The EPL is in full swing is most soccer in Europe. But before we get into a discussion of what’s on tap for the weekend lets take a look at what’s happened so far.

(You can discuss this EPL on the BSL Board here.)

What did we learn from the first two weeks?

In the preview article a few weeks ago the clubs touted as those to watch as favorites were Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool. Well after two weeks the two clubs from Manchester are running first and second, with Chelsea running fourth. Liverpool is right at mid table but note that both their matches to date have been on the road. Meanwhile, there is Arsenal.  They are mired down in 13th place  from a tough start. They opened at home and got beaten by Liverpool allowing4 goals in the process. Allowing four goals in a home match is pretty rare in the EPL, although they did manage to net three goals of their own. They played a bit better in their second match earning a draw on the road at reigning league champions, Leicester.

And as we see most every year, some team comes from out of the picture to make some early noise. Last year it was 5000-1 odds against Leicester who made the early noise and they carried that all the way to the league title. The surprise team so far this year? Newly promoted Hull City. Hull City has never finished higher than 16th in the EPL. But after two strong wins to start the season, and finding themselves in third place perhaps this will be their year?  It should be noted that all four of the current top teams have the maximum six points and the standings mentioned are reflective of the goal differential tie breaker.

Now expect to see some changes over the next several weeks. Like in any sport the start of a new season tends to have some surprises and unexpected results. Much of this comes from teams with new managers, or new players, or just plain old flukey results and they get evened out over the course of a long season. Now in the case of Arsenal much of their early struggles are attibuted to simple weaknesses. The team has tried for several months to bolster the middle of the defense and their attack. But unfortunately they were out bid on several options they went after and their injury problems are dragging on.

But there is hopefully good news for Gunner fans. Arsenal announced they have agreed to terms with Deportivo striker Lucas Perez and Velencia defender Shkodran Mustafi. Both players are expected to have their physicals tomorrow. Both of these players were top performers in La Liga and should bolster Arsenal as soon as they can get on the field.

One last tidbit from the first two weeks. All three newly promoted teams earned at least 3 points in their first two matches! Don’t look for that to continue……but then it is the EPL.

Week #3 Preview

There are a number of interesting matches this weekend and with the Olympics over the EPL will be back to getting full television coverage on the NBC family of channels. So lets take a quick look at whats on tap.

Hull City v Manchester United

Hull City hosts the Red Devils, two teams both with the maximum six points after the first two weeks of the season. This match will be shown on NBC at 1230 EDT on Saturday in what should be good match.  This should be a fairly close and even match. Being at home will boost Hull City and their early form has been quite good, although a surprising. In their first two matches they have allowed the second most shots in the league (42). Even though they have only allowed one goal on a penalty their expected goals is 4.18. This suggests their results have quite exceeded their actual play.  If they continue that trend against Man U they will be in big time trouble. In the end I think Manchester United may have just too much firepower in the middle of the field with Ibrahmovic, Rooney, and Pogba and I expect Man U to take three points on the road. To earn any points in this match, Hull City will need Uruguayan striker Able Hernandez to be in top form and keeper Eldin Jakupovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) to somehow keep the Red Devils out of the net.

Tottenham v Liverpool

Tottenham hosts Liverpool in a game to be shown on NBC Sports Saturday morning with a 0725 EDT kickoff. The interesting factoid going into this game – the Hotspurs have not scored a goal at home against Liverpool in their last three EPL matches. Look for that drought to end Saturday. But alas at the other end of the field I don’t think they can keep a clean sheet. This one looks like a 1-1 draw. A result that Liverpool would take and not a bad one for Tottenham. Key players in the game – Harry Kane (England) for the Tottenham and Phillipe Coutinho (Brazil) and Adam Lallana (England) for Liverpool.

Chelsea v Burnley

Chelsea host Burnley in another game slated for NBC Sports with a Saturday kickoff at 0955 EDT. Chelsea looks to open the season with three straight victories while newly promoted Burnley looks to continue its early season success. Burnley plays some fairly old school English soccer. High work rate, direct passing game, and a solid 4-4-2 formation. In beating Liverpool, Burnley only had 20% of the possession and only took three shots. But they were quality efforts and they netted two of them. Defensively they allowed Liverpool to amass 26 attempts yet they kept a clean sheet. Most of the Liverpool shots were from outside range, in fact their expected goals rating for the match was only 1.37 so getting shut out wasn’t a total shock. However, this is Chelsea. And Chelsea knows how to score. Look for forward Diego Costa (Spain) and French midfileder N’Golo Kante to control the tempo of the game. Burnley loses on the road in this one, although I expect it to be a relatively close game in score, 2-1.

On Sunday, look for Manchester City to hold serve at home and defeat West Ham United. Although not announced yet, I think this will be the Sunday match on NBC Sports at 1055 EDT.

Steve Birrer
Steve Birrer

Soccer Analyst

Steve is an avid fan of all things soccer and the O’s. Originally from the west, he grew up in the Baltimore area. He returned to the west for college where he earned a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Montana State University and spent 36 years working at the Idaho National Laboratory prior to retiring in 2013. It was during his school years in Baltimore where he learned to play soccer and that developed into a life long passion. He played competitively for over 40 years and was a four year starting goalkeeper at MSU. He also coached and refereed in the Idaho premier soccer and High School programs for many years.

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