The Premier League returns this weekend and although it will be great to have it back on our screens for once I’m feeling a little bit of sympathy for the players at the top level. It seems only a matter of days since we were cheering on the Three Lions in that World Cup Semi Final and my legs are still aching from a Division Three Sunday League cricket encounter last Saturday. Yes, they don’t do many ‘real life’ chores but the physical rigours of professional sport at the very top-level place huge demands on players. At some point the quality has to diminish, surely? I for one would welcome another week or twos break before we see kick off at Old Trafford for the first EPL game of the season. That has nothing to do with Mr Cheerful in the home dugout! The transfer window has by now closed shut in England but uncertainty around the EPL still hovers over teams due to the calendar disparity in the window slamming shut across Europe. There will be a lot of nervous managers over the next few weeks hoping that their carefully assembled squads do not get ripped apart. All of my EPL work was undertaken before the end of the English window so apologies in advance if any players are suddenly plying their trade elsewhere! Fun time Frankie Lampard began his managerial career for Derby last Friday night away to Reading. The home side played a physical brand of football that Lampard’s men were struggling to cope with and trailed before an equaliser on the hour mark. Before then the Rams had gone backwards, sideways and nowhere in typical top level style and you have to wonder if Lampard has the personnel at his disposal to play that that patient passing style. After the board was held up to indicate four minutes of stoppage time there was 93:47 on the clock when Tom Lawrence headed home to give Frank three points. Good manager or lucky manager? Only time will tell. It is important that you don’t get carried away with what you saw last weekend as no team is as good or as bad as they may have looked on opening day. However, for some clubs it was very important that they had a positive start to the new campaign. Sunderland can be used as a case in point as following two poor seasons they needed a tone setting performance and result to give the loyal Mackem fans some hope. Trailing 1-0 to Charlton live on Sky Sports with an hour gone was not the start they were looking for but they levelled just after the hour mark. When I checked LiveScore as I walked round the cricket boundary around 215pm I just sensed that something was going to happen at the Stadium of Light. The injury time winner for the home side was made in the America’s as United States international Lynden Gooch finished thanks to an assist from Costa Rican Bryan Oviedo. Such moments can prove pivotal as the explosion of noise at that winner tells you what a formidable force the red and whites can be in League One if they carry their support with them. Last week I had a bit of a head rush and for some reason wrote in my pre-season Acca column about Carlos Carvahal being manager of Swansea. He left that post in May and was replaced by Graham Potter and I did know that. Maybe I had sun stroke the day I wrote that bit, oops! Apologies. Potter did oversee a victory for the Swans at Sheffield United as the newly relegated sides had mixed fortunes as they adapted to Championship life. West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City both lost 2-1 and 3-1 at home to Bolton and away to Leeds respectively. That is a tough old division that Championship and it will be very interesting to see how it develops over the course of the season. We did quite well last weekend from a betting perspective, but you won’t find me crowing about successes. This is a hard game to remain profitable in and rather than resting on my laurels I’ve doubled my efforts and spent the week hard at work looking for more value. Best of luck this weekend and here’s to another good week! All the best Jimmy Kempton Editor Last Sunday the #GoalRush selection was successful but it may have contributed to my downfall though on the cricket pitch. I had constructed a very patient 51 runs in the hot August sun and after batting for two hours I raised my head and looked at the clock located near the pavilion. It showed 645pm and after bowling ten overs earlier in the day I was starting to feel weary and my mind wandered to Norway and the Tromso v Haugesund game. I should not have concerned myself about events in Scandinavia as the away team had netted the third goal of the game by around 630pm UK time to give them all three points and land us the over 2.5 goals bet. If I had of been thinking more about the left arm inswing bowler charging at me I may not have chopped on to my own stumps and as the last recognised batsman (loose term) the game was lost! I have the ultimate confidence in my work but I have to say it is always great to get off to a positive start at the beginning of the season. Here is to another good week and as the weeks move forward the breadth of choice will increase. This week though has seen a rather small number of games making the #GoalRush cut as the volume of games thrown out by the algorithm was one of the lowest ever. However, from doing my extra research it appears more of a case of quality over quantity, so I am happy to put forward a selection this weekend. Before we head off around the globe let us take a quick look at the current record. I always like to include goal stats across a range of goal markets as although this is an over 2 ½ goal column I know some readers do like to include the highlighted games in other goal wagers they make. Season Long Results Over 0.5 goals 1-0 Over 1.5 goals 1-0 Over 2.5 goals 1-0 Over 3.5 goals 0-1 Yes on Both Teams To Score 1-0 Profit/Loss +0.86 from 1 bet Seattle Sounders v FC Dallas @ 19/25, Monday 3am Kick Off UK Time Seattle currently sit in fourteenth spot overall and eighth in the Western Conference as they welcome the current leaders of their conference and fourth overall placed team FC Dallas to CenturyLink Field. It has not been a happy hunting ground for Dallas in recent years as their last three trips to the Pacific North West to take on the Sounders has seen them lose 4-0, 5-0 and 3-0. Over 2 ½ goals has gone 6-3 since March 2015 but interestingly the No on Both Teams To Score has gone 7-2 in those nine games. In terms of household names for us English/European fans to grab a glimpse of there is Australian Brad Smith, on loan from Bournemouth, and Clint Dempsey (right) for the home side. The visitors boast no ‘famous’ names and in many ways that could explain their success as it is often the teams without the big name marquee players that do well in the MLS. Despite flying high in both the Western Conference and in the overall table Dallas have been a little leaky at the back in recent weeks. Their 5-2-3 record on their travels this season has seen them keep just three clean sheets whilst Seattle have only pitched two shut outs themselves on home soil. Given the historical trends for Seattle finding the net in this meeting I am more than happy to take the over 2 ½ goals in this game as our #GoalRush pick for this weekend. Arsenal v Manchester City Man City – ½ and 3 goals The defending champions start their defence away at The Emirates for what is set to be a difficult start for new Arsenal boss Unai Emery (pictured on the front cover). If you lined up all potential opponents in order of difficulty and asked Emery to select who he wanted to start his Arsenal reign against then I am sure City would be very low on his list. That said the level of positivity around the Arsenal camp will never be higher as the Gunners look set to start a campaign without Arsene Wenger for the first time in over twenty years. Every meeting a Guardiola led City and an Arsenal side under Arsene Wenger saw over 2.5 goals land and last season Man City netted three times in each of their three victories over the Gunners. The last fifteen total meetings of the sides stretching back to September 2012 have seen at least two goals be scored. This line opened Man City a full half a goal favourite for their trip to the capital but the line shifted to just a quarter of a goal. Was it the belief in what Emery brings to the Emirates that created thr line shift or was it more the fact that City had several players making long World Cup runs that pushed line momentum to the Gunners? That move towards Arsenal was not permanent though as the money has come again for the champions and the line looks a very steady Man City – ½ goal.