Premier League 2024/25 Matchday 4 - Preview & Predictions

English top-flight football returns from the first international break of the season headlined by the North London derby.

Each matchday I’ll be focusing on a couple of Premier League matches from an in-depth perspective - with the help of Opta data - and then giving score predictions for the rest. At the bottom of each article will be a running count of how many winning results and correct score lines I mange to pick out throughout the season.

The pick of the bunch

Tottenham vs Arsenal

The Premier League returns from the first international break of the season and resumes with one of the biggest rivalries in the competition, as Tottenham and Arsenal battle it out in the North London derby.

For both sides it’s been a fairly respectable start to the league campaign against what was expected, though as has been the case in recent season, Spurs continue to struggle to grind out results when it really matters. That was seen on matchday one with a 1-1 draw against Leicester City, a match during which the London side absolutely dominated but failed to make their chances pay and similar then happened just prior to the international break versus Newcastle.

Again, that was a match in which Ange Postecoglou’s side had more shots, more possession, more corners than their opposition but were instead beaten by a late Alexander Isak strike which undid all their hard work and saw them slump to a W1, D1, L1 record from their opening three Premier League outings this term.

Facing a potentially confidence-dented Spurs will come as music to the ears of Arsenal then, even though they arrive at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with huge problems of their own to contend with.

A 1-1 draw with Brighton during their last outing at the Emirates Stadium saw their 100% winning start to the campaign end, but just as importantly, it saw star midfielder Declan Rice sent off in controversial fashion. As a direct result, he’ll miss this match through suspension and if that wasn’t a tough enough setback for manager Mikel Arteta to deal with, more bad news followed a few days later.

That’s because Martin Odegaard suffered an injury on international duty with Norway, by all accounts a bad ankle sprain, which is more than likely to see him deemed unfit to feature in this one. Riccardo Calafiori additionally suffered the same fate whilst playing for Italy, and with new singing Mikel Merino also already out with a shoulder problem, the Gunners could be light on numbers across the board here. 

As such, expect them to potentially set up in a slightly different system for this match, especially as they don’t really have a like-for-like Odegaard replacement. Could Saka fill in the gap and move more centrally? Maybe, but in truth no matter how Arteta sets up his side for this showdown, he’ll likely be happy to get in and out with anything other than a defeat given the circumstances.

Prediction: Tottenham 1-1 Arsenal

Southampton vs Manchester United

It’s been a tough start to life back as a Premier League team so far this season for Southampton who have lost all three of their matches to this point. As such, they could become the first side in the competition’s history to lose each of their opening four league matches of a campaign on three separate occasions and with Manchester United arriving on the South coast this weekend, that could be deemed likely.

That’s mostly due to the fact that Southampton have failed to win any of their last 14 league outings against the Red Devils, a run stretching all the way back to a 1-0 success at Old Trafford in January 2016. Their form against this opponent only gets worse when limiting the matches to ones played at St Mary’s Stadium too, with Southampton not winning on home soil against United since August 2003.

But United themselves arrive here after making another slow start to their latest league campaign, one which has returned one win and two losses to this point. Their latest display saw Liverpool stick the knife in and win 3-0 at Old Trafford with ease so the pressure is already well and truly on the shoulders of manager Erik ten Hag. That’s only highlighted further when you consider that his side have lost two of their opening three league games on two occasions during his three year reign now, as many times as the prior 29 seasons combined.

Delivering all three points this weekend is an absolute must then, especially as the new leaders in the boardroom at Old Trafford seem to be a lot more cutthroat than the Glazer family before given United’s clean up of the deadwood in their playing squad over the summer.

But even with all that negativity to contend with, the visitors should still have enough quality at their disposal to get past the Saints on this occasion. Bruno Fernandes could be the key to inspiring such an outcome as he scored the winner on his last visit to St Mary’s, whilst his return of six goal contributions in seven matches against Southampton points to more of the same following this time around.

Prediction: Southampton 1-2 Manchester United

Bournemouth vs Chelsea

After surprising many to finish safety in midtable last season, Bournemouth went out this summer and added even more talent to their squad from a recruitment standpoint.

In came Luis Sinisterra on a permanent deal from Leeds, whilst centre back Dean Huijsen joined from Juventus and so far, he’s had a solid start to life on the South coast. Of course, star striker Dominic Solanke eventually left for Spurs in a record deal, but the Cherries were quick to replace him with Evanilson from FC Porto to fill the void.

That’s paved the way for an unbeaten start to this new campaign as Bournemouth put together draws against Nottingham Forest and Newcastle before winning a spectacular game of football at Goodison Park last time out at Everton’s expense. In that game, the Cherries were losing 2-0 with 87 minutes on the clock before strikes from Semenyo, Cook and Sinisterra saw them become the first side to turn a two-goal deficit into a victory that late into a Premier League match.

Not only will spirits be sky high as a result, but it’ll also leave Chelsea fearful on their latest trip to the Vitality Stadium. So far the Blues have won one, drawn one and lost one and although they smashed Wolves 6-2 during their last away day, their lacklustre 1-1 draw at home to Crystal Palace that followed will have dented some of the confidence that they will have found at Molineux.

In better news for the away faithful, Chelsea are unbeaten across their last five league meetings with Bournemouth and they’ve lost just one of their previous seven away league games against the Cherries in this competition. They’ve also won each of their last three away Premier League outings overall which should further boost morale but even with that, holes remain in this Chelsea team so don’t be surprised if Andoni Iraola’s side can become the latest outfit to take advantage of that weakness.

Prediction: Bournemouth 1-1 Chelsea

Predictions for the rest of the matchday

Brighton 2-0 Ipswich Town

Crystal Palace 2-1 Leicester City

Fulham 0-1 West Ham

Liverpool 3-0 Nottingham Forest

Manchester City 3-1 Brentford

Aston Villa 2-0 Everton

Wolves 1-2 Newcastle United

Predictions outcome so far this season