Dan’s EPL Predictions Week 4 – Can Arsenal get their tactics fixed ahead of Man United visit?

Luton 1-1 West Ham
Has the Prem ever had a ground more unsuitable to host football then Kenilworth Road? It was barely appropriate for the Championship.

The talk is you can see people’s gardens from the stands.
It’s a romantic evening and I can understand why Sky have chosen this to be part of their coverage.

The romantic in me wants to go for a home win (and I do think they will earn a few scalps) but the Hammers extra quality will come through.

Sheffield United 1-0 Everton
Some say ‘it’s only’ the League Cup but that was massive for Sean Dyche on Wednesday.

After three straight defeats in the Prem, he couldn’t afford to lose to a side from the 4th tier which was the case with 20 mins to go at Doncaster.

I said I was worried whoever lost the encounter at Goodison last Saturday and rightly or wrongly, Dyche is under massive pressure if he doesn’t get a result on Saturday.

There’s not too many occasions where Sheffield United can smell blood and view a match as a winnable fixture. This is one of them.

Brentford 0-1 Cherries
I hope Bill Foley is smart enough to, having made quite a left field appointment, now give Iraola time to implement his ideas.
It would be foolish to judge him and panic when two of your first three games are against sides in the top 8 last season.
Their next 4 are against 3 who were in the top half last campaign and Chelsea.
So, the whole club might need to be patient. They just need that one win to settle.

Burnley 2-1 Spurs
For all of Spurs fans talk of being better without Harry Kane (yes that’s a thing) they have just been knocked out of their best chance of winning a trophy.
The only cup they have lifted in nearly three decades!
It would be very Spursy for them to be bullied and caught cold at Turf Moore.

Chelsea 2-1 Nottingham Forest
Sterling is finally showing glimpses of his Man City form at the Bridge.
It’s about time one of Chelsea’s senior players stood up and took some initiative.
Sterling to decide a close game?

Man City 3-1 Fulham
Kind of ominous that the only team in the division still with a 100 percent record are the Champions, without playing great.
When Sheffield United equalised last Sunday, City simply went down the other end and scored.
I have been saying it since February. Not just can City handle the pressure of playing every few days, they seem to do it with a smile on their face.
That’s something that so many (including some Gooners) take for granted.

Brighton 1-0 Newcastle
What we saw last weekend is possibly these two teams are a victim of their own success?
Brighton have reached a level where they are now expected to win the majority of their home games.
Meanwhile on Tyneside, there’s such a thing as how you lose a game.
You can’t lose when you have a 1 goal and man advantage.
It was like they didn’t know how to approach the game from that point and a lack of leadership was apparent.

Palace 1-0 Wolves
I write this on the final day of the window and if Wolves don’t get creative (they don’t have many funds) I think they are in trouble.
Will they have time to reinvest the Nunes money?
Their owners deserve relegation for how many issues they have left to the last moment.
In a tight match between two teams who don’t score many, Palace certainly have more individual talent who can win you a match with some stardust.

Liverpool 2-2 Villa
It’s never easy to win at Newcastle, so to do it with 10 men is impressive and Klopp can use that afternoon to create a siege mentality (which he loves to do).
Yet long term, he hasn’t addressed Trent Arnold’s defensive issues while VVD made a tackle that he wouldn’t have made a couple of years ago.
As I write this, they were willing to pay over 100 million for Caicedo, 50 for Lavia but have ended up with ……Gravenberch.
Villa are my dark horses for the season.
They had the self-belief to get a result at Anfield last campaign so why not again?

Arsenal 3-1 Man United
So, Sunday’s team news might be the most crucial of Arteta’s managerial career?
It seems no matter a Gooners opinion on our manager, there’s an agreement he’s over complicating his tactics.
The painful aspect is he’s creating issues that don’t need to exist.
Arsenal fell apart in the title race because of a weak mentality.
There was nothing wrong with the Gabriel/Saliba partnership.
Ben White was doing great at right back.
Partey doesn’t need to be learning a new position.
We didn’t need to spend so much on Havertz or loan Raya, and Xhaka and Tierney were two of the few leaders the squad had.
I understand the best bosses are the ones who stick by their convictions and don’t change their ethos based on peer pressure.
A sign of great leadership though is also having the ability to notice when something isn’t working and putting your ego to one side and accept you got something wrong.
Ten Hagg has had to do the same after leaving Casemiro isolated in midfield.
I actually think the Gunners need a fixture like this, something for the Emirates to get their teeth into where the game needs zero motivation.

Dan

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