Alan Smith’s Expert Analysis: Premier League GW4 Predictions & Analysis

City’s Goalkeeper Situation

When Trafford signed, whether Donnaruma was mentioned as a possibility, we don’t know. But would he have been the number one at Newcastle? He’s joined the football club as much as joining to be the number one. I’m sure he’s realistic; he’s still very young, and I said the other day, I mean, to be training day in, day out with Donnarumma, it’s a great education for him, really is, because Donnarumma’s one of the top keepers in the world, so he’s got plenty of time, Trafford.

So it’s not a disaster for him. He’s had a difficult start to the season, and it’s not bad that Donnarumma has turned up.

United’s Early Season Assessment

United just about beat Burnley at home, by the skin of their teeth. They had that Grimsby disaster, obviously, in the Carabao. So, so many questions still to answer for Rubem Amorim. We’re all wondering when he’s gonna start getting a tune out of Šeško. He seems to have struggled to adapt to coming to a huge club like United. In a way that Mbeumo and Cunha haven’t, really.

They’ve taken to it quite smoothly and confidently. But you need Šeško to be confident, playing well, and scoring goals.

City’s Form Concerns

City is a funny one. I did the opening day against Wolves, and you’re thinking, oh, are they back? You have to put it into context that it was Wolves. But, you know, since then, Spurs have beaten them, and then I did the Brighton game, last time out, and they were coasting the first half, but they didn’t try and really put it to bed, it was pass, pass, pass, and they were happy at 1-0, and then it came back to bite them.

Something is missing at City. It’s hard to say what it is at the moment. It’s not quite right. It might become right as the games go on, but, at the moment, they just, you know, haven’t got what they used to have.

Prediction

Going to go for a City win. I’m gonna go 2-1 City.

Manchester City 2 – 1 Manchester United

Forest’s Managerial Change

Marinakis and Ange, obviously, they’ve got a close connection, but it’s going to be a much different style. Nuno was that low block, counter-attacking, very tactically minded, quite cautious, and Marinakis obviously wants to go in the complete opposite direction with Postecoglou. He played that high line for a lot of games at Spurs. Whether he’s going to just temper that a little bit. We’ll see whether he’s learned from his experience at Spurs.

That’s going to be a really interesting one, to see how that pans out, because, you know, you looked at Spurs last season, at times you thought, have these players been given any instructions? Some of the positions they were taking up defensively were all over the place, but he’s got good defenders at Forest, which is in his favour, some very good defenders there, but it’s going to be fascinating.

Arsenal’s Season So Far

It’s been okay. There’s gonna be more and more scrutiny on Arteta now, especially the way things panned out at Anfield, when he picked a side that was set up to keep things tight. If that had come out with nil-nil, we’d have all moved on, but because Arsenal lost in the end, people are wondering whether we can become a bit more forthright and attacking again.

Now he’s got Eze, you know, in the fold. He’s got so many players who can win matches for him. So for Arsenal, it’s been okay. It’s a painful one to lose at Liverpool, but they’re well capable of moving on and moving on this weekend.

Prediction

3-1 to Arsenal.

Arsenal 3 – 1 Nottingham Forest

Newcastle’s Recovery

Obviously, Isak’s move was something that needed to get done and clear the decks with that situation, but they’ve made some good signings. You know, Woltemade, I don’t know too much about. Good, good return goals-wise, last season at Stuttgart. I think he’s more of a number 10, really, by the looks of it, than an outright centre forward, but Elanga, Wissa, and Ramsey from Villa are excellent signings. We saw against Liverpool, for most of the match, what a good team they can be. They just couldn’t really finish it off. So now they’ve got a bit more firepower. You know, they’ve got a great three-man midfield that’s superb; they’ve got Ramsey to back it up.

So I think they’ll have a good season, Newcastle. I don’t think there’s too much to be down about.

Prediction

I think Wolves are going to struggle this season. Well, I think we all think Wolves are going to struggle, so I’m going to go 3-0 to Newcastle.

Newcastle 3 – 0 Wolves

Everton’s Transformation

David Moyes’s abilities as a manager have come to the fore, I think, and also his signings. Jack Grealish has transformed their attack with what he can do down that left-hand side, you know, he’s settled in straight away. It’s already got Ndiaye and Beto leading the line pretty well, too.

I think the mood will be fairly buoyant because they desperately needed a bit of flair going forward for a few years now. They’ve been blunt in an attacking sense. Grealish has been a great signing – I think Moyes said he was even better than he thought he was, and the fans all absolutely love him already.

So, so much more to get excited about now for Everton fans. It’ll be a decent season for them.

Villa’s Struggles

On the opposite side, Villa have been underwhelming. I know Konsa was voicing his concerns, maybe on behalf of the team, about the financial restrictions and everything that’s holding them back in the transfer market.

The summer window, you know, they couldn’t do a lot. Sancho and Lindelöf are underwhelming signings, I think. Harvey Elliott will probably be a decent addition. But you do wonder where it’s going, at Villa, and to get beaten 3-0 at home by Palace, you know, alarm bells are ringing out loud there, so they’ve just got to get themselves together. Maybe the international break came at a good time for Unai Emery to try and reset and go again.

Prediction

1-1.

Everton 1 – 1 Aston Villa

Burnley’s Competitiveness

The performance at Old Trafford will have encouraged them after they just missed out at the end, but they’ve got some players now in the attacking third who are looking quite bright. Jaidon Anthony’s got a couple of goals and has settled really quickly. There are still quite a few players who are new to the Premier League in the team, so it’s going to be difficult, but it’s not been a disastrous start by any means. The way they handled themselves at Old Trafford will give Scott Parker a bit of confidence.

Liverpool’s Perfect Start

They’ve got that late win at Newcastle, when Newcastle, probably over the piece, were a better team, then Ngumoha came on and grabbed the winner. Then a bit of magic won it against Arsenal in a really tight game, so it’s not like they’ve been playing fantastic free-flowing football, but when you aren’t playing that way, it’s great to be continuing to win. So, really good start from the champions. We’ll see how their form pans out now, whether they can keep up that winning form. But, yeah, yeah, really good start.

Prediction

2-0 to Liverpool.

Burnley 0 – 2 Liverpool

West Ham vs Tottenham

Obviously, all going on at Spurs, I mean, that shouldn’t affect things on the pitch. Thomas Frank is trying to implement his own, own style, and he’s a very clever coach. West Ham got a surprising win at Forest. I’m going to go 1-1. I think it’d be fairly tight, 1-1.

West Ham 1 – 1 Tottenham

Fulham vs Leeds

Fulham are a good side, and I think at home they’ll have too much for Leeds. 2-0.

Fulham 2 – 0 Leeds

Bournemouth vs Brighton

Bournemouth are continuing to be full of surprises, really, they can surprise anybody, and Brighton, likewise, really, you know, coming off the back of that City win. Two teams capable of scoring goals, two exciting teams when they’re at it, so I’m gonna go 2-2.

Bournemouth 2 – 2 Brighton

Crystal Palace vs Sunderland

What a win for Palace at Villa. At home, I think that Premier League experience might be slightly too much for Sunderland, so I’m gonna go narrow win, 1-0.

Crystal Palace 1 – 0 Sunderland

Brentford vs Chelsea

I did the West Ham game a couple of weeks back when Chelsea showed they’ve got so many threats. They lost Cole Palmer in the warm-up, but, you know, João Pedro’s really started well. They’ve got lots of players who can score goals. Brentford, I’m still a little bit on the fence about whether they are going to labour this season under Andrews. I think Chelsea will win, 3-1 to Chelsea.

Brentford 1 – 3 Chelsea