Premier League Best 11 Players of the Weekend: Matchday 1

The new English Premier League season kicked off last weekend with defending champions Liverpool starting in a 4-3 thriller over newly-promoted Leeds United. The weekend started with Manchester City and Manchester United, who were given an extra week’s rest due to their involvement in European campaigns abroad last month.

With eight games played here’s a look at the players who made a real difference over the weekend. Did you have them in your team? Do you have them this weekend maybe?

Goalkeeper: Vicente Guaita (Crystal Palace) – 7pts
Six goalkeepers started the new season with a clean sheet and one of the biggest surprises was Crystal Palace’s 1-0 win at home to Southampton. Vicente Guaita made a couple of important stages towards the end to maintain his shut out and three points for Roy Hodgson’s side.

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EPL Predictions Gameweek 2

A full fixture list this weekend as Manchester City and Manchester United start their season in gameweek 2 of the 2020-21 English Premier League.

Arsenal will be looking to build on their impressive win last weekend when they host West Ham United this Saturday, whilst all three promoted teams will be looking for their first points of the campaign.

Here’s a look at each of the weekend’s games:

Everton vs West Bromwich Albion
Everton are one of many people’s dead certs to win this weekend following their impressive 1-0 win away to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend whilst West Bromwich Albion looked like relegation candidates in their 0-3 hammering at home by Leicester City. Another clean sheet could be on the cards, so Jordan Pickford and Lucas Digne should be sensible picks. Going forward, James Rodriguez and Dominic Calvert-Lewin may be the best options for your fantasy team.

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Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 2 Picks

All 20 Premier League teams will be in action this weekend for the first time in 2020-21, with four games on Saturday, four on Sunday and the final two of the gameweek taking place on Monday night.

Manchester City and Manchester United were given last weekend off due to their involvement in European competition abroad last month. The Citizens start their campaign away to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday night, whilst Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side host Crystal Palace on Saturday evening.

Here are our fantasy football suggestions for the weekend:

Goalkeeper: Jordan Pickford (Everton)
Everton started the season with a 1-0 win away to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend as Carlo Ancelotti handed debuts to three of his summer signings. Allan did an excellent job in protecting the back four whilst James Rodriguez created a number of chances in the opening half.

The Toffees welcome West Bromwich Albion to Goodison Park on Saturday lunchtime with the newly-promoted side having been beaten 0-3 at home by Leicester City without really causing any problems for the opposition. Slaven Bilic’s side may not see much better luck this weekend against an organised defence so Jordan Pickford should be a good pick between the sticks.

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English Premier League: Best 11 Players from Matchday 1

The English Premier League returned at the weekend and the 2020/21 edition kicked off in spectacular style, 7 goals in the Liverpool v Leeds game ruled the headlines as Reds striker Mohamed Salah scored a hat trick. Was that enough to make him player of the week with the most points? See below for the first team of the week in the Premier League.

Formation: 4-4-2 (Includes weekend games only)

Goalkeeper: Jordan Pickford- Everton 7pts

Jordan Pickford was criticised at times last season for Everton. The England number 1 has got off on the best footing though as he kept a clean sheet away to Tottenham as Everton won the game 1-0. A few other keepers also kept clean sheets earning 7 points also but Pickford made some superb saves against a quality side.

Defender: Timothy Castagne- Leicester 9pts

What a debut for Timothy Castagne at Leicester. Not only did he see his side beat West Brom 3-0, keeping a clean sheet in the process he also scored a goal, absolutely magnificent first game for the player who is valued at 6m.

Defender: Lucas Digne- Everton 7pts

Another Everton player who had an up and down last season. Looked assured in defence, held it together well as Everton went to Tottenham and beat the Londoners 1-0. Kept a clean sheet and assisted in Everton’s goal, a perfect weekend for Digne.

Defender: Frederico Fernandez- Newcastle 5pts

Fernandez has been at the Magpies for a couple of seasons but got the chance to make a rare start and made it count. Defended well and helped keep a clean sheet for Steve Bruce’s side as they beat West Ham 2-0 away.

