In The Mixer: Premier League Gameweek 1 musings from our betting experts
Sports Journalist at FST, Gareth qualified as a journalist after graduating from university and spent over a decade as a freelance broadcast journalist, commentator and tipster before joining FST. Now living in Manchester, he is a long suffering Bolton Wanderers fan who also enjoys boxing, the NBA, tennis and rugby league.
In The Mixer is FST’s weekly column where we catch up with our team of football betting experts and get their opinion on the hot topic of the week.
The first round of Premier League games reached a conclusion on Monday night as newly-promoted Leeds claimed a 1-0 win over Everton at Elland Road.
There were plenty of talking points from this weekend’s round of games, so we asked our experts which team or player caught their eye after the first batch of games.
Rob Eddy
Brentford look a player in the relegation market, even at 2/1. The manner of their 3-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest – who were better on the road last season – is at the very least concerning, and with games against Aston Villa, Chelsea, Fulham, both Manchester clubs and Liverpool coming up before the end of October, there looks to be a whole lot of pressure already on a result against Sunderland and West Ham – another team who look like they could give a promoted club a chance of survival.
I am not in a rush to back Arsenal in the outright winner market either, and City look a bigger threat to Liverpool after game one.
Jamie Griffith
Without Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison, Tottenham desperately needed someone to step up in the creativity department against Burnley, and Mohammed Kudus obliged superbly.
The Ghanaian set up two goals as Spurs comfortably beat the Clarets 3-0 and the 6-1 bet365 are offering for the former West Ham winger to notch 10 Premier League assists is unlikely to last too much longer.
Kudus created three chances against PSG in the Super Cup and a further five in the rout of Burnley, meaning another eight assists is extremely achievable for a player who Thomas Frank clearly wants to build play through.
Henry Hardwicke
Liverpool hit four goals in a thrilling all-out attack 4-2 victory over Bournemouth and I liked the performance of Cody Gakpo.
The Dutchman looks set to be a feature on the left hand side of Arne Slot’s forward line this season, and as the 26-year-old showed when cutting in to score against the Cherries on Friday night, he is a potent goal threat.
There are four spots available to each-way punters on the Premier League top scorer market and there could certainly be some place value in the prices on Gakpo.
Enda McElhinney
Tijjani Reijnders was a beacon for Manchester City in their rout at Wolves. The 27-year-old Dutchman scored one and laid on another – joining Sergio Aguero as only two players to both score and provide a goal on their Premier League debuts for the Citizens.
Reijnders was all over everything that was good in City’s performance, always on the move and available for a pass. He had 82 touches and made 22 passes in the attacking third. He looks the box-to-box midfielder City needed after Kevin De Bruyne’s departure.
With a clean sheet, an Erling Haaland brace and Reijnders’ ultra-impressive debut, their 3/1 title hopes can be viewed positively.
Tom McGarry
Form and fitness issues mean Richarlison has never really shown his best in a Tottenham shirt, but that looks like changing this season following his brace against Burnley, the second of which was a stunning acrobatic strike.
Thomas Frank has shown plenty of faith in the Brazilian, starting him ahead of club-record signing Dominic Solanke against both Burnley and Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup, and the arm round the shoulder approach appears to suit.
Richarlison has 13 goals in his last 16 Premier League starts for Spurs and he could be an outside contender to finish as the league’s leading scorer.
Aaron Rogan
Sunderland’s 3-0 win flattered them, given their Expected Goals tally of 0.68, but eight of the Black Cats’ new signings featured in the win. Their entirely new midfield three looked fantastic, while Robin Roefs made a bright start in goal.
The Black Cats ruthlessly replaced last season’s promotion heroes with upgrades, giving them a real chance of survival. Given how Sunderland have improved a side that completely dominated Burnley at Turf Moor last season, they’re an appealing 12/5 ahead of next week’s early six-pointer against the vulnerable Clarets.
Ian Wilkerson
The potential purchase of Newcastle’s Alexander Isak by Liverpool has become this window’s most protracted and publicised transfer saga, but Reds fans may be wondering why they are putting so much into that move when Hugo Ekiteke has settled in so well at Anfield.
The Frenchman has already opened his account in the Community Shield against Crystal Palace before he starred in the champions’ 4-2 win over Bournemouth on Friday, setting Arne Slot’s side on their way with the opening goal.
But it was not just the quality of his finish that stood out. His link up play was excellent and he demonstrated a great work ethic by tracking back at regular intervals to help out when the Cherries looked to strike on the counter attack.
Ekiteke was substituted after 71 minutes but has demonstrated he is a valuable asset, so maybe there isn’t the rush to break the back for Isak.
Build better bets with our free betting tips, predictions and accumulators, every day.
More betting news:
View All Today’s Football Tips
Betting Academy: See our complete guide to football betting
To take full advantage of our Free Football Tips we recommend you take a look at our Free Bets page, where you can compare all the best free bets and special offers from the country’s top bookmakers.
