Illustration: Dan Goldfarb, Alice Devine Remember last Friday evening when we all picked defending champions Arsenal to beat new boys Coventry City, and everyone’s 100 per cent prediction record was intact? Life was good. Then, just like Manchester United on their trip to Hull City, those records were mauled by ‘The Tigers’… This season, our band of The Athletic “experts” will give you a preview of the 10 fixtures each gameweek and our predictions: home win, away win or draw, with three points for a correct call — which mirrors the Pick ’Ems game you can play here. Our picks will go up against those of an algorithm (Algo), a weekly guest subscriber and Wilfred, who is now a seven-year-old child. Last time, Oliver Kay bravely went it alone, but for 2026-27 he will be joined by Elias Burke, Andy Jones (me!) and Duncan Alexander to form a rotating cast of know-alls from our pool of writers. In gameweek one, promoted Hull’s home win against United in Saturday’s early kick-off was the first shock result, but it ended up being a weekend full of surprises. Thankfully (from a predictions perspective), Manchester City staged a late comeback to beat Bournemouth on Sunday but there was heartbreak for Algo when Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai netted a 99th-minute penalty to deny Newcastle United an opening-day win a couple of hours later. My fellow in-house expert Elias was the only predictor brave enough to tip Everton to beat Crystal Palace, while Jack Clarke made us all pay for not backing promoted Ipswich Town, with a 90th-minute winner to take one point away from Sunderland (and three points away from The Athletic , Algo and Wilfred). Wilfred celebrated his seventh birthday at the weekend with a present of Anton Stach’s free-kick brilliance for Leeds United to snatch late victory against Nottingham Forest. Of course, Algo picked Brentford, who are essentially the algorithm of the Premier League, to defeat Tottenham Hotspur, while the experts and subscriber Ryan both correctly predicted wins for Brighton & Hove Albion against Aston Villa and Chelsea over Fulham. So, on to gameweek two. The Athletic leads with five correct predictions (15 points), so that’s where we are going to end things for this season. Thanks for playing… … that’s what I was hoping the editors would say anyway, but instead they’ve assigned me to this set of fixtures, so there’s a great chance for everyone to catch up. Oh… and we saw your comments. From this week onwards, we will also include scoreline predictions from our Athletic Experts after you guys said you missed them from last season. They won’t be a part of the scoring, but they are there if you’d like to know the exact score our writers are expecting. OK, off we go with gameweek two, where we are joined by our guest subscriber Matt, 48, a Manchester United fan from London. Subscriber’s match of the week Manchester United vs Ipswich Town Andy says: Michael Carrick was probably wondering what the fuss was all about during his successful interim reign as United coach in the second half of last season. Then Hull rocked up on Saturday, punched his side in the nose, and there was little response. They need to be much improved for their home opener, and it feels like striker Benjamin Sesko, who was on the bench last weekend, providing a focal point will be key. Hull’s victory overshadowed Ipswich making a winning return to the Premier League themselves. Their performance may not have been as eye-catching, but it was effective. The expectation, though, is United will dust themselves off and not drop more points to a promoted side. They will need to show a lot more open-play creativity, though. Our Expert’s other predictions Crystal Palace vs Manchester City Andy says: It may have been underwhelming, but Enzo Maresca’s City side found a way to start their campaign with three points. The late come-from-behind victory at home against Bournemouth on Sunday gives them momentum, but improvements are needed. Marc Guehi returns to his previous club in this Friday night fixture, but how long will the No 6 experiment both work and last — the same goes for Erling Haaland’s haircut. Palace need to bounce back from a disappointing opening-day defeat at Everton. Ongoing transfer situations with Ismaila Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta aren’t helping Pierre Sage’s settling-in process.

Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest Andy says: After an unconvincing draw with Newcastle, you’d think new Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola would welcome home comforts. But in Forest you have a side who have won back-to-back league games at Anfield, and are now managed by Oliver Glasner, whose Crystal Palace teams caused Liverpool plenty of problems in recent seasons. Forest will probably just be glad to not be playing Leeds again, having lost to them twice in four days in the league (1-0) and then the Carabao Cup (2-0). Iraola will expect his side to be much improved, but Forest, a work in progress themselves, have been given a blueprint by Newcastle of where to target their opponents. Bournemouth vs Everton Andy says: Even after switching head coaches in the summer, Bournemouth continue to look like Bournemouth and they were 10 minutes away from a huge opening-game victory in Manchester. The late collapse against City will sting, but there was plenty to be positive about for new boss Marco Rose. The same goes for counterpart David Moyes, who oversaw a relatively drama-free winning start for Everton at home to Palace. The Vitality Stadium had been a place of nightmares for Everton (six Premier League defeats and two draws in eight trips) until they won there 1-0 last season, thanks to a Jack Grealish goal. Bournemouth, though, haven’t lost a home league game since title-bound Arsenal pipped them 3-2 on January 3. Coventry City vs Hull City Andy says: Talk about differing experiences for two promoted sides. Frank Lampard and Coventry were welcomed back to the Premier League with a thump from a Mikel Arteta-shaped hammer. Meanwhile, Oli McBurnie and company were playing Whack-a-Mole with Manchester United as they looked every bit a team that can compete now they’re back at the top level. Hull are riding a wave of momentum, while Coventry could do with getting points on the board at home against another of the division’s newcomers. It would be unfair to judge them after an opening game away to the reigning champions. In the two games these sides played against each other in the Championship last season, a total of zero goals were scored. Ominous. Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United Andy says: Spurs can’t be as bad here as they were at Brentford, can they? If there is one thing Roberto De Zerbi must do this season, it is turn the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium into a place that is tough for opponents to go to, rather than his own players. Newcastle’s outlook appears much more optimistic than it was seven days ago, after a turbulent summer but a positive opening match. They were seconds away from a first win for new coach Matthias Jaissle on debut and Yoane Wissa finally looked like a player worth the £50million he cost, after a 2025-26 debut season to forget. This should be high-tempo and should have goals in it. Chelsea vs Brighton & Hove Albion Andy says: If you had asked Fabian Hurzeler to draw up his perfect first day of the new season, his side’s 4-0 dismantling of Aston Villa may have exceeded it. Though was it a reflection of how good Brighton were, or how bad Villa were? Hurzeler’s counterpart in the dugouts for this game, Xabi Alonso, would have been delighted by his front three all getting on the scoresheet against Fulham, but the less said about Robert Sanchez’s display at the other end of the pitch the better (though their subsequent signing of Emi Martinez from Aston Villa speaks volumes). Only 38.1 per cent possession on Monday night is not a very Alonso-like stat either for his first official game as manager, and if Brighton have that much of the ball they will surely fancy repeating last season’s result at Stamford Bridge — a 3-1 win. This has all the ingredients of an entertaining contest. Leeds United vs Brentford Andy says: Leeds may have won their first two competitive games of the season, but they’re now up against Keith Andrews, who appears to be in charge of the best club team in the world currently (are we getting carried away?). The 3-0 victory over Tottenham could not have been much more comprehensive — looking at you, Igor Thiago — and midfielder Mamadou Sangare’s debut seems to be another illustration of Brentford being the smartest guys in the room. I, on the other hand, am not, and despite Brentford’s brilliance last Saturday, you cannot discount Leeds at Elland Road with a bit of confidence and momentum: they won nine of their 19 home league games last season. Sunderland vs Fulham Andy says: Did everyone hear Jamie Carragher predict Sunderland to finish bottom on Sky’s Monday night show? I keep having to go back and check. He does have his reasons for thinking that, and it will be concerning that Sunderland managed to get Sunderlanded as they fell victim to the opening-day-promoted-team-at-home trap against Ipswich. Plenty of the ball (62 per cent to 38 per cent) but only one shot more than Gary O’Neil’s home side (11 to 10). Home form (nine wins, only four defeats) was key for them last season, and it will have to be again — although they did lose this very fixture 3-1 in February. Fulham were a good watch against Chelsea on Monday and even though the result wasn’t there, new coach Alvaro Arbeloa will be pleased with his side’s intensity, and particularly the performance of Josh King. The challenge is sustaining those levels, and making sure it wasn’t just first-game-of-the-season adrenaline. Aston Villa vs Arsenal Andy says: In recent seasons, this has always felt like one of Arsenal’s most difficult fixtures. They lost at Villa Park last season thanks to an Emiliano Buendia 95th-minute winner, but aside from him, Unai Emery’s squad has been ripped apart for differing reasons over the summer. Villa must be in the running for ‘Most unprepared team entering the season’ based on their sobering 4-0 defeat in Brighton on matchday one. Meanwhile, Arsenal cruised past Coventry and look as prepared as you can be for a strong title defence. Can Villa create a siege mentality with this being the first home game of the campaign? Maybe, but that feels unlikely to be enough. Connections: Sports Edition Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle