The Premier League is back for the second round of action in 2023-24, with last season’s title rivals Arsenal and Manchester City among the sides hoping to follow up on opening-weekend wins.
City take on the impressive Newcastle United — who thrashed Aston Villa 5-1 in their curtain-raiser — while Arsenal travel to Crystal Palace and Manchester United face Tottenham Hotspur.
Only nine matches will take place across the weekend, with Luton Town’s first home game against Burnley postponed due to construction issues at the newcomers’ Kenilworth Road ground.
Click or tap the match headings for more, including team and player stats, officials and pre-match reading.
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Nottingham Forest vs Sheffield United
Friday, August 18 (7.45pm BST)
**Nottingham Forest team news: **Taiwo Awoniyi and Moussa Niakhate are edging closer to being fit enough to start after respective ankle and elbow injuries. Harry Toffolo (hernia) and Giulian Biancone (knee) are making progress, but are unlikely to be risked, while Felipe and Omar Richards are not yet ready.
Sheffield United team news: Paul Heckingbottom has confirmed that striker Oli McBurnie is back in contention after missing the opening defeat to Crystal Palace through injury. Gustavo Hamer is likely to be involved but fellow new signing Tom Davies may be eased into action after not having a proper pre-season. Max Lowe and George Baldock should be fit despite knocks last weekend.
Referee: Peter Bankes
_ Opta omen:_ Only Burnley (0.3) posted a lower expected goals total on Premier League matchweek 1 than Sheffield United (0.5), while Nottingham Forest were one of three teams (along with Everton and Wolves) to post a higher xG than their opponents but still lose the match (1.2 – 0.8).
Fulham vs Brentford
Saturday, August 19 (3pm)
Fulham team news: Aleksandar Mitrovic watched on from the bench against Everton last week, with Saudi side Al Hilal continuing to pursue the striker. Joao Palhinha (shoulder) is still sidelined.
Brentford team news: Frank Onyeka missed the opening draw at Tottenham with a thigh problem, as did Ben Mee with a calf strain. Mathias Jensen limped off early in the second half with an apparent thigh issue. Ivan Toney is out until January due to an FA ban.
Referee: Tim Robinson
_ Opta omen:_ Brentford are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League London derbies, winning five and drawing five. If they avoid defeat here, they will equal their longest unbeaten run in such matches in their league history (11 between February 1954 and August 1955).
Liverpool vs Bournemouth
Saturday, August 19 (3pm)
Liverpool team news: Liverpool will be without Thiago and Stefan Bajcetic as they both continue to recover from long-term hip and groin injuries that they sustained last season.
Bournemouth team news: New Bournemouth signing Alex Scott will miss the game as he nurses a knee injury that he sustained during a training session with his former club Bristol City. Marcus Tavernier, Dango Outarra, Adam Smith, Ryan Fredricks and Lewis Cook are all out. Andoni Iraola confirmed on Friday that Lloyd Kelly may make a return after missing last weekend’s draw with West Ham.
Referee: Thomas Bramall
_ Opta omen:_ Liverpool haven’t lost their first Premier League home game in any of the last 19 seasons, since a 2-1 loss against Chelsea in 2003-04. In fact, Liverpool haven’t lost any of their 19 home league games in August/September under Jurgen Klopp (W16 D3).
Wolves vs Brighton
Saturday, August 19 (3pm)
Wolves team news: Matheus Cunha impressed in the narrow defeat to Manchester United, despite limited training sessions with the team. Gary O’Neil reported no fresh issues after the trip to Old Trafford.
Brighton team news: Adam Webster missed the opening win over Luton with what Roberto De Zerbi described as a “minor issue” but the experienced defender could return at Molineux. The head coach also said he did not want to take any “risks” with Adam Lallana. Jakub Moder is a long-term absentee with a knee injury.
Referee: Andy Madeley
_ Opta omen:_ Brighton have only failed to score in one of their last 29 Premier League games, finding the net in each of their last 17. Away from home they’ve scored in 14 in a row, only having a longer run twice in their league history (16 between August 2009-February 2010, and 15 between February-September 1956).
Tottenham vs Manchester United
Saturday, August 19 (5.30pm)
Tottenham team news: Ryan Sessegnon misses the game with a thigh injury, as will Bryan Gil and Rodrigo Bentancur who have respective groin and knee injuries. Tanguy Ndombele and Fraser Forster are both doubts, as is Cristian Romero who was substituted during his side’s 2-2 draw against Brentford last Sunday due to a head injury.
