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The Scout: EPL Week 8 Preview

Posted on | Posted by The Scout

Arsenal v Tottenham

Arsenal are top of the Premier League and the Gunners are understandably buoyant ahead of Saturday’s clash with local rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

A string of five successive victories propelled Mikel Arteta’s side to the summit and, after a defeat to Manchester United, a 3-0 success at Brentford restored their status.

Gabriel Jesus has been an excellent addition – and not just for the four Premier League goals he’s scored. The former Manchester City striker has been a constant menace for the Gunners with a work rate that has also earnt him three assists.

Arteta has plenty to think about ahead of the game with a number of players under fitness clouds, including goalkeeper Hugo Lloris who returned early from duty with the France national team.

Unbeaten in seven Premier League games, Tottenham still have the sound of their 6-2 thumping of Leicester City ringing in their ears before players headed off on international duty.

Son Heung-min scored a hat-trick in the win over the Foxes and continued his goalscoring form into last week’s friendly against Costa Rica with a goal for South Korea in the 2-2 draw.

And there should be goals in this one with both sides averaging more than two per game in their seven matches this season.

Harry Kane, who scored a penalty for England in a 3-3 draw with Germany this week, has bagged six goals for Tottenham.

Suggested Bet: Draw @ $3.70*

Liverpool v Brighton

Brighton’s new manager Roberto De Zerbi could hardly have asked for a more testing introduction to the Premier League – a trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool. Not that Liverpool have been firing on all cylinders.

In fact, unlike Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool are yet to scratch the surface of their potential during a season in which they’ve rarely impressed.

There is a 9-0 thrashing of Bournemouth among the Liverpool highlights but the rest has been, by their high standards, average. Under Jurgen Klopp, that must – and will – turn sometime soon.

De Zerbi, who was manager of Italian club Sassuolo before achieving success in Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk, can only hope it’s not this weekend.

Organisation was the key to Brighton’s success under Potter (they are fourth in the Premier League) and Seagulls fans can only hope De Zerbi isn’t tempted to tinker too much in the early stages of his reign.

Alexis Mac Allister has been the main source of goals for Brighton this season, his double against Leicester taking his season tally to four. Another outstanding performance from the Argentinian will go a long way towards determining how this game plays out.

Liverpool’s last two fixtures – both in the Champions League – are typical of their season so far with a 4-1 defeat to Napoli followed by a 2-1 win over Ajax, in which Thiago produced a man-of-the-match performance.

If Klopp’s Liverpool, who are nine points adrift of top team Arsenal, are to stay in touch with the leaders, nothing less than a victory over Brighton will do.

Suggested Bet: Liverpool win @ $1.35*

Manchester City v Manchester United

The first Manchester derby of the 2022-23 Premier League campaign will take place at the Etihad Stadium where Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez ran riot against the Red Devils last season.

De Bruyne and Mahrez each scored a double as Pep Guardiola’s City made light of Jadon Sancho’s first-half goal, which had briefly drawn United level, to claim a 4-1 victory.

Quite a bit has changed since then with City claiming their eighth title and United attempting yet another rescue project under their latest manager, Erik ten Hag.

Let’s be very clear here – City are capable of blowing away any team – but it would also be a mistake to dismiss United as mere cannon fodder for Erling Haaland, De Bryune, Ilkay Gundogan and company.

Since their awful start to the season (you may have spotted United lost to Brighton and Brentford in their first two games), they have won four in a row. And when you consider that Liverpool and Arsenal are two of those scalps, respect must be paid to Ten Hag, whose influence should become even more obvious as the season progresses.

After two early defeats, the Dutchman wasn’t afraid to dump captain Harry Maguire and his England colleague Luke Shaw, in favour of Tyrell Malacia and Raphael Varane. Marcus Rashford’s move to a central striking role has also paid off, although he might not be fit for the Manchester derby.

Injury ruled Rashford out of United’s Europa League games against Real Sociedad and FC Sheriff, as well as England’s loss to Italy and draw against Germany.

United are steadily improving under Ten Hag but City’s instinct for goals, they’ve scored 17 in seven games, is hard to ignore.

Suggested Bet: City to win + Both teams to score (Same Game Multi) @ $2.60*

*Odds correct as at 10am, 29th September 2022.

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