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Premier League Preview: Matchday Two

Deke Hardman in Editorial, General Soccer News 18 Aug 2017

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Will Romelu Lukaku be on the scoresheet again this weekend?

Matchday two in the Premier League kicks off in South Wales on Saturday lunchtime with Swansea City hosting early league leaders Manchester United.

Both sides kept clean sheets in their opening game with Paul Clement’s side managing hold Southampton to a goalless draw at St Mary’s and the Swans may find goals hard to come by this weekend with last season’s top scorer Fernando Llorente still sidelined and star man Gylfi Sigurdson securing his move to Everton midweek.

In contrast to their opponents the Red Devils thrashed West Ham United 4-0 with new signings Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic putting in impressive performances on their league debuts.

Golden boy

With three goals in two appearances for Jose Mourinho’s side so far Lukaku appears to have hit the ground running and is favourite to win the Premier League’s Golden Boot at a price of 5/2 with Bet 365.

Later on Saturday Burnley will hope to follow last weekend’s shock win at the home of Champions Chelsea with another impressive performance as they host West Bromwich Albion while Liverpool, fresh from taking an advantage in their Champions League play-off against Hoffenheim host a Crystal Palace side who were humbled by newcomers Huddersfield a week ago.

Bournemouth and Leicester City will look to get points on the board as they entertain Watford and Brighton and Hove Albion respectively while bottom of the table West Ham travel to Southampton.

Stoke City also began the campaign with a loss and face Arsenal at the Bet 365 Stadium in Saturday’s late kick-off.

Goal fest

The Gunners thrashed Mark Hughes’ side by four goals to one in last season’s corresponding fixture and scored the same amount last time out as they edged past 2016 champions Leicester at the Emirates Stadium.

Sunday’s action kicks off at St James’s Park where Newcastle United travel to high-flying Huddersfield Town, who will be hoping to build on their incredible opening day triumph at Crystal Palace.

The visitors however will be looking to bounce back from their defeat at Spurs which left them in the relegation zone early doors.

New home

Arguably the game of the weekend takes place at Wembley where last season’s top two face off.

Tottenham finished seven points behind Chelsea last season though sit three ahead of them going into the game after the sides fortunes differed last time out.

It is Spurs’ first league game at the National Stadium as their new stadium continues to be erected and they will be hoping to settle in quickly having lost six of their previous ten matches there.

Finally title favourites Manchester City host Everton on Monday with the Toffees hoping to have record signing Gylfi Sigurdsson involved following his arrival from Swansea City in the week.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Deke Hardman


Freelance football writer with a love of the game that goes back to the mid nineties when both his beloved Nottingham Forest and England had genuine hope of acheiving some level of success. A regular contributor to both SoccerNews.com and FreeBetting.com, Deke also dabbles in music journalism with his heart and head still stuck in the latter years of the twentieth century.

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