Manchester United team news: New signing Rasmus Hojlund will miss the game as he recovers from a back injury. Tyrell Malacia and Amad miss out through knee injuries, with Kobbie Mainoo who is recovering from an ankle injury. Tom Heaton is still recovering from a calf strain but Lisandro Martinez could be fit. The Argentina international sustained an ankle injury during his side’s 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday with Erik ten Hag saying: “We’ll see, but I don’t think it is a big deal. We will see how he is this week.”
Referee: Michael Oliver
_ Opta omen:_ Manchester United have won just one of their last nine Premier League away games in London (D3 L5), having been unbeaten in 13 visits to the capital before this (W8 D5). They’ve also failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 11 games at London sides, since beating Spurs 3-0 in October 2021.
Manchester City vs Newcastle United
Saturday, August 19 (8pm)
Manchester City team news: Kevin De Bruyne is likely to be unavailable until the new year due to a recurrence of the hamstring injury suffered in the Champions League final two months ago. Bernardo Silva missed the penalty shootout Super Cup win over Sevilla through illness. Defenders Ruben Dias (concussion) and John Stones (hip) could return.
Newcastle United team news: Joe Willock is likely to remain sidelined with a hamstring issue until after the international break, Eddie Howe has said. Emil Krafth and Javier Manquillo are still nursing injuries.
Referee: Robert Jones
Opta omen: Newcastle have never won in 18 Premier League games at the Etihad Stadium (D2 L16), with their last away league win against Man City coming at Maine Road in September 2000. It’s the most any team has played at a specific venue without ever winning in Premier League history.
Aston Villa vs Everton
Sunday, August 20 (2pm)
Aston Villa team news: Defender Tyrone Mings suffered a “significant knee injury” in the opening defeat to Newcastle and faces a “lengthy rehabilitation process”. The news is a further blow after Emi Buendia suffered an ACL injury just a few days before that game. Jacob Ramsey, Alex Moreno and Leander Dendoncker also are sidelined.
Everton team news: Dominic Calvert-Lewin could return after playing 90 minutes in a behind-closed-doors game against Manchester United at Carrington on Tuesday. Arnaut Danjuma, who came off the bench late on in the defeat to Fulham, could also be handed more playing time. Jack Harrison is still a few weeks away from returning having joined from Leeds with a hip issue.
Referee: Anthony Taylor
_ Opta omen:_ Everton had an xG of 2.73 in their 1-0 defeat to Fulham, their second-highest expected goals total in a Premier League game under Sean Dyche. It was the highest expected goals tally by a team who failed to score since Newcastle against Crystal Palace in September 2022 (2.83).
West Ham vs Chelsea
Sunday, August 20 (4.30pm)
West Ham team news: West Ham have no injury concerns ahead of hosting Chelsea on Sunday.
**Chelsea team news: **Chelsea have been dealt a double injury blow with captain Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah sustaining hamstring issues in training this week. Mauricio Pochettino said on Friday that James will be out for “a few weeks”, while Chalobah is expected to miss a month of action.
Wesley Fofana, Christopher Nkunku, Marcus Bettinelli and Benoit Badiashile are also out.
Referee: John Brooks
_ Opta omen:_ West Ham manager David Moyes has never beaten Chelsea’s Mauricio Pochettino in the Premier League in five attempts (D4 L1). The only managers he has faced more often without winning are Pep Guardiola (11), Graham Potter (7) and Mikel Arteta (7).
Crystal Palace vs Arsenal
Monday, August 21 (8pm)
Crystal Palace team news: Michael Olise is still sidelined with a hamstring tear. “He has kept himself very fit and worked very hard on rehabilitation, and wants to get back on field as soon as possible,” Roy Hodgson said. “It won’t be for a while yet unfortunately because of the severity of the injury.” New signing Matheus Franca missed the 1-0 win at Sheffield United through injury.
Arsenal team news: Jurrien Timber faces a significant period on the sidelines after suffering an ACL injury. Striker Gabriel Jesus is still out, while Oleksandr Zinchenko is not yet ready but is closing in on a return after featuring in a behind-closed-doors game against Luton this week, along with Reiss Nelson. Mikel Arteta said: “‘Alex’ is doing very well, he’s been training with us and hopefully we’re going to have him available very, very soon.”
Referee: David Coote
_ Opta omen:_ Arsenal have lost all four of their away Premier League games played on Monday nights under Mikel Arteta, last winning an away Monday evening game in December 2019 at West Ham under caretaker manager Fredrik Ljungberg.
(Top photo: Getty Images)
