Football News: Premier League Previews 18 August 2018
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Cardiff City v Newcastle United
Cardiff's first home game on their Premier League return is against Newcastle, a side against which they have a dire recent record. They have lost each of the last 10 league meetings between these two teams in succession, including both Premier League clashes in 2013-14, and haven't beaten them in a league match since 1981.
That 10-match streak represents Newcastle's longest winning run against a single opponent in their league history.
In addition to this, Rafael Benitez has never lost against Neil Warnock as a manager in five previous encounters, winning each of the last four in a row. Seemingly, this is an uphill task for Cardiff.
However, Cardiff picked up 52 of their 90 Championship points last season at home, and five of their seven Premier League wins in 2013-14 came at home. They had the best home defensive record in the Championship 2017-18, conceding only 16 goals in 23 games at the Cardiff City Stadium. That defensive resilience will be key for them in the top-flight.
Since he left Liverpool, Benitez has a woeful record when visiting newly promoted sides in the Premier League, losing five and drawing one of his six away games against such opposition in the competition. Cardiff will not be a side that lie down and let him overturn that poor record easily, and are in need of a result after their loss to Bournemouth on the opening day.
Key players:
Bobby Reid - Reid will be pivotal to Cardiff's hopes of getting goals at the top level of English football, and after a disappointing opening day defeat, they will look to him to produce the goods on home soil. He netted 19 goals in last season's Championship for Bristol City - only Matej Vydra and Lewis Grabban scored more - and he needs to recreate that kind of goal scoring form if Cardiff are to pick up some points.
Matt Ritchie - The former Bournemouth player has been directly involved in three goals in his last two league appearances against the Bluebirds (one goal, two assists), and after setting up Newcastle's goal against Tottenham on the opening day, he'll be high on confidence going into this match.
Everton v Southampton
Southampton do not like visiting Goodison Park. One win there in 19 Premier League visits - and that came in 1997 under manager Dave Jones - is not pretty reading from their perspective. They have scored just 11 times there in the competition (0.58 goals per game); that's their worst away goal scoring record against all current Premier League teams who they have visited at least five times in the competition.
Everton's home form was good at the end of last season, losing just once in their last eight league matches at Goodison Park, and that was to the dominant Manchester City. They play this match off the back of a respectable 2-2 draw against Wolves - an away point when you're down to 10 men is never a dreadful result, even if they did twice surrender a lead.
Mark Hughes' recent record against the Toffees doesn't make for optimistic viewing from a Saints perspective; winless in five in the Premier League, including a 1-1 draw with Southampton in May. Meanwhile, Marco Silva has never lost to Everton in the competition, winning once and drawing twice in three encounters.
Key players:
Gylfi Sigurdsson - The Icelandic midfielder hasn't hit his Swansea heights yet for the Toffees, but his record against Southampton in the Premier League is a good one. Only against Chelsea has he scored as many Premier League goals as he has against the Saints (4), and he has two goals and an assist in his last two league appearances against them.
Charlie Austin - The striker has scored three and assisted one in his four Premier League games against Everton, with all three goals coming for Southampton. That's more than he has scored against any other side in the top-flight for the Saints, and his goals will be pivotal for them if he remains fit.
Leicester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Leicester's opening game defeat at Old Trafford means that they have now won just one of their last eight Premier League games, losing six of them. They face a Wolves side who have won just one of their last 11 visits to Leicester in all competitions, most recently losing 2-1 in January 2013. So both teams have unwanted runs of form they would like to improve upon.
With both sides failing to win their opening game, this match becomes more important. But the Foxes have a good top flight record against newly promoted opposition, losing just one of their last 15 home Premier League games against promoted teams, albeit that one loss was in their last such match against Newcastle in April.
That was also manager Claude Puel's only home Premier League loss to a promoted team, winning three and drawing one of his other four such games, so he generally does well against such opponents.
Last week, Wolves failed to make their man advantage pay against Everton in a 2-2 draw, and they will perhaps find it even tougher to do so away from home.
Key players:
Jamie Vardy - The striker has scored four goals in his last three Premier League games, including a late consolation against Manchester United in the season's curtain raiser. He should return to the starting XI for this match, and that could be a major catalyst for Leicester, as he is now their main attacking talisman with Riyad Mahrez having departed for Man City.
Ruben Neves - I could end up picking the Portuguese midfielder as Wolves' key player every single week, that is how influential he is on the side. Not only did he score yet another goal from outside the box against Everton (his seventh for Wolves since August 2017), but he also had 108 touches - that's at least 21 more than any other player in that game managed. All of Wolves' play comes through him, and no wonder with his quality.
Tottenham Hotspur v Fulham
So this won't be Tottenham's last Premier League game at Wembley after all. Delays to the opening of their new stadium means they'll have to remain at Wembley a little longer. Their opponents, Fulham, will be visiting Wembley for the third time in their history, and the first since their Championship play-off triumph against Aston Villa which secured their promotion.
