Match to catch
Arsene Wenger may have finally ended his Jose Mourinho hoodoo when Arsenal beat Chelsea in August’s Community Shield, but his chances of earning a first league success over his bitter managerial rival were badly hit by Wednesday’s Champions League action. While the Gunners travelled to Croatia and suffered an embarrassing loss to Dinamo Zagreb, the Blues didn’t have to leave West London as they enjoyed a 4-0 stroll against Maccabi Tel Aviv. After the disastrous start to their title defence, that could be just the trigger troubled Chelsea need to kickstart their campaign. Prediction: Chelsea 2 Arsenal 1
Keep an eye on
Luke Shaw may have been denied the opportunity to take on his old club Southampton — and a great many more games over the next few months — by his eye-watering double leg break in the Champions League in midweek, but Manchester United’s trip to the St Mary’s Stadium still promises much. Another ex-Saint, central midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin, will make his first return to the south coast since his big money summer switch as the Red Devils look to continue their dominance of this fixture. United have won eight of the 10 matches they have played at St Mary’s, losing just once (to a James Beattie goal in 2003), but they will be mentally and physically drained after the trauma of Tuesday’s game at PSV and Southampton have half a chance of springing an upset. Prediction: Southampton 1 Man United 1
For the purists
Newcastle fans must have thought they might finally be able to kick on this season, with the appointment of Steve McClaren as coach and some much-needed investment in the squad. Instead, after five games, they are bottom of the table and have scored only two goals (both of which came on the opening day!). Watford are also struggling to find the net so this one is likely to be either goalless or decided by a set-piece. Prediction: Newcastle 1 Watford 0
Showing form
West Ham fans are genuine ‘Happy Hammers’ at the moment thanks to their impressive form under Slaven Bilic. They go into Saturday night’s match away to Manchester City fifth in the table after back-to-back wins without conceding a goal and they have a genuinely exciting forward line featuring Diafra Sakho, Victor Moses, Manuel Lanzini and led by French star Dimitri Payet, who looks to be a quality signing. City will be on edge after their loss to Juventus, but they should still have enough to make it six wins from six in the league this season. Prediction: Man City 3 West Ham 1
Need a win
After successive 1-0 wins at the start of the season, Liverpool’s prospects under Brendan Rodgers are beginning to look bleak. They have lost their last two league games — 3-0 at home to West Ham and 3-1 at Manchester United - and now have the distraction of the Europa League to cope with as well. Despite the vast sums of money spent on the squad, Liverpool still look imbalanced, particularly with teenager Joe Gomez currently the only option at left-back. The summer signing from Charlton looks a good prospect, but the 18-year-old needs to be eased into the team gradually rather than playing every minute of every game while Jose Enrique is frozen out. And Gomez’s inexperience cost his side with the penalty he gave away at Old Trafford last weekend. Norwich will be hopeful of cashing in at Anfield on Sunday. Prediction: Liverpool 1 Norwich 1
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Think I’m way off the mark? Tweet me your English Premier League predictions via @MartinDownerGN
