Maybe it was the wintry Cape Town weather, but there haven’t been too many people wearing Manchester United replica jerseys around the Mother City this past week, writes GARY LEMKE. 

Cape Town is one of those cities where there is a large, and staunch following of Manchester United and Liverpool fans – and right now it’s the latter who have the bragging rights after three wins from three matches. However, it’s been a decidedly poor start for United, who have lost two of their three games and suggestions are that, should they lose at Burnley in Sunday’s late game, that’s tickets for manager Jose Mourinho.

There are definitely power plays going on at Old Trafford. Mourinho walked out of his dugout to applaud the United fans after Monday’s 3-0 defeat to Spurs and has clearly drawn the lines between himself and the board, blaming them for their passive approach during the last transfer window. The side has leaked seven goals in three matches, while scoring just four. The fans seem to have taken Mourinho’s side and reports are that there will be a plane carrying a (chief executive) ‘Ed Woodward Out’ banner over Turf Moor before the Burnley match.

It’s clearly a crisis at Old Trafford and yet it seems unthinkable that they will lose at Burnley. It might be ugly, because Burnley are tough to break down at home, but you have to expect Mourinho to get a reaction from his team, who actually weren’t 3-0 bad against Spurs after an entertaining first half ended 0-0.

Some interesting trends have started emerging which should be factored into your predictions – and with the three points Superbru offers for an exact score, bold forecasts are being rewarded. For instance, there have been three 0-0 draws and only one 1-1 draw. In fact, there have been more 2-2 draws than 1-1.

You will see that I’ve gone with two draws for this week: Brighton vs Fulham and West Ham vs Wolves. I’ve previously written that, despite their good start, I feel that Brighton will be dragged into a relegation dogfight later in the season and that two of the three promoted clubs, Fulham and Wolves, will stay in the Premier League. Both those sides have goals in them and play attacking football, so I’ve avoided the 0-0 here.

But, Brighton will be tough to beat at home and are favourites to outscore Fulham – especially given they saw off Manchester United a fortnight ago – but I fancy the London club might just scrape out a draw.

West Ham have had a poor start to the season but they won in the Carabao Cup during the week and host Wolves, who are confident after holding Manchester City to a draw last week. The Hammers are favourites for the win but the visitors are entertaining and I’ve got them to draw 2-2.

Although we’ve only seen three completed rounds, there have been 89 goals scored from the 30 games, which is basically an average of three goals per match. That also tallies with the fact that 2-1 has been the most common scoreline so far. Given the weather at this time of year, it’s expected that there will be a lot of goals, and that you’ll start finding more 1-0s – only one such result to date in 30 games – when conditions become heavier and wetter in a few months. So, make merry while the sun shines!

Scorelines so far this season:
7 times: 2-1
6 times: 2-0
3 times: 3-1, 0-0
2: 3-0, 3-2, 2-2
1: 1-0, 4-0, 4-2, 6-1, 1-1

Here are the SportsClub team’s predictions for this week’s round of fixtures.

Leicester vs Liverpool
Gary Lemke (16/30): 0-2
Wade Pretorius (16/30): 1-1
Dylan Appolis (18/30): 1-3
Juandre Joubert (17/30): 1-2
Dean Workman (18/30): 1-1
Marshall Gouts (18/30): 0-2

Brighton vs Fulham
Gary Lemke: 1-1
Wade Pretorius: 1-1
Dylan Appolis: 1-1
Juandre Joubert: 1-1
Dean Workman: 2-1
Marshall Gouts: 2-2

Chelsea vs Bournemouth
Gary Lemke: 2-1
Wade Pretorius: 3-0
Dylan Appolis: 2-0
Juandre Joubert: 2-0
Dean Workman: 3-1
Marshall Gouts: 2-0

Crystal Palace vs Southampton
Gary Lemke: 2-0
Wade Pretorius: 0-0
Dylan Appolis: 1-0
Juandre Joubert: 1-1
Dean Workman: 2-0
Marshall Gouts: 1-2

Everton vs Huddersfield
Gary Lemke: 2-0
Wade Pretorius: 2-0
Dylan Appolis: 2-1
Juandre Joubert: 2-0
Dean Workman: 2-0
Marshall Gouts: 1-1

West Ham vs Wolves
Gary Lemke: 2-2
Wade Pretorius: 2-1
Dylan Appolis: 0-1
Juandre Joubert: 1-0
Dean Workman: 2-1
Marshall Gouts: 1-1

Man City vs Newcastle
Gary Lemke: 3-0
Wade Pretorius: 2-0
Dylan Appolis: 3-1
Juandre Joubert: 3-1
Dean Workman: 3-0
Marshall Gouts: 2-1

Cardiff City vs Arsenal
Gary Lemke: 0-2
Wade Pretorius: 1-2
Dylan Appolis: 1-2
Juandre Joubert: 1-2
Dean Workman: 1-2
Marshall Gouts: 0-2

Burnley vs Man United
Gary Lemke: 1-2
Wade Pretorius: 1-2
Dylan Appolis: 0-1
Juandre Joubert: 1-2
Dean Workman: 0-2
Marshall Gouts: 1-2

Watford vs Tottenham
Gary Lemke: 1-2
Wade Pretorius: 1-2
Dylan Appolis: 1-2
Juandre Joubert: 1-2
Dean Workman: 1-2
Marshall Gouts: 1-3

Lemke is the 2017/18 EPL Superbru Global champion