Premier League Matchday 10 Preview: Liverpool and United stars in the spotlight and is Pereira on the brink?

• Arsenal shorten to 2/51.40 to win Premier League title

• Tottenham v Chelsea the game of the weekend

• Is Wirtz about to turn the corner?

• Keep an eye on United stars and is Pereira in danger?

• Safe Sub is here for the 2025-26 season - read all about it!

---

What happened in Matchday 9?

As we mentioned last week, Arsenal had a great chance of extending their lead at the top of the table, and they did exactly that with a home win over Crystal Palace while both Liverpool and Manchester City lost to Brentford and Aston Villa respectively.

The victory for the Gunners - sealed by former Palace star Eberechi Eze - has taken them four points clear at the top of the table, six points ahead of Man City, and seven ahead of Liverpool.

Matchday 9 commenced with Friday Night Football at Elland Road and it was another poor result for West Ham who were defeated 2-1, leaving them second bottom of the table with just four points collected from the 27 available. Leeds moved up to 15th and they are now six points above the drop zone.

The shock of the weekend came at Stamford Bridge where Club World Cup champions Chelsea lost to newly-promoted Sunderland. The win for the Black Cats briefly took them up to second in the table, a quite incredible achievement on their return to the Premier League, before they dropped to fourth following Sunday's games.

Ruben Amorim's fortunes at Manchester United continued on an upward curve with his side beating Brighton at Old Trafford to make it three wins on the spin for the Red Devils. Amorim, who has traded at odds-on in various sack race markets - is now out to 20/121.00 to be the next Premier League manager to leave.

Liverpool's slump continued with a fourth consecutive Premier League defeat, this time losing 3-2 at Brentford while elsewhere there were wins for Newcastle, Bournemouth, Burnley and Tottenham on a weekend that didn't have a single draw in the Premier League.

Premier League Table after Matchday 9

---

Who are the favourites to win the Premier League title?

This time last weekend Arsenal went odds-on favourites to be the Premier League champions, and not surprisingly they've shortened significantly after taking another three points while three of their main market rivals lost.

The Gunners are now 2/51.40 to win the title with Man City second favourites at 9/25.50. Liverpool have drifted to their biggest price of the season so far at 7/18.00 while Manchester United overtook Chelsea as the fourth favourites at 25/126.00.

2025/26 Premier League Winner:

- Arsenal 2/51.40
- Manchester City 9/25.50
- Liverpool 7/18.00
- Manchester United 25/126.00
- Chelsea 40/141.00
- Tottenham 66/167.00
- BAR 125/1126.00

---

Who are the favourites to be relegated to the Championship?

After losing a crunch game at home to newly-promoted Burnley, Wolves have gone long odds-on at 1/51.20 to be relegated come the end of the season. Vitor Pereira's men sit rock bottom of the table and they're still without a single Premier League win this season.

West Ham are the clear second favourites for the drop at 1/31.33 following their defeat to Leeds on Friday night, while the big movers are Sunderland, who are now out to 5/16.00 to be relegated having been as short as 2/91.22 when the market first opened in the summer.

2025/26 Premier League Relegaton:

- Wolves 1/51.20
- West Ham 1/31.33
- Burnley 1/21.50
- Nottingham Forest 9/43.25
- Leeds 3/14.00
- Fulham 5/16.00
- Sunderland 5/16.00
- BAR 10/111.00

---

What are the Matchday 10 fixtures?

Saturday 1 November

- Brighton v Leeds (15:00)
- Burnley v Arsenal (15:00)
- Crystal Palace v Brentford (15:00)
- Fulham v Wolves (15:00)
- Nottingham Forest v Man United (15:00)
- Tottenham v Chelsea (17:30, live on Sky Sports)
- Liverpool v Aston Villa (20:00, live on TNT Sports)

Sunday 2 November

- West Ham v Newcastle (14:00, live on Sky Sports)
- Man City v Bournemouth (16:30, live on Sky Sports)

Monday 3 November

- Sunderland v Everton (20:00, live on Sky Sports)

---

What is the game of the weekend?

In terms of league positions then it's fifth versus second when Manchester City host Bournemouth in the prime Super Sunday slot, while out-of-form Liverpool host in-form Aston Villa in another tasty-looking affair.

But the game of the weekend has to be Tottenham hosting Chelsea, live on Sky Sports at 17:30 on Saturday.

Chelsea go into the game having won the last four meetings with Spurs including scoring four goals in each of their last two visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Their away from has been okay this season, winning two and drawing one of their four away trips in the Premier League. But they do have that disappointing home defeat to Sunderland to put behind them.

Tottenham have been more than okay away from home this term, in fact they have the best away form in the Premier League, winning four and drawing one of their five games played. Their home form hasn't been so great though with the 3-0 win over Burnley on the opening weekend of the season their only league victory. Can they get their home form back on track on Saturday?

In the Match Odds market, the traders marginally prefer Chelsea at 6/42.50 with Tottenham available to back at 13/82.63. The Draw can be backed at 12/53.40.

---

Players to watch in Matchday 10

We could leave Liverpool alone this week, but we're not going to. Though in a little bit of a twist from the criticism we've dished out in recent weeks we're going to be slightly more positive about some of their big name stars and new signings.

Florian Wirtz again failed to have a major impact in the defeat to Brentford on Saturday but there were signs that he is starting to find his feet with a few glimpses of genuine ability, and he really should have scored in the first half when he blasted it wide from no more than 12 yards.

Just a few days earlier Wirtz had one of his best games since signing for Liverpool when he registered two assists away to Eintracht Frankfurt. So we say keep an eye on Wirtz, he might just be ready to really kick-start his Liverpool career.

Although it was another defeat for the Reds at Brentford it was perhaps encouraging that their two goals were scored by Milos Kerkez and Mo Salah. Both have struggled this term but those goals might just trigger some confidence and we could see some improved performances from some of Liverpool's stars in the coming weeks.

Elsewhere it will be fascinating to see if Manchester United can build on their recent good form, and perhaps key to doing so will be two of their new signings, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbuemo. Both were excellent in the victory over Brighton and they are starting to look very much at home in a Manchester United shirt. They could arguably be two of United's best signings for a long time.

---

Manager to watch in Matchday 10

There's only one manager to keep an eye on this week, Wolves boss Vitor Pereira!

It was a surprise to many when he signed a new contract at the start of the season and it's fair to say absolutely nothing has gone his way since. Wolves are rock bottom of the table after failing to win any of their opening nine Premier League games (D2, L7).

On Sunday Wolves had a glorious opportunity to record their first league victory of the season but having fought back from 0-2 down at home to newly-promoted Burnley they conceded a stoppage time goal to fall to yet another defeat.

The Wolves fans weren't happy and some unsavoury scenes emerged on social media after the game showing Pereira very angry and confronting some of the home support at full-time.

It's no surprise then that Pereira went odds-on to be the next manager to be sacked when the Betfair Sportsbook re-priced the market at the start of the week, and he's shortened to 4/111.36 following his team's EFL Cup exit on Wednesday night. It will be fascinating to see if Wolves can avoid defeat at out-of-form Fulham on Saturday, and whether Pereira will still be in a job should they fail to do so.

---

Football...Only Bettor. Listen to the Saturday preview

---

Now read more Football tips and previews here.

---