Alan Shearer’s Premier League predictions, including Aston Villa vs Arsenal

Alan Shearer is back with his Premier League predictions for the second week of the season after an opening weekend full of surprises.

Defending champions Arsenal got their title defence underway with a victory and will look to make it two wins in two against Aston Villa on Monday.

Elsewhere, Xabi Alonso will look to continue his good start to life at Chelsea on Sunday, but faces a tricky fixture against Brighton, who thrashed Villa 4-0 last weekend.

And plenty of eyes will be on Old Trafford as Manchester United look to bounce back from their defeat to Hull City up against another newly-promoted side in Ipswich Town.

As ever, England legend and Betfair ambassador Alan Shearer has revealed his Premier League predictions to Metro.

Crystal Palace v Man City

Whatever you think of the performance from Man City, they again managed to find that way, get back into the game, and win by a piece of brilliance from Cherki to Gvardiol.

I do worry about Crystal Palace this season. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next week with Mateta and Sarr. I’ll go for an away win to Man City.

Prediction: Man City win

Liverpool v Nottingham Forest

I wasn’t that impressed with Liverpool at Newcastle. Problems that existed last year still exist this year.

It’ll be really interesting to see how long they give Isak and Wirtz playing together. I wasn’t impressed with those two either at Newcastle, they need to click into gear pretty quickly. But I still think they’ll have enough to beat Forest at Anfield.

Prediction: Liverpool win

Coventry City v Hull City

Hull were brilliant against Man United and thoroughly deserved the three points. Coventry couldn’t have had a tougher start than going to the champions away from home. It would have been very different if it had been at home.

Already, I think most people will look at this as a huge, important game in the second round of the season. I’m probably going to go for a draw.

Prediction: Draw

Bournemouth v Everton

It was a good win for Everton. Bournemouth were unlucky. Everton were a tad fortunate in the first half hour when Crystal Palace missed a couple of big chances.

Bournemouth have got some good players in there. They had a brilliant season last year after everyone thought they’d struggle because of the player’s they’ve lost. They had a great year and were impressive at times at Manchester City. They’ll certainly be more than OK.
I’m going to go a point each in this one.

Prediction: Draw

Tottenham v Newcastle

This is a really tough one to call. Judging by the first games, you’d probably have to edge with Newcastle, but Spurs cannot be any worse than what they were at Brentford. They were embarrassed there, so clearly there’ll be a response and they will improve.

But they’re going to have to attack Newcastle, and I guess that will suit Newcastle because of the pace they have on the break, the way they hit Liverpool on the break, that is what they’ll try to do away from home at Spurs. I’m going to go Newcastle away win.

Prediction: Newcastle win

Chelsea v Brighton

What a result and performance that was by Brighton against Aston Villa. I think they’ll find it a lot more difficult against Chelsea, who had a great result against Fulham. I’m going to go for a home win.

Prediction: Chelsea win

Leeds v Brentford

This is a tough one to call because I was hugely impressed with Brentford. Everything they did, whether they knocked it long, played football, or pressed, was almost perfect in their performance against Spurs. But Leeds also had a really good result and great win. The goalkeeper, Trafford, will be massive for Leeds this year. It’s a tough one to call. I’m going to go Leeds home win.

Prediction: Leeds win

Sunderland v Fulham

Sunderland were on the right end of one-nils or winning by one goal last year, which can be easily flipped around, as it was at the weekend for them against Ipswich. With European football this year, I think they will struggle. Teams will have looked at what they do and how well they did it last season, and they will go in with a very different attitude.

Gonzalo Garcia looked good for Fulham against Chelsea, he had a decent game actually. I had Fulham to struggle as well as Crystal Palace this season, so I’ll be intrigued to see how they go. The last thing you want is two defeats on the spin early on in the season, then you tend to look at all sorts of negativity. So, it’ll be really interesting how they approach the game and the result. I’m going to go one point each in this one.

Prediction: Draw

Manchester United v Ipswich

They would have had to work on so much this week because everything Man United at the weekend did was hopeless. They didn’t look fit. It looked as if they could just turn up at Hull and win the game, and that was never going to happen. Whether it was set pieces, they were awful, defensively all over the back line, they were terrible.

Up front they offered nothing. Sesko came on in the second half with Rashford, and I wouldn’t be surprised if those two started at Old Trafford after another week’s training. I am going to go for a home win.

Prediction: Man United win

Aston Villa v Arsenal

What a mess at Aston Villa with the manager and Ollie Watkins at loggerheads. You could tell he was pretty angry and rightly so. God knows what they were trying to do, playing out from the back when Brighton loved to do that press.

It could be a tough season for Villa. They’ve suffered like Newcastle, having to sell their best players, and it’s very difficult to come back from that. Arsenal looked brilliant, and without doubt they’re the team to beat. I’ll say Arsenal three points.

Prediction: Arsenal win

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