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Golden Goals MD7: Villa to hand ten Hag a hammer blow

It’s the final round of Premier League fixtures before another international break and plenty of compelling matches are scheduled for Matchday 7.

Arsenal squandered a 2-0 home lead against Leicester last Saturday before a Wilfred Ndidi own goal and a 99th-minute Kai Havertz strike secured three points for the Gunners, putting them within one point of the Premier League summit ahead of hosting Southampton this week.

Elsewhere, Manchester United visit a Villa Park still bouncing from a midweek Champions League win over Bayern Munich. Will the outcome of the match in the Midlands impact who is in the Old Trafford dugout in two weeks?

This week’s Golden Goals brings an exciting change to our prize offering – while predicting all six scores correctly will still win you a share of the £1 million jackpot, two correct scores and more will net players prizes ranging from Free Bets to a share of cash.

Click here for the full Golden Goals information, including prize breakdown and terms.

Let’s take a closer look at Golden Goals Matchday 7…

Arsenal vs Southampton

Despite dicing with disaster last weekend against Leicester, Arsenal are flexing their muscles as true title challengers this season.

They have navigated a troublesome opening sextet of fixtures with wins over Tottenham, Aston Villa and Wolves while their two blemishes are draws with Manchester City and Brighton when they were reduced to 10 men.

Mikel Arteta’s side also impressed during the Champions League in midweek with a 2-0 victory over French champions PSG courtesy of Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka. The German striker continued his impressive goalscoring streak at the Emirates with five goals in his last five games on home soil so 27/25 Havertz anytime goalscorer against Southampton is surely an intriguing price.

Southampton have endured an abject return to the Premier League. To make matters worse Opta data suggested the Saints had the fourth-easiest opening five games of the season yet they have picked up one point – against fellow promoted outfit Ipswich Town.

The Saints’ winless start to the campaign continues Ben Brereton Diaz’s woeful top-flight record. He has now played 20 Premier League games without enjoying a victory – the most of any player.

One bright spark for Russell Martin’s side has been 18-year-old Tyler Dibling. He scored his first goal of the season against the Tractor Boys a fortnight ago but, overall, Southampton are just too wasteful to harness results in the Premier League at the moment.

Indeed, they have the lowest shot conversion rate in the league (4.4%) and they are underperforming their xG by almost five. That is not a recipe for success against one of the league’s most stubborn defences.

This one will be another comfortable home win for the Gunners.

Prediction: Arsenal 5-0 Southampton

Manchester City vs Fulham

Manchester City, after two consecutive league draws against Arsenal and Newcastle, have to get back to winning ways when they take on Fulham.

Looking at the head-to-head records, they could not have chosen a better game. City have won the last 16 meetings in all competitions against the Cottagers stretching back to April 2009, the first team in English league history to win that number of consecutive games against the same club.

Marco Silva’s side have made an impressive start to this campaign and sit sixth having suffered gone unbeaten since an opening day defeat.

heir tight defensive unit leaves Liverpool as the only team to concede fewer than their five goals so far, though that dependable backline will be tested to the full at the Eithad.

Speaking of, Erling Haaland has 10 goals already. The Norwegian also averages more than three shots on target per game and, perhaps a portent of doom for Fulham, has five goals in four appearances against the west London side.

Fulham will have eyes on causing City problems of their own though. Raul Jimenez is second to Haaland in shots on target this term with the Mexican scoring three goals in just 263 Premier League minutes, including the winner away to Nottingham Forest last weekend. Both Haaland and Jimenez to score in this match is over even money at 13/10.

Fulham can pose a threat to the champions here - and they will be in the game – but City will not go three games without a win.

Prediction: Manchester City 3-1 Fulham

Brentford vs Wolves

Saturday’s action continues as Brentford take on Wolves at the Gtech Community Stadium in what could be an excellent contest between two teams with plenty still to prove at this early stage of the season.

Some teams are known for scoring late, others for scoring early… and Brentford are most definitely the latter. They have scored in the first minute in all three of their previous league fixtures – netting nigh on instantly against top opposition in Manchester City, Tottenham and West Ham.

Two of those goals were scored by Bryan Mbeumo, who has been Brentford’s most prolific player following the departure of Ivan Toney in the summer. His 37-second goal last week was his 48th Premier League goal involvement (27 goals, 21 assists) the most of any outfield player in the squad. Mbeumo is 6/1 to score first against Wolves to make it three goals in three games.

No team in Premier League history has ever scored four first-minute goals in a single campaign. If Brentford were going to break the record they arguably couldn’t have picked a better team: Wolves have conceded in every game so far this season despite enjoying impressive spells against the likes of Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool.

Early goal streaks aside, Thomas Frank’s side are generally in much better form, losing only once out of their last nine home games.

