Premier League best bets: Ipswich and Fulham aim for historic results

Welcome to Matchday 7 of the 2024-25 Premier League season. Last weekend saw City stumble after shuffling its injured midfield, Arsenal cruise to new heights after doing the same, Spurs nail Postecoglou-ball, Ipswich show signs of life, Man United show signs of worry, and Chelsea show signs of impending greatness. It was a wild one, and it's framed us beautifully for this weekend's drama.

There's no true 'headliner' this weekend — Man United versus Aston Villa has become one given the opposite trajectories of the two clubs, but we'll expound upon that tomorrow — but a lot of surprisingly close matches. Blame the topsy-turvy nature of this Premier League season: it's given us quality where we didn't expect it (Fulham, Nottingham Forest) and trouble where we did (West Ham, Man United.) The table looks absolutely nothing like what we thought it might at this point in the season, and that means there are plenty of opportunities for arbitrage.

Here are the bets we're eyeing as Matchday 7 kicks off:

West Ham vs. Ipswich Town. On paper, this game shouldn't be close: West Ham is a Premier League regular while Ipswich is back in the league for the first time in decades. West Ham has international superstars; Ipswich, well, doesn't. (Unless you count ex-England midfielder Kalvin Phillips as an international superstar, which we decidedly don't. Sorry Kalvin.) The odds support this eye test and have West Ham as clear favorites to win.

Check the table, though, and the picture looks a little different. Just one point separates the two teams; they're sitting pretty in 14th and 15th respectively. Better yet, Ipswich has the better recent record: it's undefeated in its last four games while West Ham has failed to win any in the same time period.

We'd love for Ipswich to pull an upset here: we're backing it to get a win at +310. While Ipswich may not have any current international superstars in its ranks, it does have English youngster Liam Delap, and he looks primed to become one in the near future. We're backing him to score or assist at +187; he found the back of the net twice last weekend against Aston Villa.

Manchester City vs. Fulham. Man City played out an insipid 1-1 draw with Newcastle United last weekend, and coach Pep Guardiola's makeshift midfield looked wild-eyed and disjointed throughout. Losing both Kevin de Bruyne and Rodri to injury appeared to be a killer blow for the defending champions. But a strong performance in the Champions League against Slovan Bratislava will have given City's new midfield some confidence, and the team enters Matchday 7 with plenty to feel positive about.

Fulham, though, has even more the celebrate. It's off to its best Premier League start in ages and looks capable of going toe-to-toe with just about anyone. While we don't expect Fulham to pull off a win here, we do think it will give City plenty of trouble, and we're eyeing Raul Jimenez as the man to make it. He's in fine goalscoring form for Fulham and looks hungry to impose himself on the league. We're backing him to make at least three shots at +450.

Brighton vs. Tottenham Hotspur. This is one of the most intriguing ties of the weekend: two brilliantly-coached teams with plenty of spirit facing off right as they're reaching their full powers. It's too close to call. But we do have high hopes for Spurs defender Cristian Romero, who's had a stellar start to his Premier League season in front of both nets. He gets off far more shots than most people realize: we're backing him to make at least one against Brighton at +500.