After another great week of international football, we’re back to domestic matters and the Premier League has some brilliant fixtures to whet the appetite.
Leicester City and Chelsea open the weekend, before Liverpool host in-form Arsenal on Saturday evening. Then a super Sunday sees Manchester City take on Everton and Leeds travel to North London to face Antonio Conte’s Spurs. But the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium isn’t the only venue where a new boss will head to the home dugout. Strugglers Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Norwich will all have a new face at the helm.
Steven Gerrard, Eddie Howe and Dean Smith will all start at their new clubs with a home game and all three have winnable fixtures, but with the critical eyes of English football on them, they will also begin with a big weight on their shoulders.
Aston Villa vs Brighton
Villa Park will be packed to the rafters to welcome their new boss after Gerrard walked in to replace the departed Dean Smith who lost the last five games in his tenure. Having spent over £200m on players Smith was expected to lift Villa to new heights, but in their first season back in the top division, they were only saved from relegation by a bizarre failure of goal-line technology in a crucial match against Sheffield United. And without their talisman, Jack Grealish Villa have begun to look like relegation fodder.
Graham Potter’s Brighton have made their customary strong start but, while they are still hard to beat, wins have turned into draws in recent weeks. The Seagulls picked up impressive points away to Liverpool and at home to Arsenal, but failing to beat either Norwich City or Newcastle United is less so. The only team to beat Brighton during this run was Manchester City and so they will fancy their chances in Birmingham.
Gerrard’s new team is a marginal favourite at odds of 2.44 to win this game, but I think a draw at 3.01 is the more likely outcome.
Newcastle United vs Brentford
When the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund took over Newcastle United, Steve Bruce’s days were numbered and the Geordie fans started to dream of the arrival of a stratospheric name to lead them on to glory; maybe a return for Champions League winner Rafa Benitez, former Roma boss Paulo Fonseca or even Steven Gerard? Villarreal’s boss Unai Emery was courted but he decided to stay with the Yellow Submarine and so Newcastle appointed former Bournemouth head coach Eddie Howe before things got too embarrassing. Howe kept the Cherries in the Premier League for five seasons but he struggled in his only other foray up North, at Burnley.
The Geordies are third favourites to get relegated at SBOTOP odds of 2.25, along with Norwich City and Watford and the owners will hope Howe’s know-how in the lower reaches of the Premier League will save them.
Newcastle’s Premier League 2021 results so far have been abject, with five draws and six defeats they are the only club in the league yet to win a game. But they have a good chance at home to Brentford, who made a great start to life among the elite but have lost their last four league games, most recently to Norwich City. Their manager Thomas Frank should be safe from the madness afflicting boards elsewhere and if his bosses keep faith with him the Bees will be cheered on by neutrals for the remainder of the campaign.
This game is on a knife-edge, Newcastle are at 2.60 to earn a vital three points while the Bees are at 2.61.
Norwich vs Southampton
In the immediate aftermath of Norwich’s first league win, over Brentford, the Canaries board bulleted Daniel Farke, the man who had led them to the Premier League twice. A home defeat to Leeds in Norwich’s previous game at Carrow Road would seem a more logical event to prompt the directors to load their pistols… but hey ho!
And more than a few eyebrows were raised when they appointed Dean Smith so soon after he had plunged Villa into an early-season relegation fight. He’s signed a two and a half year deal with Norwich, having agreed terms on Saturday. Smith was sacked by Villa a day after Norwich bid farewell to Farke, which was a neat turn of events.
The latest Premier League 2021 betting odds don’t give the Canaries a prayer, at odds of 1.13 to return to the Championship, but if they are to make a proper challenge then a home game against Southampton is a good measure for starters.
Norwich are at 3.64 to win this game, while the Saints are available at 2.01 and a 0-0 draw is at a price of 9.40. I suspect Smith would take that.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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