12:30 Saturday

Aston Villa vs Everton

Our confidence in both teams scoring at Villa Park owes much more to Villa’s defensive troubles than Everton’s potency on the road. Only Leeds, Norwich and Watford conceded more home goals than Villa (29 in 19 games), who looked poor in last week’s opener at Bournemouth.

The Saturday lunchtime hosts drew their last two home league games of last season 1-1 and only kept five home clean sheets across the season, two of which came in the first five games of the season before the appointment of Gerrard – who went on to record just three in the last 14.

17:30 Saturday

Brentford vs Manchester United

Quite remarkably for a club of Manchester United’s size, and with a first choice central defensive pair costing well over £100 million, only five teams conceded more goals on the road in 2021/22. The Red Devils were beaten eight times and conceded 35 times in 19 matches. 

Brentford, meanwhile, came from two down to claim a 2-2 draw Leicester last weekend, dispelling the idea that they would suffer creatively having missed out on the permanent signing of Christian Eriksen. The Bees’ attacking threat at home was best evidenced with a 3-3 draw against Liverpool last September, while the corresponding fixture against United last season finished 1-3.

16:30 Sunday

Chelsea vs Spurs

An obscure statistic for Chelsea is that they haven't scored over two goals at home in the league since October 2021 against Leeds, a record that is sure to change in the coming weeks given their obvious attacking firepower. That being said, they only failed to score on one occasion in the league last season - a 1-0 defeat to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. 

Spurs, who surged to 4th place under Antonio Conte last season, ended the campaign with the fourth best goalscoring record on the road behind only Manchester City, Liverpool and Saturday's opponents Chelsea. Their eye-catching attacking performances on the road in the second half of last season included a 3-2 win at the Etihad, 4-0 victories at both Elland Road and Villa Park, and a final day 5-0 thumping of Norwich at Carrow Road.