Premier League Predictions, Week 8

Welcome back to your weekly Premier League predictions! We're 7 weeks into the season, and we're already learning a fair amount about the League this year: Liverpool and Manchester City are on another planet, the only team that might be able to throw a spanner in the works is Leicester of all sides, Arsenal and Man U just can't win matches they should, and Tottenham is in a world of trouble.

We'll touch on each of these things in the predictions, but first, speaking of learning a fair amount: yours truly went 5 FOR 5 on last week's picks! Yep. Every single one. Now, as my brother likes to gleefully point out, I didn't get the scoreline quite right on any of them, but hey, considering it took me until about Week 30 last year to notch a perfect outing, I'm counting this as a massive win for my ego. This takes me to a much more palatable 11.5/15 on the season.

Now, the matches are less than 12 hours away from starting, so let's not waste any time basking in glory. Here are your 5 for Week 8!

Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Tottenham Hotspur

I said this last week, and sadly for the North Londoners, it bears repeating: it's hard to overstate just how poor Tottenham have been since the end of last season. Though they finally got an important Premier League win against Southampton last week, albeit losing Serge Aurier to a red card in the process, they followed that up with a horrifying capitulation to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday. Despite their poor form, things aren't all that catastrophic: Spurs are in 6th place in the Premier League, just 3 points out of 3rd place. But they'll have to avoid slipping up against a tricky Brighton side in order to stave off mutiny from the fans. I think they'll pull through, this time.

The Pick: Tottenham, 2-0

Liverpool vs. Leicester City

The prime matchup of the weekend this time around comes Saturday morning (afternoon, local time). Liverpool have won every single match so far this season, a feat only accomplished by two previous teams in history. It's not a stretch to say this may be their toughest test to date, though; Leicester is sitting alone in 3rd place, after all, and has a manager that is well-versed in all things Liverpool. Furthermore, the Foxes typically are up for giving Liverpool a tough match at Anfield; see the surprising 1-1 draw last year or the nailbiting 2-1 Liverpool comeback the year before as examples. For all these reasons, I think Leicester gets the title-race-altering surprise draw yet again.

The Pick: Draw, 2-2

West Ham vs. Crystal Palace

This was not a match I expected to be predicting in Week 8 of the Premier League season, but the truth of the matter is that is it's a matchup between two Top-8 teams, which makes it a more important showdown than Tottenham's, Chelsea's, and Manchester United's. West Ham has sneakily played their way up to 5th place, and have avoided their first loss; this run included a 2-0 upset, if you can call it that, over Manchester United two weeks ago. For Palace, it's been a typical up-and-down start for them. Impressive wins over Norwich City and yes, United, have been mollified by a surprise loss to Sheffield and a shellacking by Tottenham. This feels like one that could go either way, but I'll err on the side of the home team.

The Pick: West Ham, 1-0

Arsenal vs. Bournemouth

Arsenal is the embodiment of the Shrug emoji. They spend a good amount of their matches, whether it be against top-drawer opponents or seemingly lesser-than, in control of proceedings with their pace and fluidity. Then, not only do they so often find ways to lose or draw (when they should win), they pick the most spectacular ways to do it. (It usually involves David Luiz.) So, in terms of the players on the pitch, there's no reason Arsenal can't win at home against Bournemouth. But given their track record of underachieving couple with the Cherries' track record of overachieving, I'll believe it when I see it.

The Pick: Draw, 1-1

Manchester City vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers

Since losing to Norwich a few weeks back, City have beaten their 5 opponents by a score of 19-1. Suffice it to say there seems to be a renewed edge and focus for the two-time reigning champs, and that does not bode well for Wolves, who are struggling to recapture the magic of last year's Top 7 finish.

The Pick: Manchester City, 4-0

Premier League Predictions, Week 8

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