The English Premier League returns this weekend for the start of a unique season.
With an unprecedented pause for the Fifa World Cup looming towards the end of the calendar year, the race is on to see which clubs can roar out of the blocks to lay down their marker for the second half of the campaign.
Reigning EPL champions Manchester City are last to go in the opening round on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola’s dominant force are in action at the London Stadium when they take on David Moyes’ West Ham, who are seeking another impressive season of their own.
Yet another new era kicks off for City’s neighbours Manchester United a little earlier in the afternoon.
Erik ten Hag leads the Red Devils for the first time in anger, with or without Cristiano Ronaldo, as United face the awkward challenge of Brighton at Old Trafford.
The curtain comes up on the new Premier League season on Friday night with a London derby, meanwhile, with Patrick Vieira’s upwardly mobile Crystal Palace laying down the Selhurst Park challenge to their boss’s former employers, Arsenal.
Liverpool begin their attempt to go one better than last season’s runners-up finish in the Saturday lunchtime fixture at Fulham.
The Reds have rebuilt despite the loss of Sadio Mane, primed for a charge at overturning the agonizing, one-point deficit to City at the EPL summit under Jurgen Klopp, with the west London yo-yo club first in their sights.
Chelsea ended the last campaign a country mile behind the pair in third and face club legend Frank Lampard first time out on Saturday evening.
The Blues head to the north west to test the Merseyside waters and see if the Toffees’ rejuvenation can continue under Lampard following their dramatic EPL survival at Goodison Park a couple of months ago.
An intriguing opener in the north east sees oil-rich Newcastle pit their wits against Nottingham Forest, who return to the top flight for the first time in a generation, boosted by a bundle of incoming transfers themselves following their meteoric rise up the Championship under popular boss Steve Cooper.
Tottenham sealed their return to Uefa Champions League action thanks to sealing fourth place in the league on the final day of last season.
Their first opponents at the London Stadium as they seek to build under Antonio Conte are Southampton, who will want to recall their first portion of last season rather than their largely disastrous second.
Another team needing improvements are Leicester, who endured an awkward 2021/22 and are locked in combat to retain their leading players ahead of Sunday’s visit of Moneyball Brentford to the King Power Stadium.
There’s plenty of interest for fans of Leeds and Wolves, too, ahead of their Elland Road clash on Saturday.
The hosts scraped home to survival following the axing of Marcelo Bielsa, while the Black Country club were quietly impressive in achieving a Portuguese-laden top ten finish.
Ambitious Aston Villa hit the road to complete the opening set of Premier League fixtures, with promoted Bournemouth standing in their way on the south coast.
English Premier League predictions for 5 – 7 August
Prediction methodology explained: The expected win percentage is based off publicly available odds. For example, if a team’s odds are 2.30, the expected chance of winning is 43%. If the odds are 1.62 the expected chance of winning is 62% and so on. These are accurate at the time of writing but are subject to change. Where there is no value listed, the odds were not available at the time of writing.
| Chance of winning (%) | Usual win % with these odds | |
| Crystal Palace | 24 | 18 |
| Arsenal | 55 | 44 |
| Chance of winning (%) | Usual win % with these odds | |
| Fulham | x | x |
| Liverpool | 77 | 73 |
| Chance of winning (%) | Usual win % with these odds | |
| Bournemouth | x | x |
| Aston Villa | 50 | 36 |
| Chance of winning (%) | Usual win % with these odds | |
| Leeds | 44 | 22 |
| Wolves | 31 | 38 |
| Chance of winning (%) | Usual win % with these odds | |
| Newcastle | x | x |
| Nottingham Forest | x | x |
| Chance of winning (%) | Usual win % with these odds | |
| Tottenham | 74 | 86 |
| Southampton | ||
| Chance of winning (%) | Usual win % with these odds | |
| Everton | ||
| Chelsea | 61 | 47 |
| Chance of winning (%) | Usual win % with these odds | |
| Leicester | 50 | 58 |
| Brentford | 29 | 33 |
| Chance of winning (%) | Usual win % with these odds | |
| Manchester United | 64 | 60 |
| Brighton | 18 | 17 |
| Chance of winning (%) | Usual win % with these odds | |
| West Ham | ||
| Manchester City | 74 | 77 |