Arsenal 2, Newcastle United 4 and Manchester United beat Watford on paper
In his weekly predict the scores for the BBC, ‘football expert’ Mark Lawrenson says Newcastle United with beat Arsenal. He reasons:
I just have a feeling it might work this time. Arsenal’s players are not the only ones who have been away on international duty of course, but this might be a good time for Newcastle to play them.
How many Arsenal played an international fixture in the last week? Five. They were: Granit Xhaka, Stephan Lichtsteiner (both Switzerland) Danny Welbeck (England), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Greece) and Takuma Asano (Japan). Two of those were in the Arsenal first XI for their last Premier League match at Cardiff City.
Two.
On the other side, Salomon Rondon played for Venezuela in the early hours of Wednesday (BST), Fabian Schär played for Switzerland on Tuesday evening, Ki Sung-yueng played for South Korea, and DeAndre Yedlin appeared as an 85th minute substitute for the USA in Nashville. Ciaran Clark was an unused substitute as Republic of Ireland drew 1-1 in Poland.
Five players. Of those, Rondon, Sungg-yueng, Yedlin and Clark played for Newcastle in their last PL match.
Four.
But Lawrenson says it’s a good time to play Arsenal because their players have been away.
Total balls.
The other odd prediction is Watford’s home match with Manchester United. Watford – powerful and full of confidence – have won four in four. United – dull and functional – have lost two in four, winning the last match against a Burnley side feeling the effects of defeat a few days earlier in the Europe League. Here’s Lawrenson:
Watford are flying, and much has been made of the part in that played by Troy Deeney’s partnership with Andre Gray up front.
This will be a real test for Manchester United’s defence, but it is one I think they will pass.
United’s win at Burnley last time out was a big result for them, not just because they needed the three points after losing two games in a row, but because they needed to stop all the chatter around Jose Mourinho’s future.
I am going to go for another United win here, although I think it will be close.
Lawro’s prediction: 0-2
Watford have scored 9 and conceded 3; United have scored 6 and conceded 7. Any football experts want to back the smaller club..?
Posted: 14th, September 2018 | In: Arsenal, manchester united, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
