After a quiet 3 pick day, I am going full force on the English Football teams for this Saturday matches.
Premier League: West Ham United vs Manchester City
It is safe to say that Manchester City were inches away from winning in regular time against Liverpool in the match played last weekend. I have no doubt that they have continued on-form from what they were showing us last season.
Manchester City just won a 4-1 friendly game against West Ham in Asia, and I expect a similar outcome for this match. West Ham have a good set of players, but I don’t think they will be able to keep up with City’s power.
Pick: Manchester City to win @ 1.25
AFC Bournemouth vs Sheffield United
AFC Bournemouth were a good home team last season, showing a rack of wins during the first months of the Premier League, and basically only being beaten by the big teams during the long stretch of the season. By the end of the season, with hopes of reaching European competition well away from reach, I presume they slowed down both mentally and physically and weren’t able to keep up their form.
This year, I expect them to start high at home, just as they did last year. They have an important matchup against Sheffield United, and they will look to take advantage of that. Sheffield United will have something to say though. Sheffield played really well away from home last year, and that was one of the main reasons why they were able to get promotion and clinch a spot in the Premier League for this year. They also scored consistenly during their away matches.
Pick: Both teams to score @ 1.80
Pick 2: AFC Bournemouth to win or draw @ 1.22
Burnley vs Southampton
Burnley will host Southampton on Saturday afternoon and they will try to make up on what was a good run at home last season. Burnley scored against all non-top teams at home (Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City keeping them at 0.
Southampton on the other hand, struggled when away last year, but comes into the match riding a six game non-losing streak, when you count their last Premier League match and all of their friendly matches. It will be difficult to predict this outcome, but I expect Burnley to score at least once during the game.
The bookies don’t really know who to favor, as both the teams have an almost even chance to win, and the odds for a goal against, are equal for both teams.
Pick: Burnley to score over 0.5 goals @ 1.33
Pick 2: Both teams to score @ 1.80
Watford vs Brighton and Hove Albion
Watford had a disastrous end to their Premier League campaign last year by losing a consecutive streak of games at home to end the season. Brighton and Hove were completely reckless when away from home. One thing Watford did do well last year, was score at home, so let’s expect them to continue their scoring ways today.
Pick: Watford to score over 0.5 goals @ 1.22
Pick 2: Watford to win or draw @ 1.20
Championship: Birmingham City vs Bristol City
Birmingham City started drawing a lot of home matches last year, and then they won a few others and completed 10 games unbeaten at home, until they faced Bristol City and lost by a 1-0 result. This time, the calendar was a bit cruel and put Bristol City on their first away game at Birmingham.
Bristol City consistently scored away from home last year, and Birmingham struggled after the Bristol game to regain their starting form at home, going on to lose 4 out of 8 games after their Bristol loss. They did get better by the end of the year, providing another streak of 4 draws in a row to end the season.
Bristol City lost seven games out of 23 away last season, and has been on form in away friendly matches during the preseason. They had a rocky start to the season, losing to Leeds United by a 3-1 scoreline, but I expect them to try and bounce back against Birmingham.
Pick: Bristol City to win or draw @ 1.44
Cardiff City vs Luton Town
A game between the newly demoted and the newly promoted. What a great show lies ahead. Luton Town were constant winners last year in the League One, but will the jump to the Championship prove a difficult one? Facing a former Premier League team is definitely not the way you want to start your campaign on the road, I am taking Cardiff in this one.
Pick: Cardiff City or Draw @ 1.20
Charlton Athletic vs Stoke City
Charlton Athletic are coming up to the Championship and they are doing it with style. Already winners in their first match, now they come home to their fortress, the one that basically gave them the promotion in the first place. They were practically unstoppable at home last season and will look to translate their League One form to the Championship.
If you look at Stoke City’s away games from last year, you won’t be surprised to notice that they were completely outperformed in most of them, only managing to pick up 22 out of 69 available points, and just 3 wins in the process.
Pick: Charlton Athletic to win or draw @ 1.57
Derby County vs Swansea City
2019 has not treated Swansea right away from home. In fact, they have only two wins away from home and have lost most of their matches.
Derby, had four total losses at home last season, and one of those losses was the season opener against Leeds United a year ago.
Pick: Derby to win or draw @ 1.28
Fulham vs Blackburn Rovers
Both Fulham and Blackburn were disastrous last year. Fulham didn’t manage to win much at home, but Blackburn didn’t do the honors away from home either. Fulham’s stats are a bit misunderstood, simply because they did have a bad run of games, but all played against the top tier teams in the league. When you take away the top 6 teams, Fulham only lost two games at home, which is the kind of level that they will encounter in Blackburn Rovers.
Pick: Fulham to win or draw @ 1.18
Hull City vs Reading
Hull City was really on home form last season, streaking constant wins and helping to place them as a strong team and be rarely unbeaten. Reading were quite the opposite side, as they struggled to complete the task and ended up drawing or losing most of their away matches. Expect something in the likes for this match.
Pick: Hull City to win or draw @ 1.25
League One: Milton Keynes Dons vs Shewsbury Town
Milton Keynes Dons lost four games at home last season in League Two. Shewsbury Town were horrific away from home, where they won only six total games.
Pick: Milton Keynes Dons to win or draw @ 1.28
