ALEX CROOK PREVIEW: Premier League Weekend

Star Sports ambassador ALEX CROOK casts his eye over the weekend Premier League fixtures, and puts up another ALEX ACCA…

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BOURNEMOUTH v FULHAM
Friday, 8pm

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Bournemouth have made such an impressive start to the season that if they beat Fulham Friday night they will climb to second place in the table for 24 hours at least.

The Cherries came from behind to snatch a late 2-2 at Leeds last weekend, but it is their form at the Vitality Stadium which is really setting the tone for Andoni Iraola’s men.

Bournemouth have lost just one of their last seven Premier League games on their own stomping ground, keeping four clean sheets in the process.

Visitors Fulham have also made a reasonably solid beginning to their campaign by taking eight points from their first six matches.

They were also more competitive than the 3-1 scorelines suggests in last weekend’s defeat at Aston Villa.

However, the Cottagers have now lost six of their last eight away games dating back to last season.

Both these sides are reasonably solid defensively, so I’m not expecting an avalanche of goals. If Bournemouth have one issue, it is finishing teams off when on top.

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ARSENAL v WEST HAM
Saturday, 3pm

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It will be a milestone moment for Mikel Arteta when Arsenal host West Ham in a London derby on Saturday.

Arteta takes charge of Arsenal for the 300th time with the Gunners now 23/20 title favourites with starsports.bet after last Sunday’s dramatic 2-1 comeback win at Newcastle.

West Ham picked up a precious point in Nuno Espirito Santo’s first game as boss at Everton on Monday night, but it looks an almost impossible task to replicate last season’s 1-0 win at the Emirates.

Along with Crystal Palace, Arsenal boost the joint-best defensive record in the Premier League having conceded just three times in their first six games.

Jarrod Bowen aside, West Ham’s attack is hardly goal-laden so Arsenal to win and both teams to score, no, is the first part of my build-a-bet.

Conceding from set-pieces have been West Ham’s Achilles heel this season, which is also one of Arsenal’s major strengths.

Gabriel was the late hero at St James’ Park so I will also be adding the Brazilian to score at any time which gives us a build-a-bet of 8.06/1 with starsports.bet.

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CHELSEA v LIVERPOOL
Saturday, 5.3opm

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The most headline-worthy game of weekend sees Chelsea take on old rivals Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.

Neither side are firing on all cylinders at present with Liverpool following their Premier League defeat at Crystal Palace with a tame 1-0 reverse at Galatasary in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Chelsea limped to a 1-0 win over Benfica, but were once again unconvincing and will be without the injured Cole Palmer as well as Levi Colwill and the suspended Trevoh Chalobah.

Last weekend’s 3-1 loss at the hands of Brighton may have been a rare home Premier League defeat, but they were lucky not to lose to Crystal Palace and did not deserve to beat Fulham.

With summer signing Joao Pedro struggling to hit the heights he did at the summer’s Club World Cup and with no Palmer, Enzo Maresca’s team look a little bereft of any attacking spark.

Champions Liverpool, meanwhile, are not the force they were last season and I am expecting Arne Slot to go back-to-basics here with a midfield trip of Alexis Mac Allister, Dominic Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch.

That could mean £116m man Florien Wirtz dropping to the bench.

Either way I think this could be a good time and this is only the second time in Slot’s tenure that the Reds have suffered back-to-back defeats.

A Liverpool win at 5/4 with starsports.bet looks tremendous value and is my idea of the bet of the weekend.

Alexander Isak also has four goals in six games against Chelsea and if he is included from the off, the so-far slow-starting Swede to score first at 9/2 with starsports.bet looks appealing.

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BRENTFORD v MANCHESTER CITY
Sunday, 4.30pm

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I will be venturing to the Gtech on Sunday and if this game is half as entertaining as the one I watched between the pair last season then it should be a rip-roaring spectacle.

On that occasion Brentford came back from 2-0 down with just eight minutes of normal time to play to draw 2-2 and it is not hard to envisage another goal-drunk affair.

City have already racked up 14 Premier League goals this season, more than any other club, but are conceding plenty too as we saw in Monaco in mid-week when they were held to a 2-2 draw.

Brentford have also scored in every game under new manager Keith Andrews and I think their directness could be an issue for City’s transitional defence so both teams to score once again stands out to me.

Phil Foden has an outstanding scoring record against the Bees so Manchester City to win, both teams to score and Foden to net at any time returns 5/1 as a build-a-bet with starsports.bet.

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NEXT BEST: Bournemouth to win and under 2.5 goals 1pt at 31/10 (⭐️ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)

BUILD-A-BET: Arsenal to win, both teams to score, no, and Gabriel to score at any time 1pt at 8.06/1 with starsports.bet

BUILD-A-BET: Manchester City to win, both teams to score and Phil Foden to score at any time 1pt at 5/1 with starsports.bet

ALEX ACCA: Liverpool, Coventry, Middlesbrough, Bolton 1pt at 12/1 from 10/1 (⭐️ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)

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ALEX CROOK P&L (OCT 2025): -2.50 points

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