Arsenal, the defending champions, are predicted to continue their strong start to the Premier League season. BBC Sport football expert Chris Sutton believes Arsenal will "run all over teams" this season and "get better and better," making them a formidable opponent for all other clubs.
Sutton's assessment comes as he participates in a weekly prediction challenge against Royal Blood drummer Ben Thatcher. The challenge also includes predictions from BBC Sport readers and an AI. Thatcher, representing the rock band Royal Blood, whose fifth studio album "Dead Company" is set to be released in November, is also making his picks for the weekend's fixtures.
For the second week of the season, Sutton specifically highlighted Aston Villa's challenging start. Following a significant defeat by Brighton in their opening match and with several key players departing during the transfer window, Sutton anticipates a difficult game for Aston Villa against Arsenal. He suggested that Aston Villa had a slow start to the previous season and indicated that Arsenal's current form and trajectory suggest a dominant performance.
The prediction game involves scoring points for correctly predicting the outcome (win, draw, or loss) and additional points for guessing the exact scoreline. Participants can also engage with the Match of the Day predictor game on BBC Sport each week, featuring six selected fixtures from various domestic and European competitions.