GW8 Premier League Previews and Free Bets with Samba Pools

The Premier League is back after the international break and round 8 has some fascinating fixtures for supporters to contemplate.

I was unable to post a round 7 preview due to work commitments so here is an updated profit & loss table for our Samba Pools players that combines results from both round 6 & 7

Rank	Hive Account	Total profit/loss for the season (Hive)
1	@tengolotodo	3.525
2	@thoth442	3.018
3	@talesfrmthecrypt	2.033
4	@doombot75	1.609
5	@seki	0.049
6	@blancy	-0.077
7	@amirtheawesome1	-0.320

Lets dive straight into the previews and predictions for this weekend's action.

Boy do Forest and their new, possibly soon to be old, boss need a win. To be fair to Big Ange, I don't think his side have been awful and of course he's inherited a bloated squad with obviously disrupted dressing room.

However, familiar problems with Angeball have manifested themselves, particularly at the back, with Forest yet to keep clean sheet in the 7 matches the Australian has been in charge. The defensive issues for the Tricky Trees actually started much earlier than Ange's arrival and the side has conceded at least 1 goal in its last 19 games in all competitions which is quite remarkable given how tight they were at the back for much of last season. In the 19 games prior to that, Forest recorded 10 clean sheets!

It is therefore not just Ange's problem but at the same time, he's not likely to be the man to fix that particular issue and it's perhaps no surprise that Forest are being linked with the likes of Dyche and Benitez, 2 managers who will build their team from the back.

Of course Chelsea have their own problems in defence through injury and suspension and that contributed towards a difficult September for the Blues in which they conceded 11 goals in 6 games. They bounced back from those troubles with an excellent performance and win against reigning champions Liverpool just before the break and will want to carry on that momentum.

Chelsea ground out a 1-0 here last season and in fact you have to go all the way back to 1997 for the last time Forest beat Chelsea at home. That game saw Forest and England legend Stuart Pearce on the scoresheet for Forest.

This match features 2 sides with almost identical league records this season who will probably feel that they've underperformed to date.

There are of course mitigating circumstances, particularly for Newcastle and the difficult summer they endured in the transfer market. This match then represents a real opportunity for both teams to push up the table at a time of the year when it actually becomes worthwhile looking at league position.

The obvious issue for Newcastle has been finding the back of the net since the departure of Isak. They have just 6 goals this season with only Forest and Wolves scoring fewer. At the same time, they are still perhaps the best organised team defensively in the Premier League. They've conceded just 5 goals, only 2 from open play and have the lowest expected goals against of any side in the division so far.

Brighton continue to be a tough nut to crack at the Amex. You have to go all the way back to early April for the last time they lost a home match with only 2 defeats on the South Coast in 2025.

This has been a fixture that Brighton have dominated since both teams found themselves in the top flight. From 2017 onwards Newcastle have won just twice, with both victories coming at St James park while Brighton have been victorious on 7 occasions. At the same time, there have been 8 draws, all of them either 0-0 or 1-1 and on current showing, I think odds are that we'll get a 9th.

A massive Lancashire v Yorkshire derby and one that could be crucial to the survival chances of both sides come the spring.

Burnley in particular with just a point from their last 5 games really need to pick-up a 2nd win of the season here. Remember their first and to date only Premier League victory so far this year came at home to another promoted side too.

To be honest Burnley are looking far easier to play against than either Leeds or Sunderland in the early stages of the season. The later 2 clubs have physicality mixed with some skill while Burnley don't have the pace and power of those 2 and generally appear softer at the back.

The Clarets are already strong favorites for relegation (odds of 1.34 to go down) and if they lose here today, I'd expected those odds to shorten quite dramatically.

The matches between 2 sides chasing promotion and the title last season were understandably tight with the corresponding fixture here finishing 0-0 and the game at Leeds 0-1. Given what is at stake again, I'd be surprised if this was an open game decided by more than the odd goal.

We move from a side under-achieving into a fixtures between 2 of the league's overachievers.

Palace's long unbeaten run finally came to an end at Everton last time out while Bournemouth are looking to establish their own sequence having picked up points in their last 6 Premier League games.

The Cherries also have the advantage of having the Premier League as their sole focus for the next few months having just missed out on Europe and having already been knocked out of the League Cup. While I'm sure the aim will be to qualify for Europe this season, it won't be a major disappointment for Areola to be able to get his squad, which has undergone some significant changes at the back, onto the training field and allow them recovery time from the high pressing style he plays.

In fact, despite the almost wholesale change in the defensive line, Bournemouth continue to perform really well in defence. Their xG against is just 6.54, the 3rd best in the league and it's only been a couple of individual errors that mean that they've ended up conceding 1 or 2 more goals than they probably should have.

In terms of resources, Palace are the complete opposite with a European campaign that means their already small squad have played more matches than anyone else so far this season. That might come back to bite them as the autumn progresses into winter.

The bad news is that these 2 tactically minded managers and well drilled sides completely cancelled each other out last season with both games finishing 0-0. In fact, in the 3 times that Glasner has gone head to head with Areloa there has been just 1 goal so don't expect this one to be a thriller!

After those 2 early defeats, Man City are quietly building themselves into a strong league position. They certainly aren't quite the team of the early part of this decade but there are signs of improvement from last year and with Haaland looking fully fit and confident then you really can't write them off too early. The Norwegian's non-penalty xG for the season (7.7) is over double that of any other player in the league!

As a result, City have scored more goals from open play than any other side, they have scored the joint most goals on the counter attack too but weirdly, they remain the only team so far this season not to have scored from a set-piece.

