24/25 Match Week 1 Preview

WELCOME TO THE 2024/25 Season!

As a reminder, the CS will be back to our regular Tuesday/Friday schedule.

• Headlines 📌

• What 2 Look 4 👀 

• Best Bets 💰

• Breaking News 📣 - Poch to USMNT

Headlines 📌

• Loving You Is Easy. Chelsea v Man City -120 (Sun) - What a great match to kick of the first weekend of the PL with. Last season The Blues and City had some great matches. In the PL both sides drew (4-4 and 1-1), and City got the best of Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals 1-0. The talent is there in Chelsea’s side to play with the talent on City. The biggest gap is in the manager. Pep’s one of the best in the world, Maresca is untested in the PL and new to Chelsea. Can the home turf at Stamford Bridge be enough to offset City’s manager advantage. Great opening weekend match.

• 1.6.2.1. Weekend. 1 Friday, 6 Saturday, 2 Sunday, 1 Monday.

  • Season kicks off FRIDAY, 2pm cst on USA Network - Man United host Fulham FC.

• Same Boat. Always interesting to see how the new managers fare on opening day, 2 head out on the road, 3 get home matches.

  • Arne Slot - Liverpool travel to Ipswich Town.

  • Enzo Maresca - Chelsea host Man City.

  • Fabian Hurzeler - BHA travel to Everton.

  • Julien Lopetegui - West Ham host Aston Villa.

  • Steve Cooper - Leicester City host Tottenham.

• Knee Deep. Is it too early for managers and clubs to feel the pressure of the season? Not if you coach at Man United. Erik ten Hag was on his way-out last season after losing the most home matches ever at Old Trafford (fourteen) and finished with their lowest ever finish in the table (8^th) but got a huge win in the FA Cup final over rival Man City. United decided to keep ten Hag on as manager but it sure seems like any loss will bring pressure. Must win at home to FFC. Not sure if this is meant to motivate his team, or try to set fan expectations, but this is quite the statement he just made - “We had the USA Tour squad and we’ve added the players who were at the Euros and Copa America and now the new signings, and now we have to make a team from that. That team is not ready, but the league starts.”

• Keep Me In Mind. Transfer window still open. Just a reminder, the transfer window remains open for two more week, so what you see on the pitch this weekend is nowhere near the finished product for these clubs.

What 2 Look 4 👀- Match Week 1

“Homegrown” - Home Debuts🏡🏡🏡

• Chelsea v Man City-120 (Sun) - See Above.

• West Ham v Villa +165 (Sun) - Lopetegui has some great additions en route for the Hammers. The question is will they be ready and can he integrate them in in time for the opener. Against AV, WH have gotten points in 5 of their last 6 and are undefeated in their last 10 home matches. The Villains had good road success last season, their style and mentality travel well. The are expecting at least a point in London.

• Leicester v Tottenham -165 (Mon) - LCFC feel like they are limping into the season. New manager Steve Cooper has said as much voicing his concern about having to play people out of position. Is this a ploy to have Spurs underestimate The Foxes? Not really. Right now, they are a team that seems worse than they were at the end of their Championship title run last season. Keep it close into the second half and they have a chance. Ange has had a full year to coach his style into a club that has only gotten better. Spurs are expecting big things this year, and 3 points Monday.

“Natural Disaster” 🌋🌋 - Always tough for big clubs to start the season on the road at a recently promoted club.

• Ipswich Town v Liverpool -278 (Sat) - Just what you want as a newly promoted club. Bring in a big club, nothing to lose. Portman Road will be 30k fans strong, loud and ready to run through a wall. This will be nothing new for The Reds, as they face the best from wherever they go. Will Arne Slot have the team ready, seems like it. If this match is close into the 2H it could get interesting, otherwise it could get out of hand.

• Leicester v Tottenham -165 (Mon) - See Above.

“Where the Boat Leaves From” - Tough Road Assignments⛵⛵⛵

• Arsenal v Wolves +1200 (Sat) - Wolves sold two key players for over $120M this offseason. They have yet to use the money to upgrade the team so may have some early season holes to fill. That is not how you want to start the season at Emirates Stadium. Arsenal are on a mission this season for a title, and that means treating all 38 matches the same. 3 points in match one is that same as 3 in match 38. Will be a tough assignment for Wolves.

• Newcastle v Southampton +700 (Sat) - Welcome to the PL Saints, let’s send you on your longest road trip of the season to kick things off - 325 miles north to Geordie-land. In the US that’s just Boston to Phili, but for UK travel it’s quite the hike for Saints fans. Always tough to play at St James’ Park, especially against a rested and ready Newcastle side looking to get back into Europe.

• Man United v Fulham +425 (Fri) - Friday Night Lights. (Afternoon for those of us in the US of A). All the story lines center around United and manager Erik ten Hag. These are the kinds of matches you would just expect United to roll in - opening day, Old Trafford, heavy favorites. Yet there seems to be uncertainty on who will start, partly due to injury, but it’s United and they do have depth. FFC has just gone about their business and Marco Silva will not be intimidated taking his club on the road. FFC have scored in 5 of their last 6 against Man United, so it seems United may need to score several if they want all 3 points.

“Who Knows” - Toss Up🤔🤔🤔

• Everton v BHA +165 (Sat) - Everton start their final season at Goodison Park against a 31-year-old American-born Gaffer, Fabian Hurzeler. Everton has spent the last couple seasons just trying to catch up. They would like to start a season on the right foot. The Seagulls got off to a great start last season, then ran out of gas and faded quite a bit. They’ve got young talent, leadership and an energetic new manager. The last 6 times they’ve played there have been 22 goals, so expect some scoring.

• Forest v Bournemouth +180 (Sat) -Two clubs that might look back on this opening match and think the result was the reason they stayed up or were relegated. The Cheeries had a great run to 12^th last season but just lost striker Dominic Solanke. Forest have had a full offseason with manager Nuno who hopes to improve on a tough campaign last year. Defensively the Trees have struggled. Bournemouth applies a lot of pressure and teams that are not solid defensively, which may be the case Saturday.

• Brentford v Palace +190 (Sun) - London Derby, West travels South. Five of the last six matches between these two have resulted in draws. Boths sides are led by managers who know how to get the most out of their sides in Thomas Frank and Oliver Glasner. They will both be ready. Palace has more firepower on paper, the Bee’s get home cooking.

Best Bets 💰

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Last season CS finished up 18% for the season. Not a bad return! Hoping for more this season.

CleanSheet Season Gains/Losses: Starting Balance $1000. Current Standing $1,000.

Newcastle to WIN by -1.5 goals v Southampton -120. $24

Tough duty for the newly promoted Saints traveling north to St James’ Park, where the Magpies seem to flourish. Southampton have enough to make it difficult, but I think Newcastle having too much up front for the Saints to handle and will score 3-4 goals. Newcastle will not allow more than 1, meaning give me the better odds to win by 2 or more.

Man City to WIN at Chelsea -127. $25

Pep > Enzo. I love the talent at Chelsea, I just don’t see how they pull it all together cohesively this fast. Playing at the Bridge is definitely an advantage, but City’s got as much talent and has played together. If this match were a couple weeks into the season I may think differently, but Pep wins on match day 1.

Tottenham to Win at LCFC and Spurs to score 1.5+ goals -130. $78

Leicester have too many holes to fill, even a home match on opening day will not be enough to keep them in this one. Spurs will be flying.

Arsenal to WIN v Wolves -475. $190

Gunners are just better and will take care of business on opening day. Normally don’t like laying a lot this early and on favorites, but I will here.

Breaking News 📣