• Arsenal, meanwhile, have seen all of their four league matches played so far feature over 2.5 total goals.
• The ‘Saints’ lost just two of their five PL away matches vs sides who finished in the top five last season (W2, D1, L2) last season.
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Manchester City vs Arsenal 17.10.2020 19:30
Already trailing in their bid to recapture the Premier League title, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City were knocked out by former assistant Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal in last season’s FA-Cup semi-final, but in the league, the ‘Sky Blues’ have won six straight H2Hs.
Consistent scorers, they have put exactly three goals past the Arsenal goalkeeper in five of those. City’s last home match saw them lose 5-2 against Leicester City, marking Guardiola’s heaviest home defeat as City boss. Furthermore, it was the first time in 438 matches at the Etihad Stadium that City conceded five goals. The shock was even greater considering they’d conceded just one goal in the preceding seven PL matches here.
Arsenal, meanwhile, have seen all of their four league matches played so far feature over 2.5 total goals. However, they have been ahead at HT in just one of four PL matches so far, and that trend is unlikely to stop here, as they’ve been behind at HT in seven straight matches against City.
Head to Head
18.07.20 FAC Arsenal Manchester City 2 : 0
17.06.20 PL Manchester City Arsenal 3 : 0
15.12.19 PL Arsenal Manchester City 0 : 3
03.02.19 PL Manchester City Arsenal 3 : 1
12.08.18 PL Arsenal Manchester City 0 : 2
Chelsea vs Southampton 17.10.2020 17:00
Chelsea have had a decent start to the season as they have lost just one of their opening four Premier League matches, winning two and drawing one. Their victory last time out against Crystal Palace also handed them their fourth clean sheet in five PL home matches. This is worth noting given that they also secured six clean sheets across their ten home matches vs sides who finished 11th or below last season.
Although the ‘Blues’ have kept just one clean sheet so far this season, they’ve done well restricting shots on their goal. Subsequently, they’ve faced under 3.5 shots on target in three of their four PL fixtures so far, and under 1.5 in the first half in three of the four.
Southampton have lost two of their opening four PL matches, winning two. Across both of those four game sequences, they avoided defeat in each of the two final matches of the run, and they also scored a combined three goals across both of those final two matches in the chain.
The ‘Saints’ lost just two of their five PL away matches vs sides who finished in the top five last season (W2, D1, L2) last season. They scored inside the opening 45 minutes in four of those matches and netted exactly two goals in three of the fixtures.
Head to Head
26.12.19 PL Chelsea Southampton 0 : 2
06.10.19 PL Southampton Chelsea 1 : 4
02.01.19 PL Chelsea Southampton 0 : 0
07.10.18 PL Southampton Chelsea 0 : 3
22.04.18 FAC Chelsea Southampton 2 : 0
Shefield vs Fulham 18.10.2020 14:00
As a result of their winless start, Sheffield United have now lost seven consecutive league matches for only the second time in their history, with their other seven-game losing run ending back in September 1975! They were rarely rolled over during that recent run though, conceding under 2.5 goals in six of the seven matches.
Given that the ‘Blades’ aren’t conceding many goals, but also not winning, it’s pretty clear that their attack is the issue. Sure enough, they have scored just one Premier League (PL) goal so far this season - the division’s lowest return - and their average of 2.3 shots on target per game is the joint second-lowest in the PL too.
It hasn’t been a great PL return for Fulham who have lost each of their opening four top-flight matches for only the second time, and the first occasion since 1951/52. Across that sequence they conceded 11 goals, which is their most after four games of a new season for 60 years! Additionally, ten of those 11 goals arrived in the opening 15 minutes of either half.
The ‘Cottagers’ can take some comfort in the fact they have avoided defeat in their previous five competitive H2Hs with Sheffield United (W3, D2). They netted 3+ goals in each of the previous three, and scored between the 60th and 74th minute in those three encounters too.
Head to head
6.03.18 CHA Fulham Sheffield Utd 3 : 0
21.11.17 CHA Sheffield Utd Fulham 4 : 5
25.08.15 EFL Fulham Sheffield Utd 3 : 0
04.02.14 FAC Fulham Sheffield Utd 0 : 1 (0 : 0)
26.01.14 FAC Sheffield Utd Fulham 1 : 1