5 Tips for This Weekend’s Premier League Action 11/9/21

In Saturday’s 12:30 pm kick-off, Crystal Palace host league leaders Tottenham Hotspur at Selhurst Park with the Eagles looking to get their first league win under Patrick Vieira.

So far, Palace have been soundly beaten 3-0 at Stamford Bridge, before drawing 0-0 at home to Brentford and 2-2 away at West Ham United where loanee midfielder Conor Gallagher scored a superb brace.

Meanwhile, Spurs will be coming into this match in full confidence having won each of their first three league fixtures of the season by 1-0 scorelines, firstly against Manchester City where Son Heung-min scored the only goal of the game, before grinding out two more victories against Wolves at Molineux and at home to Watford.

What will certainly be handy for Spurs is that they can rely on the fitness of club captain Harry Kane who reported late for training in August and has seemingly settled down speculation of moving away for this season at least. Spurs have won three of their last five visits to Selhurst Park in the league by a 1-0 scoreline, with the other two matches finishing 1-1.

Saturday also sees a classic Premier League fixture in Manchester United versus Newcastle United at Old Trafford in what is expected to be the home debuts of Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo.

United have earned seven points from their first three matches, beating Leeds United and Wolves 5-1 and 1-0, as well as drawing 1-1 with Southampton of which Mason Greenwood has scored in all three games.

Newcastle United are currently leaking goals, having been thumped 4-2 at home to West Ham on the opening day, as well as being soundly beaten 2-0 at Aston Villa, before drawing 2-2 at home to Southampton where James Ward-Prowse’s penalty in the 96th minute of the game condemned them to a three-game winless run at the start of their league campaign.

Ronaldo is the player in focus here and actually scored his one and only hattrick for United the last time he played against the Magpies back in January 2008 as the Red Devils thrashed their opponents 6-0 despite it being goalless at half time. The 36-year-old scored six and assisted five in 11 matches against Newcastle in his first spell at United and has since gone on to score 551 club goals since leaving Old Trafford back in 2009, hence why he is priced at 2/1 to score first on Saturday.

Chelsea take on Aston Villa in Saturday’s late Premier League kick-off with Thomas Tuchel’s side coming in as firm favourites following what has been a strong start to the season.

The German’s side have beaten Palace 3-0, Arsenal 2-0 and managed to frustrate Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at Anfield despite conceding an equaliser from the penalty spot to Mohamed Salah just before half time, which resulted in Reece James being sent off.

Villa have had a mixed start to the season in life post-Jack Grealish, as they lost 3-2 away at Watford on the opening day, before beating Newcastle 2-0 and drawing 1-1 at home to Brentford. If they are to stand a chance of getting anything at Stamford Bridge then they will be looking towards summer signing Danny Ings, who has managed two goals and one assist in three matches.

Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku has a good record against the Villains having scored six and assisted one in eight matches for the Blues and will be desperate to score on his home debut having re-signed for Chelsea this summer from Inter Milan.

Southampton and West Ham United go head-to-head at 3 pm on Saturday in what could be a close contest at St Mary’s.

The Saints showed against United and Newcastle that they have the spirit to battle against the drop this season and a player that has impressed from their start to the season is Newcastle born forward Adam Armstrong. The 24-year-old has managed a goal and an assist in three matches for Ralph Hassenhuttl’s side and could well be a player to watch throughout this season having scored an incredible 28 goals in 40 league matches for Blackburn Rovers last season.

West Ham United’s quick start which has seen them beat the likes of Newcastle 4-2, Leicester City 4-1 and draw with Palace 2-2 has seen them earn many plaudits, but no player has impressed more in the Premier League than Michail Antonio so far, as the former Nottingham Forest man has scored four goals and created three assists in the Hammers first three matches of the league season.

The final game on this list takes place at Elland Road where Leeds United and Liverpool will face off on Sunday.

This fixture is expected to be full of goals, especially considering that these two sides opened the Premier League season in the 2020/21 campaign with a seven-goal thriller that Liverpool edged 4-3 at Anfield.

Leeds’ first three league fixtures have seen both teams score in their humiliating 5-1 defeat to United, as well as in their 2-2 and 1-1 draws against Everton. Liverpool on the other hand beat the likes of Norwich City and Burnley 2-0 and 3-0 before their 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Anfield and will be looking towards the likes of Salah to guide them through this tricky test, as the Egyptian forward has two goals and two assists in his first three league outings.