The Premier League is back with a fascinating set of results over the first round of games that suggests that this season will be hottly contested at both ends of the table.
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GW2 Premier League Previews
Another Friday night kick-off to keep you on your toes, sees West Ham host Chelsea. Neither side enjoyed a memorable opening weekend with the Hammers going down 3-0 to newly promoted Sunderland while the Blues laboured to a 0-0 draw against Palace.
Perhaps the most concerning aspect for West Ham was how little fight they showed after going a goal behind against Sunderland. Up until that point, it had been a fairly even contest but Graham Potter's side folded all too easily after the Black Cats got their noses in front.
In fact, West Ham have not seen any real 'bounce' since Potter joined them in mid-season in 24/25 and with their squad still in limbo with 2 weeks of the transfer window to go, it remains to be seen what resources he will have at his disposal to try and turn things around.
Chelsea have enjoyed recent matches between the 2, winning both league games last season including the corresponding fixture 3-0, having also smashed West Ham 5-0 at Stamford Bridge in 2024.
West Ham have never enjoyed an easy relationship with their fans since moving to their new Stadium and so the opening 15-20min of this game will be absolutely crucial. If the home support gets the sense that their players aren't really up for the fight then expect the murmurings to grow into full scale revolt!
Both sides enjoyed impressive victories to nil in their opening fixtures so something has to give in this lunch time kick-off.
Thomas Frank has already shown his tactical flexibility by deploying a very different side on Saturday against Burnley than he did in the Super Cup Final versus PSG. You'd expect that he'll revert to a back 5 again for this trip and look to extend Spurs excellent record against Pep's City.
Tottenham won the corresponding fixture here last season 4-0 while also beating City in an EFL Cup match. In fact, their record at the Ethiad is particularly impressive with 2 wins and a draw in their last 4 Premier League visits.
Those games have seen a combined 21 goals scored but I'd be surprised if we witness quite such an open match this time around. Frank's Brentford were always a tough nut for Pep to crack and even did the league double over City in the 22/23 season, a year in which City only 5 league games in total.
Bournemouth showed a tremendous amount of fight in their game against Liverpool to come from 2 down but were ultimately undone by defensive mistakes.
Given the amount of churn in that area of their squad, it's perhaps not a big surprise that they struggled at the back but going forward they still look a dangerous prospect, particularly on the break.
Wolves of course suffered their own defensive issues albeit against far superior opposition in Man City. This fixture is perhaps more a test of where they are at the early stages of this season after they finished 24/25 strongly.
The corresponding game last season saw Wolves nick a 1-0 win at a venue that saw plenty of top half teams go down to defeat. In fact, this stadium has been a very happy hunting ground for Wolves. They've never lost a Premier League game at the Vitality (won 3, drawn 2).
Of course, Wolves themselves have lost a couple of star players to larger teams so we wait to see whether their replacements for the likes of Cunha and Ait-Nouri can deliver a similar kind of impact.
There is a growing sense of concern around West London given the amount of talent that has left Brentford over the summer both on the pitch and in the dressing room.
Going 3-0 down to a Forest side who'd spent most of pre-season trying to work out what that rectangular thing with a net in at the end of pitch is, was not the greatest start for new boss Keith Andrews but his side did at least show a bit of fight in the 2nd half.
Villa too have had a fairly traumatic summer having missed out on Champions League football and been handicapped by FFP regulations it's difficult to see how this squad will progress.
Villa did manage the double over Brentford last season and in fact they've only lost once in the Premier League to the Bees, that being their first trip here back in 2022.
Look out for Ollie Watkins! The former Brentford striker has scored in each of his last 4 games against his old club. Brentford have never kept a clean sheet against Villa in the Premier League.
Is it too early to call this a 6 pointer?
Sunderland got off to a great start against West Ham, a club I think will be in the bottom third of the table alongside the 3 promoted clubs. They now have a game against another team who will almost certainly be in that category come May.
They key for both these sides in their bid for Premier League survival is going to be home form and identifying which opposition you can realistically take the 10 wins from that are necessary to give you a chance of staying up. On that basis, this match represents a key fixture for both these teams.
Given that the stakes are so high, it's tempting to think that this will be a fairly drab game where the pressure of not losing will outweigh the promise of what a win could do.
To add to that theory, we only need to look at recent matches between the 2 sides. Last year, saw a 0-0 in the corresponding fixture and 1-0 win for Sunderland at home. The year prior to that saw another 0-0 here on Turf Moor. What happened the last time these 2 met in the Premier League? You guessed it 0-0 and in that same season the sides played out a not so thrilling FA Cup match for another 0-0. That's 4 goalless draws in the last 8 games between these 2.
