ALEX CROOK PREVIEW: Premier League Weekend

Star Sports football ambassador ALEX CROOK previews this weekend’s Premier League fixtures…

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🔴  MANCHESTER UNITED v CHELSEA 🔵
Sunday, 4.30pm

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Old Trafford will be the place to be on Sunday, and what is always one of the standout fixtures in the Premier League calendar has been given an extra slice of intrigue following Eric ten Hag’s sacking as Manchester United manager this week.

We know Sporting boss Ruben Amorim will be the man tasked with replacing ten Hag, but not until after the upcoming International break, which means interim-manager Ruud van Nistelrooy ‘Tra La La La La’ will have three more games in temporary charge.

I was in the Stretford End on Wednesday night as van Nistelrooy kicked off his tenure with a 5-2 victory over Leicester in the EFL Cup, and while United’s performance was far from perfect against the second-string Foxes, there was at least a feel-good factor around the place again.

Despite finally finding their shooting boots to clock only a second win in nine games in all competitions, United will have shore up defensively against a visiting Chelsea side who are in rich goalscoring form.

There have been a record 26 draws in 64 Premier League meetings between these two and with Chelsea losing only one away Premier League game under Enzo Maresca and United likely to take extra motivation from the change of boss it would not surprise me to see the points shared.

Van Nistelrooy wants to play a more attacking brand of football which should mean an open affair and in fairness to ten Hag United created plenty of chances on his watch but just had trouble sticking them away so a draw and both teams to score at 16/5 with starsports.bet is appealing.

Casemiro scored the last goal of the ten Hag era at West Ham and the first under van Nistelrooy. He also netted against Chelsea previously and you can double up Casemiro and Chelsea goal machine and United fan Cole Palmer both to score as a build-a-bet at 16/1 with starsports.bet.

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🔴 SOUTHAMPTON v EVERTON 🔵
Saturday, 3pm

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Southampton manager Russell Martin faces the first of two huge back-to-back games when his struggling side hosts relegation rivals Everton on Saturday.

With the Toffees’ visit to the south coast followed by a trip to Wolves next weekend, there is a growing feeling around St Mary’s that Martin needs a couple of positive results to avoid coming under real pressure from his paymasters heading into the international break.

Following Saints’ winless start to the Premier League season they at least did book their place in the EFL Cup quarter-finals against Stoke on Tuesday night, but made heavy weather of it against the Championship outfit by throwing away a 2-0 lead and relying on a late goal-line clearance and long range winner from defender James Bree to squeeze through.

Only a few weeks ago it was Martin’s counterpart Sean Dyche feeling the but Everton have slowly, but surely Improved and are unbeaten in their last five games.

Southampton far from disgraced themselves in like last weekend’s 1-0 defeat at Manchester City and also gave Arsenal a fright at the Emirates a few weeks ago by taking the lead, but have already been held to a draw at home by Ipswich, lost to Nottingham Forest in front of their own fans and been thrashed away at Brentford and Bournemouth.

They are also the joint-lowest scorers in the league with just SIX goals from their nine games so Everton to win at 6/4 with starsports.bet has to be the play here.

Saints have had issues defending set pieces this season and that is an area Everton will be looking to exploit. Centre-back Michael Keane has already netted twice this season and is worth a small play at 12/1 with starsports.bet to score at any time.

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🐺  WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS v CRYSTAL PALACE 🔵
Saturday, 5.30pm

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Another team struggling in front of goal are Crystal Palace.

They travel to Wolves on Saturday, looking to make it three wins in a week after picking up their first three points of the season by beating Tottenham 1-0 last weekend and then knocking Aston Villa out of the EFL Cup away from home.

Wolves have been playing well without winning and showed their character to battle back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Brighton last weekend thanks to two late goals.

My understanding is that manager Gary O’Neil is not in danger of the sack yet, but they need to take full advantage of a kind set of fixtures after being dealt a nightmare start to the season when they have faced all of the current top six already.

The question is how much confidence has a run of two points from the first nine games drained out of O’Neil’s players, and that makes the first goal here absolutely crucial. Matheus Cunha is too good to be part of a team fighting relegation and took his goal tally for the season to four with the last-gasp leveller at the Amex. Cunha is 11/2 with starsports.bet to score the first goal.

I also think this can be the weekend when Wolves get that much-needed first win so will be backing Cunha to score at any time and Wolves to win at 3.57/1 with starsports.bet.

GOOD LUCK,

ALEX CROOK

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RECOMMENDED BETS
BACK Manchester United v Chelsea draw and both teams to score 1pt at 16/5 (⭐️ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
Build-a-bet: Casemiro and Cole Palmer both to score 0.5pts at 16/1 with starsports.bet
BACK Everton to win 1.5pts at 6/4 (⭐️ ? CLICK TO BET NOW
BACK Michael Keane to score at any time 0.5pts at 12/1 (⭐️ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
BACK Matheus Cunha to score first Wolves v Crystal Palace 1pt at 11/2 (⭐️ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
BACK Wolves to win and Matheus Cunha to score 1pt at 3.57/1 with starsports.bet

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