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Bluffers' Guide to the Premier League weekend: goals for Klopp and Rooney, and Burnley make Chelsea feel champion

A stacked buffet of delicious Premier League fixtures awaits hungry bluffers. Martin Bly knows his way around the menu

Groundhog Day has come around quickly for Jurgen Klopp, who this weekend repeats his first match in charge for Liverpool as the Reds once again visit White Hart Lane.

The goofy German’s opening fixture in 2015 was a tenacious 0-0 draw, yet no canny bluffer will predict a repeat of that result: Liverpool have gone 31 games without a goalless draw, and Tottenham Hotspur 26 - the longest run without nil-nil final scores of any Premier League teams

So there will be goals, and there may well be own goals: this fixture has produced more own goals than any other match-up in the Premier League roster. And bluffers can go further and predict that the goals will mostly be in favour of Liverpool.

Anfield’s finest may have a flaky defence but they can be swift and awesome going forward, and their recent record against Spurs is remarkable: they are unbeaten in their last seven matches against this opposition and have won five of those, scoring eight goals without reply.

Brighter prospects, perhaps, for another London team as Chelsea entertain Burnley, a team who always put a spring in the step of Stamford Bridge bluffers: Burnley are embarking on their third Premier League season, and in each of their previous two sojourns at the top table, Chelsea have ended up as champions.

A good omen in general for Antonio Conte and his men, and there are further reasons to be cheerful in this particular context: Chelsea are unbeaten in all four of their previous PL matches against Burnley and have won three of them, while Sean Dyche’s club have notched just two points from 11 previous Premier League visits to the capital.

Energetic Burnley bluffers may wish to point out that their club do, however, currently boast the League’s hardest-working man: midfielder George Boyd has run further than any other player (24.9km) and made the most sprints (166).

An early-season top-of-the-table clash gives unlikely heroes Hull City a chance to make a little piece of history when they welcome Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United to the KCOM Stadium. Hull’s tiny squad have won their first two matches, and another victory would see them become only the second newly promoted side to win their first three games of the season, joining Bolton Wanderers, who achieved the feat in 2001-02.

Bidding to prevent this happening will be Wayne Rooney, who has scored seven goals in his last five appearances against the Tigers.

Over at the City of Manchester Stadium, Pep Guardiola continues to reshuffle his forces as he welcomes West Ham. Joe Hart is clearly no longer required, but Sergio Aguero seems cherished: bluffers may wish to point out that he has just become only the fourth player in Premier League history to score a penalty in the first two matches PL matches of the season.

The others were Big Duncan Ferguson in season 2001-02, Frank Lampard in 2012-13 and Roberto Soldado in 2013-14. No one - yet - has ever scored a penalty in the opening three matches of a season.

It may be relevant here to recall that West Ham’s goalkeeper, Adrian, made his debut for the club precisely three years ago this weekend, in a League Cup match against Cheltenham Town. He conceded a penalty with a foul, and failed to keep out the resulting kick.