After a week’s break, the English Premier League is back for its fourth week of this young season. We feature four clubs at the bottom half of the table looking to reverse their fortunes.
Burnley shoots for its first win at Turf Moor this season as it takes on laggard Crystal Palace, while a rejuvenated Swansea side hosts a Newcastle roster that did not move a needle in the just concluded transfer window.
BURNLEY FC vs. CRYSTAL PALACE
3-Way: 1: BurnleyFC +150; X: +229 Draw; 2: Crystal Palace +250
Spread -0.5: Burnley FC +137; Crystal Palace -143
Total +2: Over -125; Under +124
BURNLEY FC
While they have not pulled up many trees during the transfer window, Burnley looks like a solid unit and, just like last season, will be a difficult proposition. Right now, The Clarets are at 10th, joining Tottenham Hotspur, Stoke City, Everton, and Swansea with four points. They have Burnley beaten in the tiebreaker with more for goals. They average 1.33 goals per match in the Premier League and have never gotten a clean sheet so far. Including the last season, their Premier League form is DLWLL. They beat Blackburn Rovers on August 23 in the second round of the EFL Cup, 2:0.
Five different players have found the back of the net for the club, Sam Vokes leading the way with two after his brace against Chelsea. Including the league cup, those who have scored are Jack Cork, Robbie Brady, Stephen Ward, and Chris Wood. Ashley Barnes stays in the club despite manager Sean Dyche listing him on the market. The 27-year old striker has scored 14 goals for the club. In 94 appearances, he came in as a substitute in 34 of those. Dyche found the forward he is looking for in the transfer window in Nahki Wells, who he nabbed from Huddersfield Town just before the deadline.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Having brought in a highly rated young coach in Frank de Boer and kept the majority of the squad together, Crystal Palace is optimistic in their chances of improving upon last year’s 14th place finish in the Premier League. The former Ajax and Inter coach hopes to inculcate a different philosophy to the club, but if we are going to base it on performance, it appears that everybody is going through some growing pains. We might not even see his vision take form as the Dutch manager has been given an ultimatum to deliver starting this weekend or else.
The Eagles are at 19th on the table with still no points to show. Their form in their last five Premier League games counting back to May is LLLLW.They have yet to score at the PL this season, but at the same time, have never failed to find the net in the opening four matches of a league campaign. They have conceded six goals, giving it a -6 GD, second worst than last place West Ham United. Their only victory has come from a 2:1 conquest of Ipswich Town in the second round of the EFL Cup.
Belgium international Christian Benteke scored 15 goals in 36 league appearances last season, and he will be crucial if Palace wants to push up the table.Now 26, the former Liverpool striker is maturing into an accomplished attacker and will be expected to assume greater responsibility this season although he is still goalless in three apps. James McArthur is the only one who has slotted the ball in with two in the league cup. If he plays, Lee Chung-yong could become the third South Korean player to make 100 Premier League appearances after Park Ji-sung and Ki Sung-yueng. Patrick van Aanholtis a force at the backline. Luka Milivojević and Wilfried Zaha are in control of the midfield.
Additions to the club include Jaïro Riedewald of Ajax and Mamadou Sakho of Liverpool, as well as loan-ins Ruben Loftus-Cheek from Chelsea and Timothy Fosu-Mensah from Manchester United.
BURNLEY FC vs. CRYSTAL PALACE – Match Prediction
Burnley has won both of their Premier League matches against Crystal Palace last season, its first league double over its opponent since 2001-02. It has also won six of its eight top flight encounters against the Eagles, the only defeat was a 2:3 loss at Turf Moor in January 2015.
The three goals it scored against Chelsea looked more like a fluke rather than something that Burnley can do with more regularity. What The Clarets are good at is in limiting the damage opponents do to them. Still, this is Crystal Palace we are talking about, and the two have been knocking in goals against each other as if you are playing EA FIFA with the difficulty setting set to amateur. Burnley is my first choice. I would also take the Over as my additional pick:
MY PICK: Burnley (+150)
Additional Pick: over 2 goals (-125)
SWANSEA CITY vs. NEWCASTLE UNITED
3-Way: 1: Swansea City +152; X: +235 Draw; 2: Newcastle United +236
Spread 0: Swansea City -137; Newcastle United +137
Total +2.5: Over +129; Under -125
SWANSEA CITY
The 2016-17 season was the worst ever Premier League campaign of Swansea as it finished 15th after managing to pull itself clear of a relegation battle. Paul Clement imposed stability on a team that had been in disarray following the tenures of Francesco Guidolin and Bob Bradley, subsequently overseeing a relative upturn in fortunes.
Wilfried Bony is back with Swansea, highlighting some of the biggest transfer coups the club made this summer. Renato Sanches and Tammy Abraham, both taken via loans, have pundits gushing. Sanches was a target by big clubs over the summer, but he ended up with Swansea instead. The best young player at Euro 2016, he was crucial to Portugal’s title win in that tournament. He stalled at Bayern after a meteoric rise with Benfica, but he has the upside to become a future star, as his rough edges would be smoothed by a manager who is known to develop talent. A tall and powerful forward, 19-year old Abraham has scored 24 league goals since the start of 2016-17, the highest-scoring player under the age of 21 in the top four divisions during this time. Headds potency to a strike force that managed just 45 league goals last term, while continuing his development under the watchful eye of Clement. Sam Clucas is also a good addition, while Spanish midfielder Roque Mesa joins from La Liga outfit Las Palmas. These signings need to make a quick impact if the club is to improve on last season’s campaign.
And after those signings, the Swans still managed to make money on their transfer dealings after giving Gylfi Sigurðsson to Everton and Fernando Llorente to Tottenham.Jefferson Montero joins Getafe on a season-long loan. Other permanent departures include Cork, Bafétimbi Gomi, Mo Barrow, and Franck Tabanou.Talk about having your cake and eating it, too.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Newcastle is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. Either that, or Mike Ashley and Rafa Benítez are just not in agreement on the direction where to take the club. Ashley’s penny-pinching appears to have won the day with useful, rather than spectacular, arrivals this summer. Benítez, on the other hand, wanted to bring in a high-octane striker, as well as a winger, left-back, and goalkeeper and got none. Right now, the spine of this side looks like the one that turned out in the Championship last season.
Despite the non-moves, there is dissension in the ranks as those who were responsible for promoting the club felt they are being underappreciated. Aleksandar Mitrović is one of those getting slighted, while Dwight Gayle, scorer of 23 goals last season, took some introspecting before promising to be a good boy after he was put on the market in the recent transfer window. Now that the transfer window has closed and he did not get the pieces that he wanted, it is Benítez’ turn to brood. Nevertheless, he will work with what he has, hoping to bring out the best in the materials at his disposal.
Newcastle United won over fellow strugglers West Ham, after opening the season with three straight defeats in all competitions. New acquisitions Mikel Merino and Joselu performed particularly well against the Hammers. Is that a statement coming from the begrudged manager?
SWANSEA CITY vs. NEWCASTLE UNITED – Match Prediction
Swansea has won three of its last four home Premier League matches against Newcastle since losing its first in April 2012. It is yet to lose back-to-back home PL matches under Clement, and he has never lost consecutive home league fixtures as a manager. Meanwhile, Newcastle won its last PL match with Swansea, a 3:0 win in April 2016, which was Benítez’s first win in charge of The Magpies.
MY PICK: Swansea City to win (+152)
