Premier League schedule and preview, Week 7: A loaded Sunday

International break means no Monday game, and Saturday’s early match has been axed for some reason. That means there’s a whole lot to love on Sunday in the Premier League.

by Kim McCauley

Oct 3, 2014, 3:12 PM UTC

Paul Gilham

The Premier League returns Saturday with a pretty average slate, but it leads into a truly exceptional Sunday. There are four games on that day, featuring one huge London derby between Chelsea and Arsenal.

Liverpool play West Brom in the earliest TV game on Saturday, in the parts of the world that actually show midday Premier League games. For whatever reason, there is no early kickoff, so feel free to sleep in very late. Then go back to bed if Liverpool actually take the lead, because that should be the end of that.

Aston Villa vs. Manchester City is the late game on Saturday and might have been great later in the season. Unfortunately, the injury bug makes Villa pretty significant underdogs.

In addition to Chelsea-Arsenal, the Sunday slate also features a potential goalfest in Everton vs. Manchester United, as well as a fun narrativefest between Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton.

Liverpool vs. West Bromwich Albion

Saturday, 10 a.m. ET/15:00 GMT

TV: NBC Sports Network (U.S.), Sportsnet regional (Canada)

Liverpool haven’t won in their last three league games and, if it weren’t for a late penalty against Ludogorets, would have six straight games without a regulation time victory in all competitions. They were poor midweek against Basel and it was a continuation of a month of poor performances, so there’s no reason to believe that West Bromwich Albion can’t present a serious challenge.

While West Brom's 4-0 win over Burnley last week was both at home and against the team with the lowest budget in the division, it was still a 4-0 win over a Premier League team. Liverpool really should bounce back with a win, but it's not like anyone's going to be stunned if they fail again.

Pick: 2-1, Liverpool.

Hull City vs Crystal Palace

Saturday, 10 a.m. ET/15:00 GMT

After picking up an opening day win, Hull City haven’t managed a victory in their last five games. Crystal Palace, meanwhile, look quite a bit better than a relegation battler this season. Hull have enough good players and a good enough home record to avoid embarrassment here, but there’s not a good reason to pick them to win.

Pick: 1-1 draw.

Leicester City vs. Burnley

Saturday, 10 a.m. ET/15:00 GMT

Leicester, for all their faults, try to do things and generally produce entertaining games. Burnley ... don’t really do anything.

Pick: 1-0, Leicester.

Sunderland vs. Stoke City

Saturday, 10 a.m. ET/15:00 GMT

Remember when these were by far the worst fixtures in the Premier League? Now they both try to play football! They do it poorly, sure, but they try!

Pick: 1-1 draw.

Swansea City vs. Newcastle United

Saturday, 10:00 a.m. ET/15:00 GMT

Having assured Alan Pardew that he will have a job even if he loses to Swansea, Mike Ashley has put himself in the awkward position of having to go back on a promise or get his stadium burned to the ground.

Pick: 3-0, Swansea

Aston Villa vs. Manchester City

Saturday, 12:30 p.m. ET/17:30 GMT

TV: NBC (U.S.), Sky Sports 1 (U.K.), Sportsnet regional (Canada)

Poor Aston Villa continues to run the gauntlet. Ron Vlaar and Christian Benteke could, but probably won't, return for this game. Without their two best players, they'll probably lose to City, like they lost to Chelsea and Arsenal.

Pick: 2-0, Manchester City.

Manchester United vs. Everton

Sunday, 7 a.m. ET/12:00 GMT

TV: NBC Sports Network (U.S.), BT Sport 1 (U.K.), TSN 1 (Canada)

Don’t look now, but Everton are alllllll the way down in 15th place, sporting the worst goals allowed record in the Premier League. Manchester United are kind of an embarrassing mess, but they’re not too bad at scoring goals. This game might end up being very, very high scoring, and if there’s a winner, we get to speculate about how completely screwed the loser is this season.

Pick: 3-3 draw.

Chelsea vs. Arsenal

Sunday, 9 a.m. ET/14:00 GMT

TV: NBC Sports Network (U.S.), Sky Sports 1 (U.K.), Sportsnet regional (Canada)

Arsenal are going to hang around the top four all season and it would be very shocking to see them finish outside of Champions League places, but this is one of few chances they're going to get to announce any kind of title credentials. And, sadly for them, they'll have to do it without injured midfielders Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey. Jack Wilshere is a slight doubt with an ankle injury too.

Under other circumstances, an Arsenal upset might be a sexy pick, but it's tough to see Chelsea failing to win at Stamford Bridge against a decimated midfield that will include either a hobbled Wilshere or Santi Cazorla.

Pick: 3-1, Chelsea.

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Southampton

Sunday, 9 a.m. ET/14:00 GMT

Southampton are ahead of Spurs in the table! Even though Spurs stole their manager and Southampton had to sell most of their good players! Narratives! Get ready for a lot of insufferably annoyed Spurs fans and insufferably smug Saints supporters.

Pick: 2-1, Southampton.