25/26 Match Week 2 Preview

The first use of the term “highway robbery” was recorded in the early 1600’s in England when bandits would steal everything from travelers but the “shirts off their back”.

Fast forward, and the phrase “highway robbery” has also been used to describe any situation where someone felt they were being unfairly charged or taken advantage of.

For more on the “highway robbery” Gunners did to Spurs via the Eagles, check out Headlines 📌below. 

• What 2 Look 4 👀 

• Headlines 📌

• Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥- CS Data

• Off Island 🏝️ - Da Zone

• Best Bets 💰

What 2 Look 4 👀- Match Week 2

(reminder - like driving on the other side of the road, in the PL, HOME teams are listed first)

• 1.5.3.1 Week. 1 Friday, 5 Saturday, 3 Sunday, 1 Monday.

Spicy 🌶️🌶️🌶️

• Fulham +203 v Man United +126 SUN 1030a - Big late goal and point for the Cottagers at BHA. United got a “moral victory” at home against the Gunners but Amorim is going to need to start stacking points and this will be a tough road trip to West London. MU have won 16 of the last 21 against Fulham, with 4 draws and 1 loss. The loss for United was last season at Old Trafford.

• Palace +123 v Forest +226 SUN 8a - Good road point for Palace at Chelsea in MW1, but lots of drama mid-week with Eze being sold to Arsenal. Forest looked great at home and Chris Wood picked up where he left off scoring twice. In the last 8, Forest have 4W and 4D. Can Palace replace Eze’s production quickly enough or have Forest caught the Eagles at the right time?

• Newcastle +TBD v Liverpool +TBD SAT 630a - The Isak drama continues, and in fact intensifies, as Isak’s rumored transfer target is Liverpool. And the Red’s make the trek north to St James’ Park where the Geordies will be ready to let their feelings felt. Liverpool has been struggling defensively heading into this one while the Isak-less Magpies are struggling to score.

Home Sides Looking for their FIRST POINTS 🔎🔎🔎🔎🔎

• West Ham +370 v Chelsea -147 FRI 2p - London Derby (East v West) - What kind of response will the Hammers have. The were drilled at promotion side Sunderland in MW1. The Blues were disappointed in just a point at home. So, both sides are looking for a rebound as this match could set the tone for both sides. Former Chelsea and current West Ham manager Graham Potter needs a win as the pressure is mounting. Another loss or two and he could be out early.

• Burnley +139 v Sunderland +213 SAT 9a - Sunderland looked great in their home route of West Ham 3-0. Burnley looked ok at Spurs, if you can look ok losing 0-3. These sides faced each other last season in the Championship (level 2), Sunderland winning one and draw. This will be contrasting styles as the Black Cats want to attack while the Clarets will focus on defense first.

• Bournemouth -128 v Wolves +325 SAT 9a - Both sides looking for their first points. The Cherries looked better in MW1 than Wolves taking Liverpool to extra time while Wolves looked like they are several players short at the PL level. Wolves have looked good at Bournemouth in the past having 3W2D in their last 5 trips South.

• Brentford +216 v Aston Villa +117 SAT 9a - Disappointing start for both sides. On paper, Villa are the better side. The Bee’s defense is weak right now and their attack is missing key pieces. Villa are 4W 3D in the last 7 against Bretford, scoring in every match.

• Everton +190 v BHA +141 SUN 8a - Lots of excitement for the first PL match at Everton’s new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. Will that excitement translate to goals for the Toffee’s whose attack struggled at best at Leeds in MW1. BHA thought they had all three points home to FFC until they had to settle for a point late. BHA is 4W 4D in their last 8 against Everton, but they have never won at Bramley-Moore Dock 😏.

Week 1 Winners as BIG DOGS 🐶🐶

• Man City -227 v Tottenham +531 SAT 630a - Both sides looked great in their openers and combined scored 7 goals. In their last 4 PL matches at the Etihad City and Spurs have combined for 21 goals (9 for City, 12 for Spurs). Spurs have scored 2+ goals in each of those 4 matches. Pep has not liked playing Spurs who have beaten a Pep led City 9 times, second most behind Liverpool. City seem to be quietly on a mission to return to their dominance and this match could make a statement.

• Arsenal -386 v Leeds +900 SAT 1130a - Gunners didn’t look great at Man United, but they won. Leeds looked good at home stealing all three points from Everton. The Gunners have not lost to a promoted team at home in 42 matches and are 12W2D in their last 14 against Leeds.

Headlines 📌

• Highway Robbery - NFL Style.

  • The Minnesota Vikings had a great year last year. While they didn’t win their division or the Super Bowl they made the playoffs, won a lot, and the future looks good with some great talent and high expectations for the coming year.

