EPL 2021/22 Matchweek 1 betting picks & top odds

The first week of the 2021/22 EPL season is upon us, and BettingPlanet.com’s football expert presents his best bets and top odds for the opening round of games. Make sure to check out who we are with in our EPL futures betting for the upcoming season here.

Brentford vs Arsenal

Friday, August 13 at 8pm BST

One of the best bets on the opening weekend comes in the first match of the new season, where we expect an under-fire Arsenal to prove too classy for the newly promoted Brentford. Arsenal’s defensive stocks have been boosted in the off-season following the signing of Brighton centre-half Ben White, whilst the Gunners will regain the services of Lucas Torreira and Saed Kolasinac after being out on loan during the previous season. Potentially the biggest addition is midfielder Joseph Willock, who netted seven goals in his last seven games with Newcastle United last season whilst out on loan. If the Gunners can have Willock firing alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Bukayo Saka and Nicholas Pepe on Friday night, they should have too much fire power for Brentford.

Watford vs Aston Villa

Saturday, August 14 at 3pm BST

Aston Villa will head to Vicarage Road without Jack Grealish, but the England star’s big-money move to Manchester City has allowed his boyhood club to build a squad that can push for European qualification this season. Danny Ings might not be the most eye-catching signing of this transfer period, but he is a genuine goalscorer in the EPL with 55 to his name from 140 appearances. Leon Bailey is another big addition to the Aston Villa attack, while goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez comes in off 15 clean sheets last season. All up, the Villans should have the answers to any questions this newly promoted Watford line-up may pose.

Newcastle vs West Ham

Sunday, August 15 at 2pm BST

One of the more intriguing matchups of the weekend sees West Ham United travel to St James’ Park to take on Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon. Even though the Hammers have had to send Jesse Lingard back to Manchester United following the end of his loan, the value about them at +120 for the win is hard to ignore. West Ham have plenty of potent goalscorers in their line-up; Michail Antonio and Tomas Soucek netted 10 apiece last year, whilst Andriy Yarmolenko will be looking to build on an impressive Euro 2020 campaign. As we mentioned previously, Joe Willock has left Newcastle to go back to Arsenal, which significantly dampens their attacking threat, and it looks set to be another year battling relegation for the Magpies.