Premier League Picks - 9 September 2011

Rob Alexander picks out value bets from this week's Premier League matches

The Premier League season is well underway and the two Manchester sides look like they are going to battle it out for the title as they build up a head of steam, scoring goals for fun against their rivals. They are the only two sides with a 100 per cent record going into this match week.

Chelsea have also started pretty well under Andre Villas-Boas with seven points from three matches and are joined in the top four by Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool. With Arsenal and Tottenham's poor start to the season, betting against the current top four being in the same at the end may be unwise.

Arsenal have bolstered their squad since the infamous 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford and with players like Mikel Arteta, Per Mertersacker and Yossi Benayoun now in the ranks they look a much better squad than just a few weeks ago, so it will be interesting to see how they fare at home to new boys Swansea City this weekend.

Perhaps the most intriguing tie sees Newcastle United travel to London on Monday to play Joey Barton's new team Queens Park Rangers. Not only did Rangers invest in Barton they also brought in a lot of players with Premier League experience and a point to prove including Shaun Wright-Phillips, Anton Ferdinand and Luke Young.

Weekend Picks

Bolton Wanderers v Manchester United

The form of Sir Alex Ferguson's new look Manchester United side has been irresistible early on this season and they look more than capable of challenging to retain their Premier League title.

Bolton have had a really tough start to the season but have shown they are a very capable side under Owen Coyle with a 4-0 hammering of QPR on the opening day of the season and their fighting spirit in the 3-2 home defeat to Manchester City was testament to their strength when many other teams would have capitulated to City's fantastic attacking display.

Holding onto Gary Cahill is also fantastic news for Bolton Wanderers, who will need him at his best once again as Rooney and co come to the Reebok Stadium.

I fancy Manchester United to have too much in every department for Bolton and win the match to continue their excellent record against Bolton, winning 11 of the last 13 matches.

It is hard to say whether United will break a big handicap or if Bolton will make it a close result, but I feel the Red Devils are more than capable of getting an even better result than their city rivals did and will be determined to do so.

For that reason I recommend betting 2 points on Manchester United -1.5 at 2.27 with Victor Chandler.

Fulham v Blackburn Rovers

Fulham take on Blackburn Rovers in a match between two sides who are yet to get their season underway. The home side have been far from impressive under Martin Jol, picking up just one point from their three matches, while Blackburn are fairing even worse having failed to pick up any points so far.

Both teams bolstered their squads before the transfer window with Fulham bringing in Bryan Ruiz from FC Twente for a massive fee of £10.6m as well as Zdenek Grygera for free.

Blackburn pride themselves on a solid defence and the addition of Scott Dann from Birmingham should help Rovers stop leaking goals. The signing of Yakubu from Everton could be very shrewd as he is a proven Premier League goalscorer.

Fulham and Blackburn are both struggling to find the net so far this season but I fancy Yakubu to slot into the Blackburn side much more quickly than Ruiz, who might take some time to settle in the Premier League.

Despite Fulham being heavy favourites for the match, I favour backing Blackburn in this match with a small headstart.

Bet 3 points on Blackburn +0.75 at 2.07 with bet365.