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Iraola has Bournemouth close to clicking
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Cherries posses tools to stop Arsenal on Saturday
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Expect a Blades reaction after their brutal battering
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Winless but signs of life from Bournemouth
Some might be surprised to read that Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola is as big as 14/115.00 in Betfair's next Premier League manager to leave market considering the Cherries are winless this season.
That price screams there are no noises of discontent within the club for a manager whose implementation of ideas is taking a little bit time. They might not be far away from it all clicking though based on their tactically supreme and brave first half performance at Brighton on Sunday.
Having covered Roberto De Zerbi's team multiple times for Sky Sports' digital platforms, I'm confident to declare that no team has stifled De Zerbi's style of play in the way Bournemouth did during the first 45 minutes.
Brighton didn't manage a touch in the Bournemouth box until 44 minutes, showcasing just how difficult the visitors made it for the usually flying Seagulls to put their flowing passing moves together. To put that into context they managed 28 in the first half against Luton on the opening day.
Iraola had his team pressing intelligently in key areas and stopped the service into the Brighton central attacking players of Danny Welbeck and Evan Ferguson. The goal stemmed from a press on the goalkeeper, Bart Verbruggen, who also had all his passing options cut off by the aggressive Cherries formation without the ball.
Iraola has a reputation for serving it up to the big boys when managing in LaLiga where his Rayo Vallecano side regularly punched above their weight. His counter-attacking, high-pressing style is far more suited to a game where he can relinquish possession, with performances, if not results, proving that in the 3-1 defeats to Liverpool and Brighton. For large spells in both matches, Bournemouth played with purpose and precision.
It's Arsenal next for them on Saturday and with more improvement to come in terms of the players grasping Iraola's identity, I'm certainly looking to explore ways to get them on my side with the odds so skewed towards Arsenal. The 1.558/15 for the away win looks a lay on the Betfair Exchange.
Battered Blades to show steel at West Ham
When a team is on the end of a bit of a hiding there is a theory that their next game will be all about being defensively secure. It's led me to some profitable bets over the years that swim against the tide of a market.
Sheffield United 0-8 Newcastle was a brutal scoreline. It doesn't get more brutal. Yet, after such a low, usually comes a reaction.
Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom, who is well liked and respected by the playing staff at the club according to my moles of information, will be demanding safety-first defending when travelling to West Ham next and there is a fair chance they can restrict David Moyes' team, who remain very capable of throwing in a wasteful attacking performance despite their strong start to the season.
This is especially the case when a low-block defence sets up against them as their forwards are all at their best when being able to explode into space on transitions.
The market has the goal expectancy at above three which has bounced the under 2.5 goals price out to 2.407/5 at the time of writing. It looks a bet to me.
Newcastle's set piece threat may blow Burnley away
Newcastle led the charts for shots and expected goals created from set pieces last season in the Premier League. It's been a slow start for them when analysing many of their metrics but the one on the rise is that set piece output judging by their performance at Sheffield United where both Dan Burn and Sven Botman scored headers.
It's a huge part of their armoury and Eddie Howe will be licking his chops at the thought of asking Burnley so many questions from such situations on Saturday.
Vincent Kompany's men lack so much presnce when defending set plays and have conceded three goals already via that method with Jonny Evans also having one ruled out in Manchester United's win. Burn and Botman will be goalscorer runners once more - as will Kieran Trippier in the assist market, fresh from a hat-trick of them against the Blades. He now has 10 assists in the Premier League since the start of last season.
Lewis Jones, aka Jones Knows, is Sky Sports' resident betting expert - follow his Premier League tips and predictions across Sky Sports each week.