ALEX CROOK PREVIEW: Premier League Weekend

The weekend starts with a West London Derby on Saturday lunchtime, as Chelsea host Fulham, writes ALEX CROOK.

The Cottagers have happy memories of this fixture from last season after staging a late smash-and-grab raid to claim a rare victory at Stamford Bridge.

It’s one of only three Fulham wins in 36 Premier League meetings with their neighbours from along the King’s Road.

After an underwhelming draw at home to Crystal Palace in their opening game, Chelsea put West Ham to the sword in emphatic fashion with a 5-1 triumph at London Stadium.

It’s a quirk of the fixture list that the Blues open their season with four successive London derbies, and I am backing the hosts to gain their revenge on Marco Silva’s troops.

Joao Pedro scored his first Premier League goal last weekend, and I fancy the Brazilian to open his account at the Bridge.

My build-a-bet on this one is Chelsea to win, over 2.5 goals and Joao Pedro to score at 12/5 with starsports.bet to score the first goal.

I’ll be at Tottenham on Saturday afternoon to run my eye over Thomas Frank’s early-season pace-setters.

Spurs are only being kept off the top of the table by north London rivals Arsenal on goal difference, and it has been a Serene start for Frank following his summer defection from Brentford.

After almost beating European champions PSG in the Super Cup, Frank’s men have picked up back-to-back victories over Burnley and Manchester City without conceding a goal.

Last weekend’s two-nil victory at the Etihad was particularly impressive as Frank tactically outwitted Pep Guardiola.

Bournemouth picked up their first win of the season at home to Wolves last weekend after an encouraging display in defeat at Liverpool the previous week.

They were really disappointing in losing. At home to Brentford in the League Cup on Tuesday but you have to take into account that manager Andoni Iraola, once a Spurs target, made eight changes for that tie.

Bournemouth have caused Spurs issues on recent visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and have the firepower to breach the hosts’ so-far impenetrable back line, especially if Antoine Semenyo is on song.

Richarlison has the best goals per minute ratio of any player in the Premier League since joining Spurs, so I like the look of Tottenham to win and both Semenyo and Richarlison to score, which returns around 15/1 as a build-a-bet with starsports.bet.

Sunday’s clash between Nottingham Forest and West Ham could be dubbed ‘Elsackico’, as Nuno Espirito Santo and West Ham counterpart Graham Potter are two of the top three in the betting to be the first managerial casualty of the season.

At one stage last weekend, it looked very likely that Nuno would be for the chop after his public spat with Forest’s combustible owner Evangelos Marinakis.

A semi-peace deal seems to have been brokered between the pair, and that is likely to mean bad news for West Ham as they go in search of their first points of the season.

Potter’s record since replacing Julen Lopetegui is now a paltry five wins in 20 league games.

If they lose this one, he is likely to have some serious questions to answer during the upcoming international break.

Despite naming a strong team, the Hammers still managed to crash out of the League Cup to an under-strength Wolves outfit in midweek, adding to the gloom around the London Stadium.

Forest have made a solid start to the season, picking up four points from their first two games, and this looks a home banker.

West Ham have conceded 11 goals in their three league and cup games, and look particularly vulnerable in the air, which will be music to the ears of Forest talisman Chris Wood.

You can back Forest to win, over 0.5 goals in the first half and Chris Wood to score at any time at 21/10 as a build-a-bet with starsports.bet.

Mikel Arteta was in the Arsenal team the last time they won a Premier League game at Anfield, some 13 years ago.

With Liverpool’s new signings still bedding in and the champions adjusting to a new style of play this season, Arteta may feel like this is a gilt-edged opportunity to end that barren run.

Arsenal have arguably been the most impressive of all of the title contenders so far, with a scrappy win at Old Trafford and a 5-0 demolition of newly-promoted Leeds last weekend.

Their task up on Merseyside has been made much harder without the injured trio of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz, but it’s their defensive quality that gives me confidence they will come away with a positive result.

The Gunners are actually unbeaten in their last six meetings with Liverpool, and the last three Premier League games have all ended in stalemate.

The draw is available at 12/5 with starsports.bet.

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ALEX CROOK P&L (AUG 2025): -4.20 points

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