The 2026/27 Premier League season will return next weekend after the international break with Matchday 6 as Manchester City and Arsenal continue to jockey at the top of the table while Tottenham Hotspur look for their first win of the campaign at the very bottom. Before the action begins next weekend with Arsenal and Leeds, let’s look at seven bold predictions for the upcoming matches.
Evanilson will own Chelsea
Bournemouth finished in the top six last season, and while they are in the bottom four without Andoni Iraola, they will still pose a threat to a Chelsea side that also look far away from European football themselves. Xabi Alonso has not brought the Blues forwards thus far, and their suspect back line is going to continue to struggle with a manager who has never really been able to get defensive players to play up to a high standard.
Although Bournemouth are missing phenom Eli Junior Kroupi through injury, Kroupi’s 2025/26 season breakout overshadowed another talented striker who fits the Bournemouth mold perfectly in Evansilon. More of an all-arounded than a goal-getter, Evanilson has been great this season with 3 assists to lead the team and 2.0 fouls drawn per game. He is the kind of striker who can drop deep, move around the pitch, and wreak havoc on and off the ball and is the profile these Chelsea center backs hate coping with.
Dr. Tottenham will fix up Manchester United
Manchester United are winless in their last three, but they are going up against a Tottenham Hotspur side that are winless in all of their five. The joke is that Spurs so often last season helped teams that were in a slump turn it around, and Man United, while overachievers last season upon the appointment of iconic midfielder Michael Carrick, are too good to be toiling away in the bottom half of the table for long. The break is not going to magically fix what ails Spurs in terms of their scoring, and Carrick is going to deliver Roberto De Zerbi a humbling that will truly awaken him. Think of a 5-1 scoreline here.
Nottingham Forest will win with a Morgan Gibbs-White worldie
Morgan Gibbs-White scored a jaw-dropping 15 goals last season after Evangelos Marinakis managed to ward off Spurs bid for the attacking midfielder, and you can only imagine how the narratives of both of these two teams would have been different if the Premier League’s best scoring midfielder landed in North London White. Forest and MGW will do battle with Crystal Palace this weekend between 13th and 15th, and it will be a volleyed goal in the dying embers that will give Forest an unforgettable 2-1 win in a gritty contest.
Sunderland vs. Brighton will have eight combined goals
Sunderland managed to put 3 past Manchester City in their last Premier League fixture, and while they are mostly known for being a defensive team, which is what kept them up rather convincingly in their Premier League return last season, they have shown real signs of improvement on the attacking end, especially ever since Brian Brobbey became a fixture. Brighton, meanwhile, are fighting near the top of the table and even put three past Arsenal as an attacking side at least on par with the likes of Man City in terms of output. The fireworks will be back, and a 4-4 or 5-3 scoreline in either direction could be on top, as Brighton will unlock Sunderland defensively and encourage Brobby and the Black Cats to open up their play. I can see Nislon Angulo and Enzo Le Fee adding to their tallies of one goal apiece.
Micky van de Ven is going to score another solo goal
Tottenham Hotspur are in for another rough night on Oct. 10 when they face Manchester United, but at least Micky van de Ven will be able to hold his head high. He has been the best player on a ravaged back line and one of the few returning stars from last season who is still maintaining a high level. The Dutch center back has benefited a lot from Roberto De Zerbi, and while it’s been a long time since he scored a great solo goal, the slow Manchester United back line and suspect midfield will yield one cavernous space for him to show Omar Marmoush, Mohammed Kudus, and the struggling forwards exactly how it’s done.
Anthony Elanga will have the Game of the Week
Arguably the biggest transfer flop of the 2025/26 Premier League season, Anthony Elanga was perhaps the only Swedish national team player to grab any positive attention at the World Cup this summer and has carried that over to a much better 2026/27 campaign for the Magpies. With Anthony Gordon in the Catalan sun, Elanga is the new face of the attack. He is scoring goals, drawing fouls, and creating chances, and this week, he will put it all together against a Coventry side that is hemorrhaging goals and just does not at all have the quality to stay up in the Premier League. Elanga loves dicing up teams that can’t handle explosive players like him, and with the way he has been shooting over the past couple of months, Coventry will be put on notice.
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Antoine Semenyo scores a 95th minute winner vs. Liverpool
Liverpool never signed Antoine Semenyo, and now he is going to haunt them. The Reds are liking what Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak are doing in the attack, but Semenyo will be the one to steal the show in the marquee matchup of the weekend as Manchester City and Liverpool renew their title rivalry – despite the Reds not quite being title contenders again, even with improvements already under Andoni Iraola. Semenyo has fit Manchester City wonderfully since his winter signing from Bournemouth. With 5 goal contributions and more than 2 key passes per game, Semenyo is a monster scorer and creator for City, and he will rip apart a depleted flank defense in the final minutes, bursting forward after beating three men and blasting a near post goal that Alisson Becker can do nothing about.
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THE TRIVELA EFFECT
Purveyor of footy since the 90s. Favor the Premier League and old school Serie A with a touch of Bundesliga. More than a touch. Professional writer for 20 years, covering every sport but now focused on the Premier League and world football. You won’t be able to guess my favorite team.