  • Now imagine the week before the first game Justin Jefferson, probably their best player, is rumored to be traded/sold to the Buffalo Bills, another great team that also made the playoffs and has had their own success. The deal doesn’t get done immediately. A week goes by and Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, who is frustrated with the situation, decides to play Jefferson in their opening game. Then, a couple days after that opener, it is reported a deal has been agreed to with the Bills. Yet, before the paperwork is signed, the Kansas City Chiefs (the #1 rival of the Bills) offer the exact same deal terms to the Vikings and Jefferson says I’d rather play for the Chief’s than the Bills. And just like that, a rival “stole” a star player from their biggest rival.

  • This is “exactly” what happened this week in the EPL if you substitute the actors below and re-read the above story

    • Vikings = Crystal Palace

    • Justin Jefferson = Eberechi Eze

    • Buffalo Bills = Tottenham Hotspurs

    • Kansas City Chief = Arsenal

• Europe Competitions.

  • UEFA Conference League is off and running and Palace won their first match home to Fredrikstad (Norway) 1-0 on a goal from Jean-Philippe Mateta, Palace’s FRIRST EVER European League goal. Palace will travel to Norway for the second match with a 1 goal lead.

  • The other EPL teams all have bye’s so to speak during this current round.

Hot Topic 🔥🔥🔥

Clean Sheet 2025/26 Team Overviews - The Data

Clean Sheet released the team overviews by Geography, the 4 regions in England the PL teams are organized by betting category. You can see those Newsletters by clicking the link.

• London (7 teams) - Link to Newsletter.

• Midlands (3). - Link to Newsletter.

• North West (5). - Link to Newsletter.

• Other (5). - Link to Newsletter.

Each of the 20 PL teams are listed in order of INTEREST LEVEL, as measured by site visits. You can check out each Team Overview by clicking on the team name.

Off Island 🏝️

DAZN - “The Global Home of Sport”

(THIS IS NOT AN AD or SPONSOR - Just an interesting topic)

Lots of news has been made recently about streaming service deals with the big sports leagues in the USA. This season the NFL will have exclusive games on ESPN, NFL Network, Peacock, Prime Video, Netfilx and YouTube (in addition to the traditional FOX/CBS/NBC broadcasts). It’s way more complicated than there is room to describe here - but this website lays it out.

And this brings us to the streaming service you may not have heard of, especially if you live in the US.

“Da Zone” (DAZN) is a global sports streaming service that offers live and on-demand coverage of sports, both niche sports like Boxing, MMA, Darts, Chess, Racing, Snooker, Tenis, LIV Golf, esports AND mainstream sports like Soccer (FIFA & Europe), non US based Basketball (FIBA), European League Football, and NFL Game Pass for watching outside the USA. It’s available in over 200 countries and can be seen on all streaming devices. They also provide “original programming” like talk shows and documentaries.

What’s unique about DAZN is it integrates live betting, gaming and social features like FanZone for real time interaction.

Why is CS telling you about DAZN - CHECK OUT THIS DATA

The Club World Cup averaged 400,000 viewers per match on TNT in the USA. At 63 matches, that means just over 25M total viewership for the tournament in the USA on TNT. But…

These numbers EXCLUDE DAZN - and the DAZN numbers recently were announced (still to be verified) and the numbers are staggering. FIFA and DAZN reported a global audience of over 2B (with a B) - roughly 9x more than the US viewership. This number is something both FIFA and DAZN can be more than excited about, especially in advance of the World Cup and future Club World Cups.

Living or traveling abroad? Know someone playing a sport in Europe? Want to see all the matches from an international soccer competition? Check out DAZN and see if they have what you’re looking for.

Best Bets 💰

Pretty much even after match week 1. Down $14.

CleanSheet Season Gains/Losses: Starting Balance $1000. Current Standing $986.

Bournemouth to Win v Wolves -126. $25

Wolves just don’t have the horses to go on the road to Bournemouth and take points.

Chelsea to win at West Ham -149. $30

Way more talent with Chelsea while the Hammer’s look lost.

Palace Forest to draw +220. $20

Both sides playing great. Eze departure hurts Palace while Selhurst Park will help.

Burnley to Win v Sunderland +129. $20

Error of recency. Sunderland won 3-0 and Burnley lost 0-3. Shouldn’t Sunderland be favored in this one? In fact, you could get +234 for Sunderland to win. That just seems like the people who take your bets know something. Give me the home side and the line that looks off.

Arsenal to Win by -1.5 goals v Leeds -137. $27

Gunners got away with all three points at Old Trafford with their less than A game. They head home against a side they are better than - and drill them.

Man City v Spurs Over 3.5 goals +110. $20

Lots of goals when these two get together.