The first set of Premier League matches for the 2019/20 season kick-off this weekend, with the added bonus of a game on Friday night.
Liverpool will hope they can go one better than last season when they host newly-promoted side Norwich City tomorrow night, while the team that pipped them by a point, Manchester City, will look to get their season off to the best possible start when they travel to West Ham in the early Saturday kick-off.
The standout fixture on the opening weekend though sees Manchester United host rivals Chelsea in what will be an enthralling tie at Old Trafford.
Our football betting expert picks out the best bets from this weekend’s big Premier League games.
Liverpool vs Norwich
Liverpool get the 2019/20 Premier League campaign up and running when they play host to Norwich.
The Reds will see the tie as the perfect opportunity to get three points on the board and put a poor pre-season behind them.
The statistics in this fixture are not in favour of the Canaries who have failed to beat Liverpool in the previous 12 meetings between the sides in the league.
Liverpool will be buoyed by their opening day record; they are unbeaten in opening round fixtures since 2012. Although they are likely to be without last season’s joint top-scorer Sadio Mane, they will want to lay a strong marker down ahead of the new campaign.
Liverpool’s defence was their success story of last season but have only kept two clean sheets throughout the whole of pre-season, a bet on both teams to score at 11/8 seems very appealing. Besides, anything can happen on the first day.
West Ham vs Man City
Man City begin their title defence against a West Ham side who have spent big this summer.
City come off the back of winning the Community Shield last weekend and will have a spring in their step when travelling to the Hammers.
Pep Guardiola’s side have won the last eight meetings between the teams, scoring 27 goals and only conceding five.
West Ham only won nine games at home in the league last season whereas City suffered just three defeats on the road.
It is hard to see the Hammers having enough to deal with the Champions who boast an average of 99 points over the last two seasons.
City have scored at least four goals in five of the last eight meetings so over 3.5 goals for Man City at 9/4 looks like really good value for Saturday’s game.
Manchester United vs Chelsea
Thirteen-time Champions Manchester United face a tough opening day test against rivals Chelsea in the weekend’s standout match.
It already has the feeling of a must-win game for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side who will want to start the new season strongly in a bid to improve on last season’s disappointing campaign.
Both sides enjoyed fruitful pre-seasons, Chelsea only losing one and United winning all six games they played.
United have only won two out of the last 13 meetings in the league between the sides but will aim to overcome a Chelsea side who have lost their main man Eden Hazard to Real Madrid this summer.
The bet that looks the best for me is Chelsea to win at 13/5, given their superior record against the Red Devils.
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