Premier League 2024/25 Matchday 5 - Preview & Predictions

Manchester City and Arsenal do battle this weekend as this season's two most likely Premier League title contenders meet for the first time.

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

West Ham vs Chelsea

After enjoying an impressive looking summer transfer window, the reality so far for West Ham hasn’t really matched up on the football pitch. A return of four points from their opening four matches would have realistically been the minimum expected by fans, players and the board alike and with the visit of Chelsea, life could become a little harder here.

To this point, the Hammers have lost both of their two home league outings thanks to a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa and 3-1 defeat to Manchester City. Manager Julen Lopetegui will need to sort out that form quickly if he’s to keep the home fans onside, especially as West Ham will be looking to avoid losing each of their opening three home matches of a league campaign for the first time in their history.

The arrival of London rivals Chelsea could be considered unwelcome then, particularly as the Blues have won 30 of their prior 56 Premier League meetings with West Ham - only beating Tottenham more times in the competition’s history. That’ll serve as extra inspiration for Enzo Maresca’s side and considering that they’ve also won each of their last four away league games, they’ll be desperate to continue that form and record five in succession for the first time since late 2021.

Last time out Chelsea battled their way to a 1-0 success over Bournemouth on their travels, Christopher Nkunku proving to be the match winner. All four of his Premier League goals have come away from home which leaves him primed for even more success in this latest outing at London Stadium. The visitors will need to keep their collectively cool more so here though, as their match against the Cherries saw a record number of yellow cards dished out in a Premier League match.

Overall, the visitors are definitely proving to be stronger than many were expecting at this early stage of the season but even despite West Ham’s recent woes, the Hammers will prove to be very tough opposition in this one and a draw between the pair shouldn’t surprise.

Prediction: West Ham 1-1 Chelsea

Tottenham vs Brentford

Despite their bitter rivals Arsenal heading into last weekend’s North London derby without key players Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, Tottenham still failed to make them pay and instead fell to a 1-0 defeat.

Soon after questions were asked of manager Ange Postecoglou and his approach from a tactical perspective which has seen Spurs record their worst start to a Premier League campaign since 2015/16 thanks to their return of just four points. He responded in Sunday’s post-match press conference by claiming that he should be judged on winning trophies rather than on individual games and although his record in delivering them during his managerial career to date is strong overall, bringing them back to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season will be no easy feat.

A route cause of Spurs’ recent woes has been their complete inability to defend set pieces, conceding 25 goals from such plays since the start of last season - the second-worst tally in the Premier League behind only Nottingham Forest. That’s causing plenty of unnecessary tension between the Australian manager and supporters so putting together a quick response to their latest set back is crucial this upcoming weekend.

The home side’s recent record of losing just one of their last six league meetings with Brentford could offer some much-needed additional confidence then, though saying that, Spurs’ return of seven losses across their last 11 Premier League outings remains very worrying.

That will have visiting Brentford licking their lips, even if they fell to a 2-1 defeat on the road to Manchester City last time out. Despite failing to claim any points at the Etihad Stadium, Pep Guardiola heaped plenty of praise on the London outfit and manager Thomas Frank in particular as they continue to punch above their weight in the competition.

Even in spite of that, 12 defeats across their last 16 away league fixtures points to poor away form on the whole and if they’re to safely navigate their way through this campaign and steer well clear of another relegation battle, they need to find a way to toughen up on the road. In that sequence, the Bees have also lost all four of their away London derby matches and although Tottenham head into this latest fixture wounded by recent turmoil, they should see possess too much quality on this occasion. 

Prediction: Tottenham 2-1 Brentford

Manchester City vs Arsenal

The biggest game of matchday five and likely one of the most pivotal fixtures of the entire Premier League season takes place this weekend as reigning champions Manchester City and last season’s runners-up Arsenal do battle once again at the Etihad Stadium.

It’s Pep Guardiola’s City side who enter top of the pile after four games, winning each of their four outings to date with forward Erling Haaland enjoying some of the finest goalscoring form of his career. The Norwegian international has struck a barely believable nine goals across those fixtures, more goals than any other team in the entire division has netted combined to this point!

City fans will hope that he can continue that again in this one, as the home side enter unbeaten across their last nine Premier League games at the Etihad Stadium against the Gunners. They’ll hope to extend that run into double figures to steal an early stranglehold in this year’s title race and on top of that, there’s more history to be made with another victory too. That’s because City are vying to become the first team in English top-flight history to win their first five games in five different campaigns, something that looks likely given that they’ve also now won 13 consecutive league games overall.

But if there’s one team at present who can really take the fight to the Cityzens, it’s Arsenal, and they’ll arrive here in fantastic spirits after winning the North London derby last time out. That hard-fought 1-0 win came despite the fact that both Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard were missing through suspension/injury and even though the England international returns for this outing, the renewed absence of their captain will remain a huge problem.

There’s plenty of positives to offset that negativity at least, not least so as Arsenal took four points from City last season whilst keeping a clean sheet in both head-to-head matches. Mikel Arteta’s side have additionally loved their time on the road lately and in this match could become the first side in Premier League history to go 12 successive away games without falling behind on the scoresheet in any. 

That puts them in just about the best position possible ahead of this huge early season title showdown and if they can pull off a stunning win, they’d make it 100 wins against Manchester City across all competitions to round it out perfectly.

Prediction: Manchester City 2-0 Arsenal

Predictions for the rest of the matchday

Aston Villa 2-0 Wolves

Fulham 0-1 Newcastle United

Southampton 2-2 Ipswich Town

Liverpool 3-1 Bournemouth

Crystal Palace 0-1 Manchester United

Brighton 1-1 Nottingham Forest

Predictions outcome so far this season