Defender: Yerry Mina- Everton 5pts

Overall maybe Everton’s best defender as they beat Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham side 1-0. A great start for Everton and Mina who had faced a lot of pressure last season. Mina seems to be heading in the right direction and he can be bought for 6m.

Midfielder: Mohamed Salah- Liverpool 14pts

No player earned more points than Mohamed Salah at the weekend and the player of the weekend was in brilliant form as helped his side Liverpool beat Leeds Utd 4-3 in a thrilling game at Anfield. Salah has got off to an amazing start as the prolific striker looks like he will have yet another great season.

Midfielder: Jeff Hendrick- Newcastle 8pts

Jeff Hendrick really caught the eye last season and has started well with Newcastle. The Magpies beat West Ham 2-0 away and he scored a goal and also assisted in the other one. He’s off to a great start earning 8 points.

Midfielder: Willian- Arsenal 6pts

Willian switched from Chelsea to Arsenal and looked like he had played for the Gunners for years. Arsenal beat Fulham 3-0 with ease and the ex Chelsea player was superb assisting in two of the goals.

Midfielder: Wilfried Zaha- Crystal Palace 6pts

The Eagles had a lot of injuries so they were heavily reliant on Wilfried Zaha and he got the only goal as Crystal Palace beat Southampton 1-0. Zaha has been loyal to the club and played with an intensity and was always a threat.

Striker: Jamie Vardy- Leicester 8pts

Jamie Vardy keeps doing it, he keeps scoring goals. The top goalscorer from last season bagged 2 goals as Leicester beat West Brom 3-0 away from home. Vardy got the penalty that counted, and he will be delighted with himself. You can add Vardy to your team but he won’t be cheap coming in at 11.5m.

Striker: Callum Wilson- Newcastle 4pts

Callum Wilson made his debut for Newcastle in style as he scored a goal as the Magpies ran out 2-0 winners at a very poor West Ham. Wilson was very alert, scored a nice goal and this could be a great capture for Steve Bruce.

Challenge the best EPL Fantasy Managers at www.fantasy-premier.com

Juventus looking to sign Everton star as part of a swap deal

While many have looked at the freeze in football action as being a difficult period to get through, clubs have been scouting out the competition and looking to see how they can improve their squads. This is certainly true for Juventus with the Italian team linked with a possible attempt to sign Lucas Digne while Everton get their supposed target Adrien Rabiot.

This could be quite the swap for both teams, as Rabiot only moved to the Italian side last summer from Paris Saint-Germain. Recently, there has been a growing talk about a Rabiot move away from Italy, and it looks as though Everton have been considering steps towards securing him. This was first reported a few months ago when it was speculated that Rabiot was unhappy with the amount of playing time he was getting under Maurizio Sarri.

However, Everton may have a tough task on hand considering that Manchester United have also shown a strong interest in signing the French player. Everton started showing interest in Rabiot since back in January while the pursuit from United (and supposedly from Newcastle as well) was a more recent development.

It’s quite surprising that Juventus is willing to let the midfielder leave, but of course the deal won’t take place if the Italian side don’t get something compelling in return.

A Look at Digne and What He Can Bring to Juventus

The swap offer that could potentially be put forward is for Everton’s left-back player Digne to move across to Juventus for Rabiot. Due to the fact that the Italian team only has a single left-back at the moment in Alex Sandro, it’s understandable that adding Digne to the squad will help with both depth and competition. It wouldn’t be such a dramatic move for Digne himself either, considering he spent the 2015/16 season on loan to Roma, so the Italian scene could potentially work well for him. He signed with Everton from Barcelona in August of 2018 for £18 million.

It seems as though swap deals could actually become the norm for Premier League clubs too, as reports suggest that the recent lockdown may result in losses of £1 billion in revenue. Where Everton is concerned, the team could be without four of its top players in the early stages of the league’s restart. Yerry Mina and Jean-Philippe Gbamin remain inactive on the sidelines for the time being, but they’ll likely be joined by Theo Walcott once he undergoes abdominal surgery.

