{"id":363211,"date":"2025-08-18T09:53:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T13:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=363211"},"modified":"2025-08-18T09:55:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T13:55:02","slug":"epl-matchday-1-picks-and-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/epl-matchday-1-picks-and-predictions\/","title":{"rendered":"Everton vs. Leeds United best bet Aug. 18: EPL Matchday Week 1 picks and predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The 2025-26 English Premier League season kicks off with Matchday 1 this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The pregame narrative: <\/strong>There are 20 teams in action for the weekly slate, including a club that has rejoined the Premiership. Everton welcomes recently promoted Leeds United, which is a favourite for its first game back in the EPL after two years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out my EPL predictions and best bets for the season-opening soccer action, featuring a pick on the Manchester United vs. Arsenal match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">EPL predictions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best bet: Manchester United\/Arsenal both teams to score (-150)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal was third in scoring last season, finishing with 69 goals despite dealing with numerous injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard missed a majority of the season but come into 2025-26 at full health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both teams also made a splash during the transfer window. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Man U signed three attackers (Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha), all for $50 million or more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arsenal, meanwhile, bought centre forward Viktor Gyokeres for $75 million.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We have yet to see what these additions can provide on offence, but I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s crazy to expect a lot of goals from these clubs to start the new season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mbeumo and Cunha, the signings who already played in England, had 35 tallies and 13 assists in the Premier League last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gyokeres had 39 goals and seven assists in 33 games in Liga Portugal last season, so he&#8217;s looking like a strong candidate to fill Arsenal&#8217;s gap up top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both sides made huge offensive moves, and I can&#8217;t help but think this is going to be a barn burner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key stat:<\/strong> This bet cashed in four of the last six matches between Manchester United and Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/sports\/soccer\/competitions\/10104\">EPL betting markets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Premier League picks: Matchday 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Everton to win (+210<strong>)<\/strong><\/strong><strong>: <\/strong>I love the underdog value here on Everton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Midway through last season, the Toffees made a change, re-hiring David Moyes as manager. And that&#8217;s when things turned around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Everton picked up points in 15 matches while losing just four from that point on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>That included eight wins and draws over clubs such as Liverpool and Arsenal, the EPL&#8217;s top two finishers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Everton sees the potential and has spent some money this transfer window to bolster its squad. Attacker Thierno Barry joins the team from Villarreal in La Liga, while Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall joins the midfield from Chelsea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These two players cost close to $60 million combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leeds earned promotion to the top flight by winning the Championship. The club is expected to do well this season, but I&#8217;ll side with the experienced EPL team that finished the 2024-25 campaign in strong form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the last 19 games of the 2024-25 season, Everton had the ninth-most points in the EPL (31).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>EPL predictions made at 11:06 a.m. on 08\/15\/25.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2025-26 English Premier League season kicks off with Matchday 1 this weekend. The pregame narrative: There are 20 teams in action for the weekly slate, including a club that has rejoined the Premiership. Everton welcomes recently promoted Leeds United, which is a favourite for its first game back in the EPL after two years. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":363146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[452,73],"tags":[43],"class_list":["post-363211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-com","category-football","tag-soccer-betting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>EPL predictions: 2025 Matchday Week 1 picks and best bets | NSB<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our EPL predictions for Matchday 1 of the 2025-26 season. 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