Spurs have an impeccable record at home to newly promoted sides in the Premier League; 18 consecutive wins in fact, conceding only seven goals in that time.
That is the task that is facing Fulham, and after they suffered an underwhelming opening day defeat to Crystal Palace at Craven Cottage, things won't get any easier for them as they search for their first points of this season.
This will, though, be Fulham's 1,000th match in English top-flight football. Quite the landmark milestone, and they'll be aiming to make it a successful one even if the odds are against them.
Spurs will be looking to win both of their opening two Premier League games for the first time since 2014 as they look to have a quicker start this term than they have in recent seasons under Mauricio Pochettino.
Key players:
Harry Kane - The English forward, yet to score in August in the premier league, has scored four times in just two matches against Fulham, including a hat-trick in their last clash in the FA Cup in 2017. His goals are exactly the reason why Spurs do so well against promoted sides, and they will need that again here.
Aleksandar Mitrovic - Fulham's big money striker has been directly involved in four goals in just two league games against Spurs (two goals, two assists), both for Newcastle. In fact, the Serbian only played a combined 85 minutes in those two games, meaning he as averaging a goal involvement every 21 minutes against Pochettino's side. Since his league debut for Fulham in February, only Mohamed Salah has netted more goals in English league football (excluding play-offs) than Mitrovic's tally of 12, and he'll need to be on song at Wembley for Fulham to stand any chance.
West Ham United v Bournemouth
In just six Premier League matches between these two teams, there have been 25 goals (4.2 per game), 13 for West Ham, 12 for Bournemouth. Only once has either of these sides failed to score against the other in a Premier League match (a 1-0 West Ham win in August 2016), so goals seem a certainty here.
In fact, Bournemouth's 12 Premier League goals against West Ham is more than they have against any other side in the competition. And they come into this game high on confidence after an opening day win over Cardiff.
However, they have won only one of their last six away league games, and they play a West Ham side who have only lost one of their last five at home, which was against Manchester City. Hammers manager Manuel Pellegrini has met the Cherries twice previously in the Premier League whilst as Man City boss - they won those games 5-1 and 4-0 in the 2015-16 season. He knows how to get his sides scoring goals, and Bournemouth are prone to leaking them themselves, only keeping two clean sheets in their last 14 Premier League games.
You get the feeling that if Eddie Howe's side are to get anything from this match, they will need to score more than once.
Key players:
Felipe Anderson - After being largely considered West Ham's most promising player from their opening day defeat at Anfield, Anderson will be looking to kick on in his first home game with his new side. Incredibly, only Neymar and Eden Hazard made more successful dribbles per 90 minutes played in the top 5 European Leagues last season (min. 1,000 mins) than Anderson, and his flair could be a real asset for Pellegrini's side.
Callum Wilson - The forward has scored four goals in four league games against West Ham, including a hat-trick in a 4-3 win in August 2015. Those four goals are more than he has scored against any other side in the Premier League, and Bournemouth will need his eye for goal to get anything here.
Chelsea v Arsenal
After hosting the defending champions last week, it doesn't get easier for Arsenal as they visit the 2016-17 winners in their second match under Unai Emery.
Arsenal's league record against Chelsea has been nothing short of woeful in recent years. Just one win in the last 13 Premier League meetings, 3-0 in September 2016, and at Stamford Bridge they haven't even scored in four of their last five league visits. The aggregate score over those five games is 13-1 to Chelsea.
However, in all competitions, Chelsea are winless in their last six games against Arsenal - including all five meetings last season. Those six games include Arsenal's 2017 FA Cup final victory, a Community Shield triumph for Arsenal after a penalty shootout, and a 2-1 aggregate win in last season's League Cup semi-final for the Gunners.
Should Arsenal lose this match, however, it will be only the second time they have lost both of their opening games in the Premier League era, and the first since the 1992-93 season when George Graham was in charge. And they face a Chelsea team who will be relatively confident after a resounding win over Huddersfield to kick start their season under new coach Maurizio Sarri.
Key players:
Olivier Giroud - Although he seems to be second choice centre forward behind Alvaro Morata under Sarri, Giroud has always been a super sub in the Premier League. Indeed, since his debut in the competition, he has bagged 19 times after coming on from the bench - that's at least nine more than any other player in that time. He'll be looking to become only the second player to score in this Premier League fixture for both Chelsea and Arsenal after Cesc Fabregas.
Alexandre Lacazette - The Frenchman has scored seven goals in his last eight starts for Arsenal in all competitions. He was left out of the starting XI in their season opener against Man City, but he is such a goal threat that Emery would be a bold man to leave him out of another clash against a side who finished above Arsenal last season.
Written by Reid the Red August 18 2018 08:46:18
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