs will have full focus on returning to the summit of the mountain and challenging for the Premier League title this year.
After a dreadful start to last season which saw the Reds win just four of their opening twelve matchups in the league, Liverpool rebounded somewhat over the back half of the year.
They ranked as the second-best team in the league from February 1st onwards as they lost just three of their final nineteen games of the season to pull themselves back into a Europa League spot in 5th.
Chelsea also had major difficulty in navigating last season, going through three different managers in just seven months (four if you count Bruno Saltor’s brief spell), as the club remained in turmoil with huge money spent.
They effectively had very little to show for it as Graham Potter bowed out of the Chelsea dugout last season owning the Blues lowest ever points per game tally out of any Chelsea manager in history.
A huge part of the issue for both clubs last season was their injury crisis, with both Chelsea and Liverpool ranking #1 and #2 respectively in terms of the number of missed games from players due to injuries which was almost six times the number of games combined than champions Manchester City were forced to deal with.
With four Premier League Manager of the Month awards in his cabinet from his time with cross-town rivals Tottenham, Argentinian coach Mauricio Pochettino will hope to hit the ground running in his first game in charge at Stamford Bridge and grab at least a point at home against a Liverpool side still trying to find their feet after numerous exits have left their midfield somewhat sparse.
This should be a fun and entertaining game on Sunday, and one in which we see the home side find a way to get a result in as well.
Prediction: Chelsea +0.25 (-125)
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