Every cloud has a silver lining, or so they say, and Sunderland defender Younis Kaboul’s suspension following his red card at Bournemouth last Saturday at least means his disastrous central defensive partnership with Sebastian Coates cannot continue. In the three games in which they’ve played together this season – against Leicester, Norwich and Bournemouth – the Black Cats have conceded nine goals. The recovery of John O’Shea from illness offers a glimmer of hope for the Sunderland back line, but the fact remains that his side has conceded 10 first half goals in the Premier League this season and are currently bottom of the table, with two points from six games.

A nine-match winless streak, not to mention a midweek League Cup tie against Manchester City, is unlikely to inspire confidence in the Black Cats ahead of their trip to Old Trafford on Saturday. In fact, manager Dick Advocaat has questioned the match-fitness and commitment of his team in recent weeks, so it’s hard to see beyond anything other than a routine victory for the home team.

United’s 3-2 win at Southampton on Sunday had manager Louis van Gaal singing the praises of £36 million striker Anthony Martial, who’s scored three times in his first three games, and talking about the Red Devils as title contenders. That might be a little premature, especially with the United defence looking all at sea at St. Mary’s in the absence of Luke Shaw and Wayne Rooney without a goal, or even an assist, in the Premier League this season. Even so, van Gaal looks set to have the last laugh in the battle of the Dutchmen.

It’s difficult to find value in such an apparently one-sided contest, with Man Utd on offer at 1/5 in the Full-time Result market and just 4/7 in the Half-time/Full-time market. Former England striker Jermaine Defoe has scored five times for Sunderland this season, including a hat-trick against Exeter in the League Cup, so perhaps the shrewd play is to take the 15/8 on offer about Man Utd & Yes in the Result/Both Teams to Score market.

Well, it’s almost here folks. The first game of the this year’s Premier League season is set to kick off on Saturday August 8th at 12:45, with a highly anticipated encounter between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. United are currently 7/10, Tottenham 19/4 and the draw  3-1 which is no surprise and looks about right to me. United will certainly be looking to make their mark early on in the season to make up for last year’s performance.

Other big matches over the weekend include Chelsea vs Swansea that same day, and Arsenal vs Westham + Stoke vs Liverpool on Sunday. The big games conclude with Westbrom vs Manchester City on Monday.

The six highlighted teams are current favourites to top the table this season: Chelsea (6/4), Man City (11/4), Arsenal (9/2), Man Utd (5-1), Liverpool (22-1), Tottenham (100-1) and in all likelihood will more often fall into the ‘top four positions’ and be amongst our game previews each week. There will be some interesting picks throughout the season though no doubt and we’ll be looking for overpriced selections relating to all kinds of football bets (game result, half-time/full-time, overs etc). I’m especially looking forward to seeing how promoted sides Leicester City, Burnley and Queens Park Rangers get on against the top teams. There’s bound to be the odd upset.

Welcome to TopFourTips.com, a new Premier League betting tips blog.  To get right to the heart of the action we’ll be using this site to cover games from teams currently in the Premier League top four places.

Early in the season of course the state of play is much more uncertain so some lesser lights may well form a regular part of the focus. That adds to the fun of things.  As the season progresses and each result really starts to matter, you can be sure that we’ll be highlighting betting tips from the make or break games. There’s nothing better than exciting bets placed on top teams at the business end of the season, so this is the place to be if that’s your thing!