It's tempting to say that Arsenal's didn't put in a vintage performance against Manchester United on Sunday but for those of us who have been watching English top flight football for longer than 10 minutes, 1-0 to Arsenal is about as par for the course as you can get!
That match saw Arsenal struggle to adopt the kind of transitional game that will unlock the goal scoring threat of their new high priced centre forward. This match is much more likely to see how far Arsenal have come when unlocking a low block.
Leeds fought valiantly against Everton in their opening fixture and were ultimately rewarded with a copntreversial penalty. They'll need to ride their luck again in this one and across the season if they hope to remain in the top flight.
More generally, the promoted clubs this season look better equipped to defend and tough it out against superior opposition than those that have failed over the last couple of seasons. Leeds didn't conceed a shot on target until the 53rd minute of their game against Everton and I'm sure they'll look to be compact again in this game.
Arsenal's hopes of a title were dashed by their poor home form last Spring which saw them drop points at the Emirates to Palace and Brentford while suffering defeat against Bournemouth. They've not managed a home win by 2 or more goals since the 5-1 thrashing of City back in February so expect a jittery home crowd if they don't start this match with real purpose.
It's fair to say that this fixture has become a bit of a grudge match after Forest's complaints to UEFA ultimately lead to them replacing Palace in the Europa League.
Palace, themselves relegated to the Conference League, start that particular campaign on Thursday and you'd expect that it will be a challenge for both these clubs to manage the rigours of midweek European football and the weekend Premier League games as the season continues.
The other factor linking both clubs this summer is Spurs attempts to nab their most creative players. Forest appear to have resisted the Gibbs-White departure but it's looking increasingly likely that Eze will make the move across the capital. With Marc Guehi also likely to leave the Eagles this summer, it looks set to be a big couple of weeks off the pitch which might impact the momentum the side has built from both the FA Cup win last May and of course the Community Shield this month!
Over the past 3 seasons of these 2 both playing in the top flight, this hasn't been a fixture to get fans on the edges of their seats. 4 of those games have finished in draws (3 x 1-1 and 1 x 0-0) while the other 2 matches have been won by Forest 1-0. I'd be surprised if this encounter bucks the trend and offers more than a couple of goals.
Both these teams conceeded late goals in gameweek 1 to cost them early season points.
Everton have been fairly active in the transfer market and it could well be that we see Jack Grealish make his full debut in front of the Everton faithful in what will be the first competitive fixture at their home ground.
On that account, you'd expect the home team and their supporters to be right up for this match but of course we've seen in the past that it can take a while for all concerned to feel comfortable in new surroundings.
Interestingly this is a fixture that has tended to go the way of the visiting teams in recent years. Brighton won the corresponding fixture at Goodison last year by 3 goals to nil having also won and scored 3+ goals in both 2022 and 2023. In fact, the Seagulls are unbeaten in their last 4 visits to the blue half of Merseyside.
While Fulham managed to snatch a late point at Brighton last weekend, Manchester United couldn't manage the same despite an improved performance against Arsenal in their opening game.
The question now is can these United players find the same drive and energy that they showed against the Gunners for their trip to West London?
Marco Silva has been critical of his board's perceived lack of action in the transfer market while Ruben Amorim is likely to deploy his full array of £200mil attacking talent from the start in this match. The concern for United is that while they appear to have a world class attack, the further towards their own goal they get, the less sure you can be on the kind of performances you are going to see.
A goalkeeper error cost them in week 1 and you can be sure that Fulham will test them from open play (particularly on the transition) and from set plays.
The good news for United fans is that while their general standing amongst elite clubs has fallen over the past decade, they've still maintained a strangle hold over Fulham. United have lost against them just once in the league since the glory years of 2009 with an overall record since then of played 19, won 15, drawn 3, lost 1
Might we see Alexandar Isak try and sneak onto the Liverpool team bus and back to Merseyside at the end of this one? One things for sure, he's made it very clear that he doesn't want to play for the Magpies again and only wishes to join the league champions. Expect a feisty response from those on Tyneside!
Liverpool won their opening game but they were from convincing particularly at the back. By contrast, Newcastle laboured to break down a Villa side who played much of their opening fixture with 10 men.
That perhaps should suggest that they won't be a serious threat to the Liverpool back line in this one. The Toon Army are suited to playing on the counter attack and as we saw from Bournemouth, it only takes a couple of progressive passes or runs to slice through this Liverpool team.
This has always been a Premier League fixture that has produced goals over the years. 21 of the 60 matches that have taken place have produced 4 or more goals including the corresponding game last year which finished 3-3! If Liverpool come with a similar game plan to last week then we might be in for another treat!
Often featured amongst the list of 'greatest games in Premier League history', could we see another end to end classic under lights on Monday night?