Therefore, the likelihood of sports bettors backing the Everton side does seem less likely for the moment with this being the case. However, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be plenty of action taking place at sites like William Hill once things return full force in England. You may want to learn how to download William Hill app on Android smartphones and tablets just so that you can get used to wagering from such a device. Then, wherever you are, you can bet on Everton, Manchester United, Newcastle and all the other teams with things returning to normal in the English Premier League.

The fourth player who is questionable for Everton is Andre Gomes, who suffered a knock during one of the team’s training sessions recently. Everton did put in a decent showing against expected champions Liverpool. The league leaders- Liverpool- were unable to impose their game against city rivals Everton.

What can Everton hope for?

Everton

Everton made it four wins in their last five Premier League games by hammering a hapless Manchester United side 4-0 at Goodison Park on Sunday.

Goals from Richarlison, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Lucas Digne and Theo Walcott gave United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer many big problems to mull over. However, that’s not anything for Marco Silva and the blue half of Merseyside to concern themselves with.

What Everton, as a club, do need to consider, is exactly what they can hope to achieve over the next few years.

That 4-0 win puts Everton in 7th position in the Premier League, ahead of Watford on goal difference. Yet, in the grand scheme of things, The Toffees are as far away from the league’s big six as they’ve ever been. Continue reading

EPL Game of the Weekend – Everton vs Man Utd

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The late Jerry Reed once released a song entitled “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” – and no truer words could possibly be spoken about Marco Silva’s Everton of late. Just a few weeks ago, Silva’s position at the club seemed questionable, and the Toffees faced a nightmare run of home fixtures against Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd – not the type of fixture list a manager under pressure would be hoping to see! Having now emerged from that run of games with three wins and one draw – and without conceding a single goal in the process – Everton fans will be delighted with the football their team has been playing against some of England’s top teams. Everton have been the club of the week several times in the last month or so, and beat Man Utd 4-0 this weekend.

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EPL Best XI – Week 35

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With the Premier League season continuing whittling itself down to what seems destined to be a thrilling conclusion, nothing more was decided during this past weekend’s action. The battle to avoid being the last side to be relegated from the top flight this season remains far from over, while various intricate races / challenges at the top of the table appear nowhere nearer to being resolved. Liverpool remain two points ahead of Man City at the top of the league with City having a game in hand, Everton impressed many by beating Man Utd 4-0 at Goodison Park and Crystal Palace pulled off a great 3-2 win over Arsenal at the Emirates. With all that said, let us now adopt a 4-3-3 formation and take a peek at which players performed the best this weekend.

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EPL Weekend Picks – Week 34

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This weekend’s Premier League will see the season continuing to take shape as, with just a few games to go, there is still a wide open title race and only one relegation spot left to fill. Liverpool leapfrogged Man City back into top spot last weekend, but the Citizens have a game in hand – just how much of a say will Chelsea and Crystal Palace have on Sunday against the top two? Palace host City while Chelsea travel to Liverpool and so there could well be more twists and turns in this title race yet. Towards the bottom of the table, already-relegated Huddersfield and Fulham both have tricky fixtures, with the Terriers at Tottenham while Fulham host Everton. Let’s take on a 4-3-3 here and see which players will fancy their chances.

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Digne and Robertson battling for Premier League dominance

Digne-Robertson-Everton-Liverpool

It’s rare that two of the Premier League’s best players in a single position can be found playing on opposite halves of the same city. Yet, for Merseyside that is the case this season. Everton’s Lucas Digne and Liverpool’s Andy Robertson are both staking a claim to be the best left-backs in the division.

On the blue half of the city, there is Digne. The Frenchman arrived from Barcelona in the summer as a long-term replacement for Leighton Baines. That was an unenviable task given the status Baines had built for himself over 11 years at the club. It’s one Digne has completed in just under a year. If you need an example of how good he is, just head to statistics website WhoScored. Continue reading