BETMGM GOLDEN GOALS MD5: ARSENAL TO LAY DOWN TITLE MARKER
A blockbuster Sunday clash at the Emirates headlines Golden Goals Matchday 5 as Arsenal take on Manchester City, with both needing to keep up the early pressure on leaders Liverpool.
Elsewhere, struggling Manchester United are in desperate need of a win to improve on their worst start to a Premier League season since 1992/93.
They face Chelsea at Old Trafford while Tottenham travel to Brighton and Ange Postecoglou takes his Nottingham Forest side to Burnley.
Goalless Aston Villa have a tricky trip to Sunderland while unbeaten Crystal Palace are at West Ham.
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Here’s how we see it playing out…
Brighton 2-2 Tottenham
The Amex has become a notoriously difficult place for visiting teams, with Brighton losing just one of their last nine home league games.
That fortress-like form will be put to the ultimate test against a Tottenham side boasting a perfect, if fledgling, away record this season having won both their matches on the road to-nil.
This fixture rarely disappoints on the entertainment front either. The last five encounters have produced a staggering 22 goals, averaging 4.4 per game, while Brighton have had the recent upper hand with two home wins in a row against Spurs.
Both sides share some curiously symmetrical form this season: each has impressively beaten Manchester City but also fallen foul of Bournemouth.
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New Spurs boss Thomas Frank also has a poor record against Brighton, having beaten them just twice in eight attempts, and while the north Londoners travel to the south coast following a midweek Champions League clash with Villarreal the Seagulls will have had a full week to prepare.
That extra rest could be crucial. Given the goal-friendly history and both teams' capacity to surprise, a high-scoring affair looks likely.
Back a thrilling stalemate with our 15/2 Bet Builder featuring over 3.5 goals and the match to end in a draw.
Burnley 1-1 Nottingham Forest
After a brilliant 2024/25 campaign, changing the manager three games into this season didn’t seem like the most obvious thing to do for Nottingham Forest.
Trouble behind the scenes, though, has seen Ange Postecoglou arrive in the dugout and he searches for his first league win in charge at Turf Moor.
The Clarets didn’t lose at home during their promotion campaign last term and have already beaten Sunderland here before a last-gasp penalty defeat to Liverpool. This isn’t the easy visit it was during the 2023/24 season.
Scott Parker’s side look well drilled and, though they have only three points so far, they have faced Tottenham, Manchester United and champions Liverpool in their first four games so they look much better placed for a shot at survival last time.
In fact, it is only last-minute spot kicks that have prevented them from taking a share of the spoils in their last two games.
A draw here is a solid shout. Burnley will see these games as a must to pick up some points, while Forest can’t afford another defeat after two consecutive reverses.
Former Burnley man Chris Wood has two goals already this season for the Tricky Trees and we like the look of the 8/1 for him to notch in a draw here.
Nothing to split them.
West Ham 0-2 Crystal Palace
The London Stadium has become a house of horrors for West Ham… and the haunting looks set to continue when Crystal Palace soar into town.
The Irons’ home form is frankly abysmal; a solitary win in 11 on their own patch this calendar year tells its own sorry tale.
That victory also represents their only clean sheet in that time and, with two home games this season yielding two losses and eight goals conceded, the foundations under Graham Potter are looking increasingly unstable.
To make matters worse the Eagles have become perennial party-poopers in east London, with West Ham winless against them at home since 2018.
In stark contrast Oliver Glasner’s Palace are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League games, a formidable run stretching back to last April.
They arrive with swagger, then, but also with a striker who relishes this fixture.
Jean-Philippe Mateta boasts four goals in three career starts against the Hammers, including a clinical double in a 2-0 win here back in January.
Glasner suggested he needs a rest but, assuming that does not come so soon in the season, a repeat performance feels entirely plausible.
Our 18/5 Bet Builder combining a Palace win with a Mateta anytime goal and the big Frenchman to have at least two shots on target looks a savvy play.
Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea
Positive pre-season, they said. It would be different, they said.
As a result of the humiliating 3-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, the pressure has been ratcheted right up again on Ruben Amorim.
It feels like it’s the same old story for United: get into good positions, show nice bits of play then, when it matters, make a bad decision or produce a poor finish.
Lose at home to Chelsea and you sense it could begin to get very toxic very quickly for Amorim.
The Blues aren’t in stellar form, either. True, they are yet to lose a game this campaign but they have dropped four points to Crystal Palace and Brentford – not the kind of teams title-challengers should be failing to beat.
These two sides have taken more shots than any other in the division with United registering 68 and Chelsea next up with 59.
However, the former is managing 0.01 goals per shot while the Blues are up at 0.14 per shot – only Tottenham, Manchester City and Arsenal have a better hit rate than that.
With that in mind, over 8.5 shots on target in the game and for it to end in a draw at odds of 4/1 looks a decent play despite the hosts’ issues.
Sunderland 2-1 Aston Villa
Aston Villa have problems.
Four games, no goals and just two points is not what was anticipated at Villa Park – they are just two blanks away from equalling Crystal Palace’s record of six consecutive games at the start of the season without scoring.
They visit Sunderland on Sunday and won’t be relishing their trip to the Stadium of Light to face a side that has started the season so well.
The Black Cats have just one defeat so far and have won both of their home games since returning to the top flight.
Villa can, however, take some comfort from the head-to-head record. Unai Emery’s men may have had their struggles this year but this is a fixture where they have had a lot of recent success as a club.
Sunderland have won this fixture just once since 2011 – 12 meetings but things are different in the Premier League these days.
Both of their home matches have seen them win with over 2.5 goals in the game and they can make it a hat-trick here.
Wilson Isidor has scored in both of those wins and it is a tasty 23/2 for him to do so in a Sunderland win and over 2.5 goals in the game.
Arsenal 3-1 Manchester City
The Gunners have been in free-scoring form at home, with eight of their nine goals this season coming at the Emirates.
Before Saturday’s result, Arsenal were having teething problems in the creativity department, with the second-lowest xG from open play.
Thanks to the number of chances they created against Nottingham Forest, they are no longer near the bottom of the pile.
They also have a good recent record against the Citizens, having not lost to them in any of the previous four encounters.
Last season’s 5-1 mauling of Manchester City remains a high point of the campaign for many fans.
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For City, the 3-0 win over Manchester United was full of positives, not least the performance of two-goal hero Erling Haaland who has just the seven goals in his past two games of professional football following his five against Moldova last week for Norway.
However, there were times when they were opened up too easily. And they won’t find it as easy to score goals against Arsenal as they did against Manchester United.
The Gunners should score some goals here. Arsenal to win and score over 2.5 goals in the game looks attractive enough at odds of 11/4.
A defeat would make it three from four for the visitors, which feels unlikely. But we can’t see past a home win.
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