Premier League Matchday 7 features a full slate of matches, including Aston Villa vs. Manchester United, Chelsea vs. Nottingham Forest, and Brighton vs. Tottenham. To help you get ready for all the action, here are our EPL predictions for these big matches.
Aston Villa vs. Manchester United
After beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday, Aston Villa are flying. Unai Emery has brought the club to a level many Villa fans probably thought they would never see again.
Things couldn’t be more different at Manchester United. The Red Devils were embarrassed by Tottenham last week. They are in 13th place and have won just one of their last five Premier League matches.
Despite this poor run, Erik ten Hag told Sky Sports that there’s nothing to worry about at Man Utd. I couldn’t disagree more. He’s a couple of bad results away from losing his job. After blowing a two-goal lead against Porto on Thursday, this match against Aston Villa could even be the one that finally does him in.
The only argument someone could make for Man Utd here is that Aston Villa will be tired from their midweek fixture against Bayern. Ten Hag’s team are in the same position though, after drawing 3-3 with Porto in the Europa League on Thursday.
This should be a convincing win for Aston Villa at home.
Prediction: Aston Villa 3-1 Man Utd
Chelsea vs. Nottingham Forest
Chelsea utterly embarrassed Brighton last week. The Blues consistently exploited the Seagulls’ high line. Cole Palmer specifically punished Brighton, scoring all four goals in Chelsea’s 4-2 win.
Nottingham Forest played in a much less exciting match last weekend. The Reds suffered their first loss of the season, losing 1-0 to Fulham at home.
Given what happened last weekend, a lot of EPL predictions see this match ending as another easy win for Chelsea. Enzo Maresca’s team definitely has the talent to beat Forest, but it won’t be easy for them.
Nottingham Forest’s success this season has come from being a lethal counterattacking team. They will be compact and not give Chelsea any of the types of chances they got against Brighton.
The Blues will have to break down Forest. As we saw from them against Servette, Crystal Palace, and Bournemouth, Chelsea haven’t had the easiest time against solid defensive sides.
Nottingham Forest can definitely get at least a point from this match.
Prediction: Chelsea 1-1 Nottingham Forest
Brighton vs. Tottenham
Brighton at Chelsea on Matchday 6 looked a lot like Tottenham did at home last season. Fabian Hurzeler’s side stuck to an extremely high line. Much like when Spurs did this last November after going down to 9 men, Chelsea feasted on Brighton.
As much as we’d like to think Hurzeler will change things up this week, I don’t think he will. If he stood by it against Chelsea, it’s hard to see him abandoning it now. This is great news for Tottenham.
Spurs ran circles around Man Utd last week. If Timo Werner were a more clinical scorer, it could’ve easily been another 7-0 loss for Man Utd.
With Son Heung-min coming back into the lineup for Spurs this week and with Brighton starting center back Jan Paul van Hecke out injured, Tottenham will have plenty of chances to score in this match. We expect them to convert those chances and to put up another big score line against the Seagulls.
Prediction: Brighton 2-4 Tottenham
