Premier League matchweek 11: Staff picks and predictions
By Staff
The FanSided soccer staff make their predictions for the weekend’s Premier League games, including Manchester City vs. Arsenal at the Etihad.
Premier League matchweek 11 is headlined by two intra-big six matches. Manchester City host Arsenal on Sunday before Chelsea and Manchester United square off at Stamford Bridge later in the day.
City have been the league’s dominant force so far this season, and lead the league by five points heading into the weekend. They’ve scored 35 goals and boast a goal difference 10 points better than the next best side, United.
Pep Guardiola’s men haven’t just been beating up on the league’s lesser lights either. They’ve beaten Liverpool and Chelsea in the league and are coming off a midweek Champions League win against Serie A leaders Napoli. Needless to say, the Citizens are favorites.
Arsenal, however, come into the match in relatively good form, having won three of their last four in the league. They’ll also take encouragement from their performance away to Chelsea on Sept. 17, when they held the champions to a 0-0 draw. They’ll need to show similar solidity at the back if they’re going to take points off City.
Manchester United’s trip to Chelsea is harder to call. The Red Devils are coming off a big 1-0 win against Tottenham at Old Trafford, but Jose Mourinho is likely to take a more defensive approach away from home, and is still missing his best player, Paul Pogba.
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The Blues, meanwhile, haven’t been at their best in recent weeks, coming from behind to beat Watford before a narrow 1-0 win against Bournemouth last weekend. In their last match, they were thrashed by Roma in the Champions League.
The other highlights of the weekend are Claude Puel’s second match as Leicester boss, away to Stoke in Saturday’s early kickoff; Liverpool’s trip to West Ham, where Slaven Bilic’s job could be on the line; and Tottenham’s first game since thrashing European champions Real Madrid on Wednesday, against last-place Crystal Palace.
FanSided’s soccer staff will be competing in a weekly picks league all season. The rules are simple: three points for a correct score, one for a correct result and none for an incorrect result. Here are the picks for matchweek 11:
Manchester City are big favorites against Arsenal, with seven of our eight writers going with the home side, while five writers think the match at Stamford Bridge will end in a draw, two think Manchester United will come away with the win and one think Chelsea will come out on top. Here’s how the prediction table stands heading into the weekend’s matches:
