Michael Owen: Premier League Matchday 11 Preview

Burnley endured a long 90 minutes against Manchester City last week. However, prior to that match, the Clarets had shown some improvement.

They got their first win of the season at home to Crystal Palace on matchday 9, making it back-to-back clean sheets. Other than Jack Cork, Sean Dyche has finally got a full strength squad to work with, so the signs are there that Burnley can improve.

Everton’s great early season form seems like a distant memory now. The Toffees have lost 4 of their last 5 matches and conceded at least 2 goals in each of their last 3 games. Everton go into this as favourites, but I think Burnley will have enough on home soil to take a point.

I worry a bit for Fulham here. They are suited to seeing a lot of the ball and play very much on the front foot. I don’t think the Cottagers are comfortable when asked to sit in, and I reckon that could be their undoing here.

City showed how dangerous they can be in last week’s 5-0 win over Burnley, and if the visitors lose an early goal, I think there could be a similar outcome here.

Just as in previous weeks, it is very difficult to predict how Manchester United will perform. They blow so hot and cold. Their opponents, West Ham, have the look of a decent side and are on the up just now. They have some quality players, and their recent home form has been very good.

I think this will be a tough one again for the visitors and I can see West Ham taking a point at the very least.

This could be a cracker. Leeds are so much better when they’re playing against teams that come at them. You can see that sides are starting to realise this and giving them some respect. Everton tried it for periods last week, albeit Leeds caught them in the end.

The thing is with Chelsea, they can only play one way. They’ll attack Leeds, which should play into the visitors’ hands. However, although I think Bielsa’s men will get some joy on the counter, I reckon Chelsea will have just enough quality to see them take the points.

West Brom got a huge result against Sheffield United last week. That’ll have given the Baggies a bit of hope and belief, however, Crystal Palace have shown time-after-time that they can get results away from home against teams in and around them.

With that in mind, I think Palace can grind out another win here in a low scoring contest.

Sheffield United have been disappointing, so far. Chris Wilder continues to speak well on TV, but he can’t be happy about where they’re at at this stage.

Leicester come into this after back-to-back Premier League defeats. However, apart from defeat at Anfield, they have won all their away matches in the league.

Interestingly, the Blades have failed to score in 5 of their last 6 home matches. Despite their own patchy form, I believe that Leicester will have too much in attack. So, I’m siding with the Foxes to take the 3 points.

Arsenal’s performance has dipped in recent weeks. It’s been particularly noticeable that they’ve not had the same swagger at home as they’ve had in recent seasons.Spurs have been playing well. They’ve adapted to Jose Mourinho’s style of play and could be in with an outside chance of winning the league. Jose has set up to play on the counter a lot this season, and I think they could further benefit if he opened up and went at teams a bit more.

Based on form I can’t see anything other than a Spurs win. They have talent throughout their team, and if they keep going at this rate, they could have a surprisingly big season.

Wolves picked up an impressive win at the Emirates last week. Up until then, they hadn’t quite hit the heights of last season. They’ve had one or two injuries and now they’ll be without Raul Jimenez after he endured a terrible head injury.

I covered the Brighton game and without a few controversial decisions, Liverpool would have come away with all 3 points.

Arguably, Diogo Jota has been the signing of the season, so far. He comes into this in red hot form and I think it could be written in the stars that he scores against his former club.

Southampton are playing well away from home. They’ve been impressive this season, and as I’ve said previously, I think Ralph Hasenhüttl is a fantastic manager.

Brighton are such a positive side. They’ve gone head-to-head with a lot of top teams this season only to come away empty handed.

That’s the only way they seem to know how to play, and despite how likeable that is, I reckon it could play into Southampton’s hands here