15:00 Saturday

Leeds vs Wolves 

The last time these sides met it ended in a five-goal thriller with a Raul Jimenez red card and 91st minute winner from Luke Ayling. Leeds’ games over the past several years have been notoriously open with huge goal margins. They ended up with -39 goal difference last year after conceding the second most goal in the league while only scoring 42. 

Many thought things would become steadier under Jesse Marsch, but four of their last five fixtures still featured over 2.5 goals – the outlier being a 1-1 home draw with Brighton. With Ayling, Liam Cooper and Junior Firpo out injured, we expect their games to remain high scoring. 

15:00 Saturday

Newcastle vs Nottingham Forest 

Newly promoted teams usually concede the most goals in the league, and we expect this trend to continue this year. Given their defence has little to no Premier League experience, we think it will take a few weeks for Steve Cooper’s side to get up to speed at the highest level. 

Newcastle are a difficult first opposition to face and have a few quality attacking players that will cause Forest problems at the back. Allan Saint-Maximin could have a field day against a young Neco Williams while Callum Wilson will be ready to test league newbie Joe Worrall. Add Bruno Guimarães’ creativity to the mix and the Magpies are in for a fruitful first fixture.

17:30 Saturday

Everton vs Chelsea 

Everton just about secured Premier League survival last year and are expected to compete near the bottom end of the league once again. They conceded the fourth most goals in the Premier League last season, with only Leeds still left in the league who conceded more. 

By contrast, Chelsea scored the third most goals in the league last season and with the addition of Raheem Sterling, they’re expected to pose even greater attacking threat this time around.

Even though Everton have added defensive experience to their squad in the form of James Tarkowski, they have still looked shaky in pre-season and conceded four against MLS club Minnesota United just a few weeks ago. We can see goals in this one.