“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters,” Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci once said.<\/p>\n
Set-pieces have become increasingly influential early in 2025\/26. Open-play goals are down, averaging 1.69 per game through seven gameweeks, the second-lowest rate in the competition\u2019s history. As the second break of the campaign approaches, teams and managers will hope for a change in tone and a return to more fluid attacking football.<\/p>\n
Nottingham Forest arrive at the City Ground under pressure after a 2\u20130 reverse at St. James\u2019 Park two weeks ago. Idealist Ange Postecoglou opted for conservatism in a bid to secure a result, but his Nottingham Forest team instead limped to a 2\u20130 defeat. The Aussie coach is winless in his new role, and there is talk that defeat at the City Ground on Saturday could be the final straw, with Sean Dyche earmarked as a potential replacement. Chelsea, who struck late to beat the champions before the break, are inconsistent under Enzo Maresca and remain without talisman Cole Palmer.<\/p>\n
Manchester City look dependent on Erling Haaland, whose early-season form gives them a chance to restore their position at the summit. Everton travel to the Etihad without the ineligible Jack Grealish. Brighton and Newcastle occupy similar mid-table positions; the Seagulls have won just once at home this term, while Newcastle have not always thrived away under Eddie Howe.<\/p>\n
Bournemouth will turn to Antoine Semenyo against Crystal Palace, whose 18-game unbeaten run was ended by Everton two weeks ago thanks to Grealish’s late strike. Sunderland, whose momentum was halted by Manchester United before the break, face a Wolverhampton Wanderers side still seeking a first win.<\/p>\n
Burnley have taken one point from their last five and host Daniel Farke\u2019s Leeds United at Turf Moor. League leaders Arsenal travel to Craven Cottage, where Fulham have troubled them in recent meetings but Mikel Arteta\u2019s side appear to have more options this term.<\/p>\n
Predictions<\/p>\n
12.30 p.m. BST Nottingham Forest vs. Chelsea 0\u20132
\n3 p.m. BST Brighton vs. Newcastle 2\u20131
\n3 p.m. BST Burnley vs. Leeds 1\u20131
\n3 p.m. BST Crystal Palace vs. Bournemouth 1\u20132
\n3 p.m. BST Man City vs. Everton 2\u20131
\n3 p.m. BST Sunderland vs. Wolves 0\u20131
\n5.30 p.m. BST Fulham vs. Arsenal 0\u20132<\/p>\n
Sunday
\n2 p.m. BST Tottenham vs. Aston Villa 3\u20131
\n4.30 p.m. BST Liverpool vs. Man Utd 2\u20131<\/p>\n
Monday
\n8 p.m. BST West Ham vs. Brentford (fixture preview, no prediction provided)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Set-pieces dominate early 2025\/26; open-play goals are down. Preview and predictions for Gameweek 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1151,298,172],"tags":[957,801,319],"class_list":["post-3871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gameweek-8","category-nottingham-forest","category-epl","tag-ange-postecoglou","tag-antoine-semenyo","tag-cole-palmer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}