Steve Davies
It’s round 2 of the 2025-26 English Premier League and we have plenty more eye-catching tussles with Newcastle and champions Liverpool topping the bill on Monday night. But before we get to that, we have a ton of games this weekend on Saturday and Sunday to look forward to, including Manchester City hosting Tottenham. We have a prediction for that game, so let’s get into our EPL best bets for game week 2 on August 23 and 24, while you can also find out our expert soccer picks for all the big matchups across the EPL and MLS.
EPL best bet: Manchester City vs Tottenham – Both teams to score & Over 2.5 (-120)
Odds available at bet365 at time of publishing.
City and Spurs were impressive scorers last weekend, with a Richarlison-inspired Tottenham beating Burnley 3-0 while Pep Guardiola’s deposed champs were 4-0 winners at Molineux. Both clubs will face sterner tests than those over the coming weeks, such as this week when they play each other at the Etihad Stadium. It is too early to jump to too many conclusions about Thomas Frank’s Spurs, but 2 goals against European champions PSG in the Super Cup and 3 last week suggest they are still a team that will lean towards attack rather than defense. City are all about goals — they were the top home scorers in the division last term — but Wolves got behind them often enough to have encouraged any apprehensive Spurs fan. This game promises goals, and lots of them, at both ends of the pitch.
EPL best bet: Burnley ML over Sunderland (+130)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing.
Sunderland earned plenty of praise for the manner of last week’s handsome 3-0 dismantling of West Ham at a rocking Stadium of Light but their trip to Turf Moor promises to be an entirely different proposition.
Burnley were stung by the goals they conceded in the 3-0 loss at Tottenham last Saturday but surely encouraged by the 14 chances they created in North London. They can take that positivity back to their home fortress where no one — including Sunderland — managed to beat them in the Championship last term. Head coach Scott Parker is acutely aware that it is wins and not just shutouts that are going to keep them in the EPL — but old habits are hard to break. Expect the Clarets to be back to their unbreachable best en route to a low-scoring win over Sunderland, whose triumph over West Ham may tell us more about the losers than the victors.
EPL best bet: Aston Villa ML over Brentford (+120)
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing.
Brentford and Villa misread their scripts on matchday 1 but don’t expect Unai Emery’s men to fluff their lines again. Villa head to the Gtech Community Stadium to play a Brentford team they never lose to — the Bees are winless in their last 6 games against the Villans — and Emery will surely shake up a frontline which fired off a meagre 3 shots in last weekend’s 0-0 tie with Newcastle. Brentford were well beaten at Nottingham Forest in Keith Andrews’ first game and you do fear the departure of Bryan Mbeumo and imminent exit of Yoane Wissa isn’t taking something of a toll on him and the club.
EPL best bet: Jack Grealish anytime goalscorer in Everton vs Brighton (+500)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing.
He has only been at the club for a few weeks but it has surely dawned very swiftly on David Moyes that Jack Grealish is going to be a huge player for Everton this season. In a team that doesn’t boast much in the way of creativity, Grealish can blossom, and after an encouraging cameo off the bench in Monday’s 1-0 loss at Leeds, the Man City loanee is taken to be a central figure on Everton’s big day.
Brighton are the visitors as Everton grace their new Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time in a competitive bout, and Grealish looks good odds to find the net. Six seasons have passed since the England international last hit double figures for a season but, now a superstar among mere mortals, he can get his first of the season against Albion.
