The Premier League season is beginning to settle after the transfer window closed, but the early weeks still carry that slightly lopsided feel that only comes when squads have been left unfinished. That is exactly why prem results remains such a useful little weekly test: it is not just about guessing scorelines, it is about seeing who reads the league properly when everyone is still trying to work out who they are.
This week’s challenge goes to Jay, a 40-year-old Arsenal supporter from Bristol, who has been handed the job of previewing and predicting the 10 Premier League games in Gameweek 3. It is part of The Athletic’s Pick ’Ems format, the same weekly competition that pits an expert, a guest subscriber, and the algorithm against one another. Last week’s numbers set the tone: Matt from London hit six correct results out of 10, Wilfred followed with five, Algo to its friends managed four, and Andy Jones finished with three. In other words, the margin for bragging rights is thin, and every round matters.
The weekly challenge has real bite
That is the point of the game. It gives readers something more competitive than a standard preview and more immediate than a bland predictions column. There is a running tally, a rotating cast, and enough room for bad calls to sting. Six correct results out of 10 is a strong week. Three is not. And when the league is still in that awkward early-season phase, the difference between looking sharp and looking foolish can come down to a single stubborn result.
There are also a couple of fixtures with real intrigue attached, including Arsenal vs Chelsea and Everton vs Manchester United. Chelsea, in particular, continue to attract the kind of divided opinion that makes this format fun, with Oliver admitting he has been struggling to shake off a strange feeling that Chelsea will get something from the game. That sort of hesitation is exactly what prem results thrives on: the uneasy spaces between instinct, data, and plain old football gut feeling.
Everton are a different kind of problem altogether. They remain in a state of flux after missing out on important targets, including Folarin Balogun, and that unsettled feeling matters in a prediction game as much as it does on the pitch. The early-season table never tells the full story, but a team still carrying the after-effects of a disrupted window is often a dangerous one to judge too quickly.
So Jay has the microphone this week, and the rest of the game follows the same brutal logic as ever. Make your picks, live with them, and see whether the numbers back you up when the round is done. That is what keeps prem results sharp: it turns opinion into a scoreline, and a scoreline into an argument.
