SATURDAY Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle 1:45pm When the Toon army raid Villa Park this lunchtime, Aston Villa will be welcoming not only cross-town rivals but recent tormentors. They last beat Newcastle in 2011 and have been on a run of three consecutive losses to Newcastle. The Toons, on the other hand, will be having some confidence after putting up a good show against champions Manchester City last weekend. Although they went down 2-0, new signings Remy Cabella was in scintillating form, earning the favour of the fans. However, Villa, after beating Stoke City, will be keen to end the bad run of form. It is now or never for Villa against Newcastle. SATURDAY Palace 2-0 West Ham 4pm Manager-less Palace took Arsenal to the wire on Saturday before falling to that man Aaron Ramsey. But they will be back to their fortress, Selhurst Park, where visiting teams struggle to win. But with the Hammers having lost their opening game at home to Tottenham Hotspur, this is a fixture of two sides looking for their first points. Palace had the better of Hammers home and away last season and there is no evidence that Big Sam will chew enough gum to release a magic wand that can stop Palace. Home win. SATURDAY S’mpton 3-0 West Brom 4pm English forward Saido Berahino’s finishing will be much needed again today as West Brom travel to St Mary’s Stadium looking to collect maximum points against Ronald Koeman’s side that have sold almost everyone except the club. However, on the evidence of their showing at Anfield, the Saints are not done and out. They went down 2-1 but having given Liverpool a run for their money. Shane Long, who missed a glorious chance to equalise at Anfield after coming on as a late substitute will have to do better against his former club. It is also as well that the Saints have hung on to Schneiderlin. The Frenchman was a solid presence in the midfield at Anfield and will justify why several big teams were courting him in today’s fixture. Home win. Swansea 4-0 Burnley 4pm Show me confidence and I will show you Swansea. We all thought Manchester United would just overrun Swansea, but the Welsh side proved the bookmakers wrong. They took the game to United and returned home with all three points that they will be flashing in the face of Burnley for bragging rights before this fixture. By all accounts, Swansea should be on top of the table by Sunday after an easy win against debutants Burnley, who went down 3-1 to Chelsea last week. Saturday Chelsea 1-1 Leicester 4pm Diego Costa made up for the absence of Drogba and Cesc Fabregas left many wondering why Barcelona would sell such an outstanding playmaker at all. This should be an easy fixture for Chelsea, but it won’t. On the evidence of the opening week, no team is an easy ride and Jose Mourinho is aware of this. Newcomers Leicester City held Everton in their opening game and will fancy taking their chances against the Blues. Chelsea is lacking in both defence and defensive midfield. John Terry is no longer the hardman of yesteryear and Cahill has been exposed as another weak defender who only relies on his partners to look good. Leicester can return home with a point. Saturday Everton 3-1 Arsenal 6.30pm This is like a derby. The battle for fourth place couldn’t have started any sooner and last season’s tug of war between the two sides will be at the fore again. Arsenal are playing with an eye on Europe as they wait to host Besiktas in Champions League qualifier on Wednesday. But they will be without captain Mikel Arteta, who pulled out injured in Istanbul on Tuesday. Aaron Ramsey, who won Arsenal two points against Palace in the opener, should be playing as he will sit out the Besiktas tie through suspension. But it is the lack of a striker that will worry Arsenal. Olivier Giroud still plays like a bereaved Iraqi, Yaya Sanogo is a caricature of a striker and Alexis Sanchez is still not sure whether it is good manners to fold his shorts in London too. Everton will win this ‘derby.’ Sunday Hull City 1-2 Stoke City 2:30pm Hull City beat QPR in their opener but Stoke were the huffing and puffing side that went down at home to Aston Villa. Steve Bruce is a level-headed manager who can get the most out of his crop of largely ‘unknown’ stars. But this is not his usual menu of fixtures; he will be up against a nemesis with balanced tactical acumen in Mark Hughes. After the Europa League qualifiers, Hull will come short against Stoke, like they are wont to do so often. Sunday Spurs 0-1 QPR 2.30pm Harry Rednapp has a lot of point to prove. He was sacked by Tottenham Hotspur for ‘disloyalty’ when he lost focus on the job to try and get the England top job. The English FA had courted Rednapp before abandoning him, leaving Spurs with the huge axe to grind against Rednapp. He paid the ultimate price but left a very unhappy man. He will want to prove a point today and the possible return of Remy could boost his striking option having failed to find the target against Hull City. A risky away win. Sunday Sunderland 2-2 Man Utd 5pm One of those teams whose fortunes were written at Old Trafford, thanks to David Moyes. Sunderland will want to get a leg better again today, but they will be aware, too, that Luis van Gaal is no Moyes. Manchester United were the biggest flops of the opening weekend, falling at home to Swansea in a game that only new skipper Wayne Rooney wanted to win. Van Gaal already knows the Stadium of Light is a hard place to visit. United always win the hard way that side, but having lost their opener, only a win will be acceptable today. But do the Red Devils really have the confidence to grab the points with Robin van Persie? Draw. Monday Man City 1-1 Liverpool 9pm The champions versus the runner-up. City got off slowly and Liverpool struggled at home last weekend. But this fixture should be explosive for its own reason. Raheem Sterling, who was outstanding at the weekend, will be hoping that a better linesman runs the show after his calm finish at The Etihad last season was ruled out for offside although the lad was about six yards onside. Liverpool knows they have a bad run of fixtures and unless they drop Lucas Leiva for good and replace him with Emre Can, not even the return of Lazar Markovic and Adam Lallana will help the course. But should Mario Balotelli be ready to play after his medical that was due by press time, the tide could turn against City in this Monday night fixture that the Kop are fated against. The points Last week, the predictor got one perfect score and three correct ones, giving him nine points. *Seaman is a Liverpool fan