Wolves, on the other hand, are winless in their last nine on the road and look the most likely to feel the sting in this one.

Prediction: Brentford 2-1 Wolves

Everton vs Newcastle

The Toffees, it seems, have lift-off.

After an excruciating start to the campaign, a win at home against Crystal Palace at the weekend has bought Sean Dyche and his embattled group of players some much-needed time.

Everton were behind at half-time but a second-half double from the inspired Dwight McNeil, who is in blistering form at the moment, handed them a priceless three points.

Indeed, with four goals McNeil has already scored more after a handful of matches this term than he did the entirety of last season (three). No player has created more chances in the Premier League in this campaign than the ex-Manchester United graduate. Even if you boil it down to ‘big chance’ creation, he is third behind only Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer.

This weekend, BetMGM is offering odds of 4/1 on McNeil to score anytime. That could represent some value.

Newcastle, meanwhile, have been a confusing puzzle. The results have been excellent but without the Magpies having played to their full potential. If they do improve further it could be a very exciting season on Tyneside.

A 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Golden Goals Matchday 6 was the best performance of the season from Eddie Howe’s charges as Anthony Gordon won and scored a penalty to secure a priceless point against Pep Guardiola’s defending champions.

Since the beginning of last season, the livewire Liverpudlian has won seven penalties for his club – four more than any other player in the country – and it’s currently 11/2 for Newcastle to score a penalty against his former club Everton on Matchday 7.

Prediction: Everton 1-1 Newcastle

Aston Villa vs Manchester United

Where to start with Manchester United? Last week’s shambolic display against Tottenham leaves Erik ten Hag’s side in 13th place, with only Southampton scoring fewer than United’s five goals so far.

A goal down inside three minutes and a man down before half-time, United were never in the game and can count themselves lucky Spurs did not run riot in the second half.

The defeat was compounded by the fact that it came against a Spurs side who themselves hadn’t made the most consistent start to the season. That isn’t the case for Aston Villa, their opponents on Matchday 7.

In the Villans, United come up against a side in fifth place and who have lost just once this season. They also possess a strong home record that saw them lose just three games at Villa Park last season and has already witnessed a historic 1-0 win over six-time European champions Bayern Munich just days ago.

The two sides have similar xG statistics (Villa’s 8.7 vs United’s 9.5) but the stark contrast in goals scored (12 for Villa vs 5 for United) shows where the issues lie – United cannot convert their chances.

In Ollie Watkins Villa have a reliable, proven Premier League striker with four goals to his name already; not one player has scored two or more for the Red Devils. Notably, Watkins has yet to score in the league against United but he surely fancies his chances of doing so here and is 11/1 to score a brace in a Villa victory.

It’s a fixture in which Villa have won just four times in the Premier League but, while history might not be on their side, form and momentum is and anything but a comprehensive home win would be a surprise.

Prediction: Aston Villa 3-1 Manchester United

Brighton vs Tottenham

Tottenham have finally found their groove this season.

After one win in the opening four matches Spurs have rattled off four consecutive victories across all competitions, culminating in last weekend’s emphatic 3-0 win at Old Trafford.

It was even more encouraging for Spurs fans to see Dominic Solanke on the scoresheet again. The former Bournemouth forward has now scored in two consecutive league matches. Will he make it three in a row this weekend at 29/20 to score anytime?

Tottenham’s frontmen could find joy against a Brighton side still reeling after a record-breaking first-half performance from Cole Palmer last weekend. The Chelsea attacker scored four goals inside the opening 45 minutes, propelling the Blues to a 4-2 victory and condemning Fabian Hurzeler to his first defeat at the helm.

Brighton return to the Amex this weekend but they haven’t made much of home advantage since their opener against Manchester United in mid-August. They followed up that impressive result with lacklustre home draws with Ipswich and Nottingham Forest.

Those were Brighton’s seventh and eighth draw on home soil since the start of last season – the most by any Premier League club in that time. A point here would be a positive result after last week and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they secured one here.

However, the away side are in scintillating form and have won three of the last four meetings between the sides. Spurs will win an entertaining affair.

Prediction: Brighton 1-2 Tottenham

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Odds correct at time of publication but subject to change. Please note: This week's Golden Goals deadline is Saturday 5th October 15:00. Opt-in is required and you can find out more here.

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Opt in & predict 6 correct scores (see game lobby for weekly tournament cut-off time) to win up to £1m Jackpot. Predict 2+ correct scores and win a prize (ranging from Free Bets to £5k Prizepool). Winnings shared evenly in case of multiple winners. Each prize subject to its own terms. Void if 1 or more matches postponed/abandoned or not completed. Verification procedures apply. 18+. T&Cs and exclusions apply.

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