Stoke best bet on tricky opening weekend
ONLY the top five sides in the Premier League last season lost fewer home games than Stoke and Mark Hughes’s men look a great price to beat Aston Villa tomorrow at the 10/11 generally available.
Bojan Krkic has played for glamour teams Barcelona, Roma, AC Milan and Ajax in recent seasons, so it was surprising to see the 23-year-old roll up at the Britannia over the summer.
However, he’s been finding the net for fun in pre-season and the Spaniard should make an impact in the top-flight.
Villa’s Paul Lambert is one of the favourites to leave his post first and it’s hard to see how his side will improve dramatically on last term’s 15th-place.
Liverpool have to adapt without Luis Suarez, but Southampton need to adjust without pretty much everyone. It’s ironic that Saints’ first game is at Anfield, against the club that have bought Rickie Lambert, Dejan Lovren and Adam Lallana from them this transfer window.
That trio were the spine of a side that finished a very credible eighth last year and, as yet, Ronald Koeman has not replaced them adequately.
It could be a tough trip up the M62 for his men. Koeman is fighting other players in the squad who want to leave and Liverpool should take advantage. The Reds will be out to prove there’s life after 31-goal hero Suarez’s departure.
They are just 1/3, though, so there’s better value in buying their supremacy at 1.5 with Sporting Index, remembering how the hosts took apart teams a few months ago.
Pointers…
Stoke at 10/11 v Aston Villa
Buy Liverpool supremacy at 1.5 with Sporting Index against Southampton