The Premier League returns this weekend following the conclusion of October’s international break.
Nottingham Forest and Chelsea get us underway on Saturday lunchtime, setting the stage for a busy afternoon with a slate of five 3pm fixtures, followed by the all-capital clash between Fulham and Arsenal.
Sunday serves up a tasty double-header, starting with the in-form duo of Tottenham and Aston Villa locking horns in North London, before old foes Liverpool and Manchester United do battle at Anfield. West Ham and Brentford then round off the action on Monday night.
Read on for all of the stats and records you might see in gameweek 8.
Quick Links
- Haunted by the Blues
- Sunderland can surpass sorry Saints
- Fast-starting Woltemade
- From Championship steel to Premier League plastic
- Bournemouth bidding to join 100 Club
- Haaland eyes hat-trick of historic starts
- The Martinelli Effect
- 20 and counting
- Salah eyes history against familiar foes
- West Ham desperate for home comforts
Haunted by the Blues
- Ange Postecoglou could lose against Chelsea for the fifth time in a row.
Ange Postecoglou has endured a torrid start to life in charge of the Tricky Trees. The Australian is winless in seven matches across all competitions and is now the odds-on favourite to be the next Premier League manager to be shown the door.
Forest, 17th, have lost each of their last three games, and things don’t get any easier this weekend as they prepare to host a resurgent Chelsea side fresh off an impressive win over Liverpool.
To make matters worse, Postecoglou has a dreadful record against the Blues, having lost all four previous meetings with them. Saturday could mark his fifth straight defeat to Chelsea, which would only intensify the scrutiny surrounding his future at the City Ground.
Sunderland can surpass sorry Saints
- Sunderland can eclipse Southampton’s entire points total from last season after just eight games.
Many feared the worst for this season’s newly promoted sides, especially after all six promoted clubs over the past two campaigns suffered immediate relegation.
But play-off winners Sunderland have so far silenced the doubters with an impressive start, sitting 9th in the table with 11 points from seven games.
The Black Cats will back themselves to increase their points pot when they host bottom-of-the-table Wolves, who remain the only Premier League team without a win (D2 L5).
Victory on Saturday would take their season tally to 14 points, thus surpassing Southampton’s entire total from last season (12).
Fast-starting Woltemade
- Nick Woltemade can become only the second player to score five goals in his first five Premier League games for Newcastle after Loic Remy.
Nick Woltemade has exploded out of the blocks this season with six goals for Newcastle, Stuttgart, and Germany, which includes a goal in each of his last four games.
Woltemade has already made his mark in the Premier League with three goals in four games. Now he will be looking to become only the fifth Newcastle player to score four goals in his first five Premier League games, while a brace would see him match Loic Remy’s club record of five goals in his opening five league Toon games.
From Championship steel to Premier League plastic
- Burnley could concede more goals after eight Premier League games than in the entirety of last season’s Championship campaign.
Burnley’s defensive solidity was a cornerstone of their success last season, conceding just 16 goals across 46 Championship games. But life in the Premier League has been far less forgiving – the Clarets have already shipped 15 goals in their first seven matches, the second-most behind West Ham.
Burnley will be targeting three points at home to fellow new boys Leeds on Saturday. However, if they concede two or more goals, they will have already conceded more goals in the opening eight Premier League games than they did in the whole of last season in the Championship (16 in 46 games).
Should that happen, Burnley would become just the second team in Football League history to concede as many goals in their opening eight matches as they did in the entire previous season…after Liverpool 131 years ago.
Bournemouth bidding to join 100 Club
- Bournemouth are bidding to become the 24th different club to win 100 Premier League games.
Bournemouth are flying high in 4th following a return of 14 points from seven games, putting them within just two points of early pacesetters Arsenal.
Bournemouth’s 3-1 win over Fulham before the international break was their 99th in 311 Premier League games, meaning they can hit they can become the 24th club to hit the 100-win milestone with a victory away to Crystal Palace.
Haaland eyes hat-trick of historic starts
- Erling Haaland can score 10 Premier League goals within the first eight games of the season for the third time.
What a season Erling Haaland is having. The prolific goal machine has scored a simply outrageous 22 goals in just 13 games for Man City and Norway this season, including a hat-trick against Israel last weekend.
Haaland has already racked up nine Premier League goals this season and should he bag another on Saturday at home to Everton he will have hit double figures already.
It would mark just the third time a player has scored 10+ goals within the first eight games of a Premier League season – and, yes, you guessed it, unsurprisingly Haaland was also behind the other two instances (reaching 10 goals in Gameweek 6 of 2022–23 and Gameweek 5 of 2024-25).
The Martinelli Effect
- Arsenal are currently unbeaten in 48 matches in all competitions when Gabriel Martinelli scores.
Gabriel Martinelli is in fine form right now, with four goals in his last seven appearances – including one for Brazil during the international break.
When Martinelli finds the net for Arsenal, it’s usually a good omen. The Gunners are unbeaten in all 48 games in which he has scored, with an impressive record of 39 wins and nine draws.
If he scores against Fulham on Saturday and Arsenal avoid defeat, that remarkable streak would move to 49 – just one game away from hitting the 50-match milestone.
20 and counting
- Tottenham and Aston Villa could go 21 consecutive league meetings without a draw, which would make it the joint-longest run of its kind in the Premier League era.
Tottenham and Aston Villa clash in London on Sunday in a fixture that’s difficult to predict, given the good form of both clubs.
Spurs are third in the table following a bright start under Thomas Frank, while Aston Villa have recorded from a slow start to win their last four games in a row.
But if you’re expecting the points to be shared, history says otherwise. Remarkably, none of the last 20 Premier League meetings between these two have ended in a draw – with Spurs winning 14 and Villa six – a streak that dates back to a 1-1 result in May 2012.
Only two fixtures in Premier League history have seen longer runs without a draw: Newcastle vs Spurs (21 games from 1999 to 2010) and Chelsea vs Crystal Palace (26 games from 1997 to 2024).
Salah eyes history against familiar foes
- If Mo Salah scores or assists he will become the first player in Premier League history to be directly involved in 20 goals against Manchester United.
Mo Salah may not be at his brilliant best right now, but he’ll take confidence from his outstanding record against Sunday’s opponents, Manchester United.
The Egyptian King has racked up 16 goals and six assists in just 17 appearances for Liverpool against United in all competitions. 19 of those goal contributions have come in the Premier League, leaving him just one away from becoming the first player in the competition’s history to be directly involved in 20 goals against the Red Devils.
West Ham desperate for home comforts
- West Ham could lose their opening four home league games of a season for the first time in their entire history.
West Ham sacked Graham Potter at the end of September after a dismal run that saw them pick up just three points from a possible 15.
Nuno Espirito Santo was brought in as his replacement and faced a tough start, with consecutive away games against Everton and Arsenal. He managed a draw at Goodison Park, but the in-form Gunners proved too strong in a 2-0 defeat at the Emirates.
Now, Santo prepares for his first home game in charge on Monday against Brentford, with West Ham desperate to avoid a fourth straight home league defeat, which would mark the worst home start to a season in the club’s history.