Football Betting Tips – Gameweek 2

Football Betting is notoriously difficult at the start of a new season because we don’t know how new players are going to gel and we don’t know what improvements teams have made in the offseason. It’s going to be at least four or five games before we start to get a read on how these Premier League teams matchup against each other. The good news is that it should get easier and easier to make money each week.

Despite the challenges that come with betting early season games, we still managed to go 3-2 on pregame bets for a total profit of $330. Unfortunately, we took some losses in Live Betting which left us with an overall profit of just $90 for Gameweek 1.

I guess we should be happy with earning a profit on our first weekend of Football Betting, but we came so close to hitting so many big winners that the $90 profit feels like a loss. All weekend we were consistently putting our money in very strong positions and hit absolutely nothing. Had we hit just one of the Live Bets our current profits would have been much higher. I am convinced that if we keep getting our money into similar spots, we will crush it this year.

We narrowly missed out on the following Live Bets:

We bet Newcastle to Draw against Spurs at odds of 5.50 | +450 | 9/2. Just minutes after locking in our bet, Solomon Rondon hit the crossbar for Newcastle when the score was 2-1.

We bet Burnley to win after just 15 minutes of play against Southampton at odds of 4.50 | +350 | 7/2. Burnley went on to dominate the first 60 minutes of the game but failed to score and paid the price as Southampton finished the game strong. It ended 0-0, in a game that Burnley really should have won.

The most disappointing losing Livebet for me was a bet on Wolves to beat a 10 man Everton at odds of 3.60 | +260 | 13/5. Everton had their main center back, Phil Jagielka sent off after 40 minutes just as Wolves were starting to grow in confidence and take control of the game. Unfortunately, instead of trying to go for the kill, Wolves didn’t really commit to trying to win the game and seemed happy to settle for a draw which was puzzling considering they should have had the quality to break down and beat a 10 man Everton in front of their home fans.

This weekend is another action-packed weekend of Premier League football, and I am hoping we can add to our opening week profits. I’ll be sure to add my bets in here as the week progresses.

Chelsea vs Arsenal Betting Tip and Prediction

In their opening game against Man City, Arsenal had a new manager, new players and a sold-out crowd behind them and they still looked lethargic and uninterested at times.

Man City are undoubtedly one of the best teams in the world and capable of making anyone look bad, but Arsenal didn’t bite down on the mouthpiece and go for it. If you can’t raise your game in the opening game of the season in front of a sold-out crowd, then it’s only going to get worse when you travel away to Chelsea.

10 days ago against Chelsea struggled badly against Man City in the Community Shield, but since then they’ve brought in a new Goalkeeper, a World Class Midfielder in Kovacic and some of their top players are returning to full fitness after their World Cup hangover. Chelsea are going to get stronger as the weeks progress, and after shaking off the cobwebs in the first 30 minutes against Huddersfield, they looked outstanding.

When you look at Arsenal, I don’t see what their manager can do to inject some life and some passion into the team. There are just too many Prima donnas and weak links. Ozil looks disinterested and gives the ball away whenever he manages to get into a threatening position. Mkhitaryan is invisible. He does nothing. Arsenal may as well be playing with 10 men when he’s on the pitch. Ramsey and Xhaka are played out of position in a system that doesn’t suit their style of play. Aubameyang and Lacazette end up overplaying the ball and losing possession because they are often lone soldiers with no support and no structure around them.

Games are often won and lost in midfield, and I believe Chelsea will overrun Arsenal in midfield. Torreira is still settling in, Xhaka is too slow, and Guendouzi is too young and inexperienced to play such a big role all by himself. We don’t know who is going to start in midfield for the Blues yet, but any combination of Kante, Kovacic, Jorginho, Fabregas, Barkley, Willian, Hazard and Pedro should run riot.

With home advantage on their side, Chelsea at the current odds look like a rock-solid bet. Arsenal were very poor in their opening game, and I don’t see that changing in just 6 days.

Everton vs Southampton Betting Tip and Prediction

Goodison Park will be rocking Saturday afternoon for Everton’s first home game of the season against Southampton. Everton have a lot of buzz around them at the moment after making some big summer signings, and I’d be surprised if they dropped points here with home advantage on their side. This is a game that Everton will want to win and their performance against Wolves showed that their players are willing to put in a shift when the going gets tough.

Southampton barely avoided relegation last season and in their opening game against Burnley they didn’t look like they had made much of an improvement. Burnley thoroughly outplayed them for the first 60 minutes but just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net. Burnley don’t have much quality up front to punish weak teams like Southampton, but Everton should be able to go one better.

Everton’s one weakness from last season was that they did not create many Goal scoring opportunities. In fact, the only team who created fewer Goalscoring opportunities were Swansea City, and they were relegated. Everton did a good bit of business in the Transfer market to correct this weakness by signing creative Brazilian playmaker, Richarlison, and highly rated Brazilian Winger Bernard. Richarlison made a big impact on his league debut by scoring two goals, and Bernard is expected to make his debut for Everton this weekend.

Everton have always been solid at the back, but they could get an additional defensive boost this weekend as big money signing Mina could come in and replace the suspended Phil Jagielka. Mina still lacks match fitness after a grueling World Cup campaign with Colombia, but he should be ready to claim his place in the starting lineup very soon.

Overall Everton are a much better team than Southampton, and with home advantage on their side, they should be able to win this match. I’d be surprised if Everton were to drop points in their first home game of the season against a side like Southampton.

West Ham vs Bournemouth Betting Tip and Prediction

Bournemouth and West Ham had two of the worst defensive records in the league last season. Both teams have leaky defenses, and they haven’t done too much to bolster their back lines in the recent transfer windows.

West Ham has made the most significant improvements to their defense by signing Fabianski from Swansea and by signing two promising young center backs in Diop and Balbuena. They have also signed a defensive midfielder in Carlos Sanchez from Fiorentina although it is unlikely he will be fit in time for Saturday’s game.

Diop and Balbuena are positive additions to the West Ham squad, but they’re also young, inexperienced and it will take them time to bed in.

Bournemouth hasn’t done as much to bolster their defense, but they did break their transfer record to bring in Jefferson Lerma from Levante. Lerma played a part in Colombia’s World Cup campaign so he is yet to make his league debut and might not be fit in time for Saturday’s clash. Lerma is a defensive midfielder who should add some strength to the middle of the park.

West Ham and Bournemouth both have a lot of attacking firepower, and their best form of defense is their attack. I expect an open game between both of these teams that should provide plenty of goals.