Will that statistic change in this game? It's unlikely as these 2 are the only remaining teams in the league not to have conceded from a set-piece either - watch one of the score from a corner in the first 20mins!

Both these sides have been far stronger at home this season than away and with the talismanic Jack Grealish ineligible to play against his parent club then you would have to say that City are firm favourites in this one even though Everton are not likely to make it easy.

In fact, despite the Toffees not having recorded a win against City since 2017, they have come away with a point in 2 of their last 3 visits to the Ethiad. Both those matches, including the game last season, came during the Christmas/New Year period. Can Everton deliver a Halloween scare to City this year?

Given Sunderland's excellent start to the season it's difficult to describe this as a bottom of the table clash but I think everyone involved with the North East club will recognise the importance of winning these games in order to stay in the Premier League.

For their part, Wolves remain the only side not to win this season but have been very unlucky to have failed to secure 3 points in their last couple of games after conceding late equalisers in both. It does however leave them with the unenviable record of playing poorly and losing while at the same time playing well and failing to win - a recipe for relegation.

Neither of these sides looks particularly fluent in attack having scored just 7 and 5 goals respectively. In fact, between them, both sides have scored just 7 goals in open play this season so alongside the pressure of losing to a likely relegation rival, it doesn't feel as though either side really has the form and personnel to play an open and expansive game.

Fulham are struggling to find any real consistency to their performances so far this season, something that is probably best portrayed by the fact that their last 3 league games have all finished 3-1 with the Cottagers coming out on the wrong side of that score line against both Villa and Bournemouth.

Arsenal meanwhile appear to have come through a tricky start to the season in pretty good shape. Their game is still based largely on defensive organisation and strength from set-pieces with 7 goals already this season coming from that particular avenue.

Goals from open play continue to be a bit harder to come by for the Gunners with just 5 to date, only 1 more than today's opponents who I would imagine will look to be well organised at the back throughout, including at corners and free kicks.

Fulham for their part have conceded just once from a set play this season and have pretty good form against this Arsenal side with just 1 defeat in their last 4 league meetings.

Spurs come out of the international fixtures in a strange place, one of confidence and hope after finally winning a game proceeding the break! However, Villa too should come into the match with a bit of swagger with 4 wins on the bounce in all competitions and 7 unbeaten.

This has historically been a fixture that has provided good entertainment with at least 2 goals in the last 16 meetings between the 2, with 11 of those matches seeing 3 or more goals.

These 2 sides have been involved in 5 draws so far this season but you have to go back 24 matches to May 2012 for the last time they played out a stalemate against one another.

The difficulty for Spurs so far this season has been at home. Since winning comfortably against Burnley on the opening day, they've lost to Bournemouth without scoring, relied on a freak own-goal to beat Villareal 1-0 in the Champions League and then won a point against bottom placed Wolves with the last kick of the game.

Undoubtedly Thomas Frank is looking to build from the back and add a degree of steal to the team which has certainly come to the fore in their away performances this season with 3 wins and 2 draws (both draws coming back from 2-0 down). However, we're yet to see him get the balance of attack and defence correct at home and this therefore feels like a big opportunity to win over the home support and further strengthen Spurs credentials as a side in the mix for European qualification this season.

Undoubtedly the biggest fixture of the weekend and of course one of the biggest in any season sees the 2 most successful clubs in English league history go head to head.

Lets be honest, this is a must win game for Liverpool following back to back defeats in the league and a loss in the Champions League as well. For United, the immediate pressure has been relieved with a decent performance at home to Sunderland but for a club that's stated that it wishes to compete at the very top of the game again in the coming seasons, these are going to be the matches they are judged on. They were humbled in the Manchester derby last month and must ensure they at least put up a bit more fight in this one.

This is really a tale of 2 sides facing similar tactical problems at present. Both have expensively assembled attacks that haven't managed to deliver yet. In Bruno Fernandes and Mo Salah, both have arguably their most influential and certainly most experienced Premier League stars struggling to come to terms with a new system that doesn't appear to be getting the best from them. And Finally, both are struggling at the back with Liverpool having recorded just 2 clean sheets this season and United just 1 which game in that win in round 7.

What would you do have to consider is that all 3 of those Liverpool loses have come on the road and that Anfield is going to be up for both righting those wrongs while also piling misery on United.

United themselves have been poor on their travels, conceding 3 goals at Brentford and City as well as infamously losing at Grimsby in the cup. In fact, you have to go all the way back to March to find the last time they won an away match in the Premier League and that came against lowly Leicester on their way back to the Championship.

That being said, United have put in some of their betters performances in recent years in this fixture. Since losing 7-0 at Anfield in 2023, they managed to secure 2 draws here and a draw and a win at Old Trafford (the win the 4-3 match in the FA Cup). They will certainly need to turn-up again in this one if they hope to keep that run going.

West Ham did fairly well to not disgrace themselves against Arsenal but getting his side to perform at home and getting the Hammers supporters on board is a massive priority for new boss Nuno.

West Ham haven't won a game at the London Stadium since February when they beat Leicester (notice the pattern here with United's away form). This then represents a real opportunity to get some momentum into their season against a side who you would imagine will be in and around the bottom part of the league themselves come the spring.

We've written many times this season about West Ham's almost comical defending of set plays under the last manager and that will surely have been the focus on the training ground since Nuno came in. Of course they now face a team whose head coach used to be their set piece coach so you'd imagine that this will be another test of how much progress has been made.

Brentford snuck a 1-0 win here last season to make it 3 wins from 4 visits in the Premier League. They are well known as tricky customers in London derbies but are dealing with a mini-injury crisis to an already depleted squad.