Premier League Betting Odds, Soccer Picks & Predictions for Matchday 3: Bets for Palace-Villa & Fulham-Brentford

The 2022-23 English Premier League season is here! OddsJam’s soccer expert @NorthSideCapper breaks down his top picks for the second matchday of the season.

EPL Matchday 3 Picks & Predictions

Crystal Palace vs. Aston Villa Pick: Crystal Palace DNB | -125 at BetRivers

Saturday, August 20 | 10 a.m. ET

While neither club started the season off on the right foot — Palace lost 2-0 to Arsenal and Villa lost 2-0 to Bournemouth — all has been forgotten

We enter Matchday 3 with Palace coming off a 1-1 draw at Anfield against a powerful Liverpool squad. This result ended what was a run of 10 straight defeats to Liverpool, so it was certainly a long time coming.

You could argue that conceding a 1-0 lead to a team playing with 10 men is not the best result possible, and coach Patrick Vieira would likely agree, but it would be foolish to suggest leaving Anfield with 1 point is anything but positive and that is exactly what Palace achieved.

After a tough opening two games against some of the best clubs in England, a visit by Villa should certainly ease some tension and bring a sense of optimism in an effort to collect three points.

Aston Villa are coming off a 2-1 win over Everton in which they had to endure a nervous last few minutes. Going up 2-0 with four minutes left in regulation, Villa quickly gifted Everton a breath of life with an own goal by Lucas Digne. Nevertheless, they escaped with a vital 3 points and got their campaign off and running.

If Villa are expected to carry that momentum, they will have to improve on their poor road form; winners of only one in their last five on their travels (3-1 victory over Burnley last season) and having already lost their first road match this season to Bournemouth (2-0) it is an area of concern, but especially when factoring in Palace’s home form. Palace have lost two of their last 10 matches at home in all competitions — a 2-0 loss to Arsenal and 1-0 loss to Chelsea.

Both clubs enter in good spirits after collecting wins last match day, but the talent in this Palace squad is simply better throughout the starting 11. Beyond that, their head-to-head history suggests Palace will not lose this game.

Dating back to their last 10 encounters when Palace is listed as the home team, they have lost two matches. In other words, we win and/or push this bet 80% of the time. I like those chances and expect the road woes of Aston Villa to continue on for at least one more week.

Fulham vs. Brentford Pick: Over 2.5 | -107 at BetRivers

Saturday, August 20 | 10 a.m. ET

What may seem like a bore should actually be quite an exciting encounter. Your average fan isn’t going to tune in on a Saturday morning to watch Fulham and Brentford go head-to-head in a London Derby, but maybe they should.

Both clubs have gotten off to solid starts and should be satisfied heading into Matchday 3. Fulham have drawn both of their first two matches to begin the new campaign with an exciting and yet impressive 2-2 draw vs. Liverpool back on August 6.

Unfortunately, they were unable to find the back of the net against the Wolves in the Molineux Stadium after an 81st-minute penalty shot miss by forward Aleksandar Mitrovic, but that’s hardly something to be concerned about, more so when they also kept a clean sheet on the road.

Brentford probably isn’t a secret at this point anymore. They flew under the radar last season and provided what was a solid campaign, and have carried that into this season with impressive displays against both Leicester City (2-2 draw) and Manchester United (4-0 win).

Goals are flowing on the pitch when Brentford is playing and we’re expecting that to be the case again here. The over 2.5 has hit in eight of Brentford’s last 10 matches dating back to last season, in which they have only failed to score two times in that span. More impressive, the over 2.5 has hit in eight straight matches Brentford has played on the road, only failing to score a single time in a 3-0 loss to Manchester United.

While Fulham was unable to find the back of the net last time out, we’re expecting a more intense display like what we saw in Matchday 1 against Liverpool. History suggests we should see goals today between these clubs, as their last two encounters resulted in over 2.5 goals, and given the form Brentford is currently in, they could surpass this total by themselves if Fulham isn’t careful in the defensive third.