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Paul Parker's Premier League Picks: Leicester to end Arsenal 'honeymoon'; Man Utd to beat Spurs

Paul Parker

Updated 29/10/2021 at 15:31 GMT

Former England and Manchester United defender Paul Parker gives us his weekend Premier League selections. He is predicting Leicester will prove too much for Arsenal at the King Power Stadium in the Saturday lunchtime game. Parker has also given his predictions on Liverpool vs Brighton, Newcastle vs Chelsea and Tottenham vs United.

James Maddison of Leicester celebrates his goal, Brentford v Leicester City, Premier League, Brentford Community Stadium, London, October 24, 2021

Image credit: Getty Images

With plenty of exciting Premier League games to look forward to this weekend, Paul Parker has delivered his verdict on how arguably the four biggest games will go.
Arsenal will look to extend their unbeaten run to seven matches in the Premier League against a Leicester side who produced a fine display to beat Brentford last weekend.
Later in the day in-form Liverpool host Brighton, who have not won in the league since September 19, at the same time as Newcastle who will be looking to get out of the relegation zone when they take on league leaders Chelsea at St James' Park.
Attention then turns to the late game on Saturday when Manchester United will hope to get their turbulent season back on track at Tottenham.
Check out Parker's predictions below...

LEICESTER V ARSENAL - SAT 12:30

Arsenal got away with murder when they played Brentford. The scoreline flattered them. I had Brentford to beat Leicester. I could not see Leicester going there and doing what they've done. Chelsea went there and were fortunate with Edouard Mendy having the game of his life.
Leicester deserved to beat them. Brentford also scored three against Liverpool and I believe they will beat Arsenal. Everyone gets fed up of hearing with the Gunners 'we're alright now everything is good'. They're going through another honeymoon period and I think Arsenal fans are not 100 per cent behind it. They're just going along with it at the moment and are riding that rocky road.
Prediction: Leicester 2-0 Arsenal
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LIVERPOOL V BRIGHTON - SAT 15:00

Brighton are sitting higher in the league than expected and while they have a healthy gap to the bottom three they need to get things going again. Their old problems are coming back - it is looking a bit messy in the final third.
Liverpool have their mojo back at Anfield - they suffered more without their fans than anybody. They had some embarrassing times without their fans at Anfield and the uptick in results proves how much their fans mean to them. Brighton are going to get nothing from this.
Prediction: Liverpool 3-0 Brighton
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NEWCASTLE V CHELSEA - SAT 15:00

I watched Newcastle against Crystal Palace and all they've done under Graeme Jones is shift his team back an extra ten yards. Everybody stepped back and are defending even deeper. Jamaal Lascelles does not want to come off the edge of the box.
As far as I'm concerned they're a poor team. They've got a terrible left-back in Matt Ritchie.
If Chelsea go at the game like they did against Norwich they will not have a problem. If Romelu Lukaku is fit and plays then it could make it harder for them as he's quite static. It would suit Lascelles who would fight with him all day long.
But with the movement of Kai Havertz, the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Reece James were having a good time against Norwich. Havertz was moving people away rather than Lukaku who wants to fill every hole possible if he does not think he is going to score a goal. Havertz was unselfish while Lukaku is selfish. If Lukaku had been playing against Norwich at the weekend they would not have scored seven goals.
Prediction: Newcastle 0-3 Chelsea

TOTTENHAM V MANCHESTER UNITED - SAT 17:30

It's going to be a mini cup final. Neither manager can afford to lose it. He has to make changes, because if he doesn't it will cause a toxic atmosphere amongst the travelling fans looking for a change.
Solskjaer needs to make changes and the right changes. You can't leave out Cristiano Ronaldo but he has to play Edinson Cavani to get some work rate up front. Ronaldo does not want to close down but Solskjaer has to try something in midfield. He does not need two holding mids against Spurs.
If it was me I would go with Fred because of his quicker feet and Donny van de Beek. I saw him play there against Spurs for Ajax and he was brilliant but he needs a run in the team. If Raphaël Varane is fit I would play him alongside Victor Lindelof. I saw less issues with him than the other three in the Liverpool game. It's terrible what happens with Maguire and Shaw down the left-hand side. Neither can defend one against one, communicate or defend space.
United can't keep clean sheets but I'm going to go with my heart and say they win this one.
Prediction: Tottenham 1-2 Manchester United
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