English Premier League
Matchday 8
With the English Premier League set to kick-off earlier than scheduled featuring West Ham’s visit to Brighton in the latest edition of Friday Night Football, while the weekend is headlined by Liverpool’s monstrous clash with league leaders Manchester City on Sunday. We’ll be looking at the rest of the fixtures making their rounds in Gameweek 8 ahead of the second international break of the new campaign.
Watford vs Bournemouth – Vicarage Road
Two teams seriously surpassing early expectations so far this season, Watford and Bournemouth, will go head-to-head in London on Saturday afternoon where a win for either side could propel them back into to top 4, albeit temporarily, with four of the current top five only in action on Sunday. The Hornets head into this fixture though without a win in four matches, since beating Spurs at the start of September. Their most recent encounter ended in a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Arsenal.
Bournemouth on the other hand bounced back from a 4-0 drubbing against Burnley by beating Blackburn Rovers in the League Cup last week before a hard-fought 2-1 win over Crystal Palace in the league – a fourth win in seven for Eddie Howes men.
In six Premier League meetings between the pair since the start of the 2015/16 season, there have been five draws. The corresponding fixture in March ended 2-2 with the visitors twice coming from a goal down, levelling the match in the 90
th minute through Jermain Defoe. Watford’s last home defeat to Bournemouth came way back in March 1997 – a run of eight games.
Manchester United vs Newcastle United – Old Trafford
Jose Mourinho surely needs to orchestrate nothing less than a Manchester United victory over Newcastle on Saturday if he is to attempt to squash any speculation surrounding his immediate future. The Red Devils are without a win in their last four matches in all competitions following their disappointing 0-0 draw with Valencia in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. Their last success at Old Trafford came back on the opening day when they overturned Leicester City 2-1.
Newcastle are still searching for their first success of the 2018/19 season. Languishing down in 18
th place after picking up just two points from their opening seven matches, the fixture list does not get any kinder for the Toon with tough home tests against Watford and Bournemouth to follow in November.
The Magpies have won just one of their previous seven matches with Manchester United since an historic 1-0 shutout at Old Trafford in December 2013, beating them at St James Park in February courtesy of a second-half Matt Ritchie strike. The Red Devils came away 4-1 victors in this fixture last year as Anthony Martial, Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku were among the scorers, after Dwight Gayle had given the visitors a shock lead.
Fulham vs Arsenal – Craven Cottage
The Cottagers are making the most of their top-flight return under Solvisa Jokanovic and despite mustering just one win in their opening seven matches, a 4-2 win over Burnley on matchday 3, Fulham will be optimistic ahead of their sixth London derby already in all competitions this season. They beat Millwall 3-1 to progress to the fourth round of the League Cup but were then overturned 3-0 at home by Everton this past weekend.
Arsenal are flying higher than ever under Unai Emery, having notched up their eighth successive victory since the Spaniard took charge. A comfortable 3-0 victory over Qarabag in the Europa League ensured that the Gunners cemented top-spot in Group E, courtesy of first goals for the club from the trio of Sokratis Papastathopolous, Emile Rowe and Metteo Guendouzi.
Sunday’s affair will see Arsenal’s superb record against Fulham be put on the line. Fulham have won just three times in their last 30 attempts in the league against Arsenal since England won the World Cup on home soil in 1966! The last meeting at Craven Cottage ended 3-1 to visitors with Lukas Podolski bagging a second-half brace.
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