The 2018-19 English Premier League season kicks off Friday, when Manchester United takes on Leicester City at Old Trafford. Meanwhile, Manchester City, who is coming off its third Premier League title, opens its season against Arsenal in a marquee matchup on Sunday. The opening weekend of the 2018-19 English Premier League season, which features multiple intriguing matchups, will draw wagers from professional bettors and Average Joes alike.

Before you place your bets on any Premier League fixture this weekend, you need to see what renowned European soccer expert David Sumpter has to say.

Sumpter is an applied mathematician and author of "Soccermatics," a book that explains how math works inside the sport. Along with other experienced analysts, Sumpter developed the powerful Soccerbot model.

The Soccerbot reads current odds and all team performance data, calculates key metrics and predicts upcoming matches. In the three seasons since its inception, Soccerbot is up an incredible 2,000 percent on Premier League picks. That's right -- 2,000 percent.

And the model absolutely crushed the 2018 World Cup. It correctly predicted draws in regulation for Spain-Russia (+280), Croatia-Denmark (+225) and England-Colombia (+215) and was all over France beating Uruguay in regulation to reach the semifinals, not to mention Brazil and Belgium cruising in their Round of 16 matchups. Earlier in the group stage, the model nailed draws for Argentina-Iceland (+385) and Brazil-Switzerland (+360) and predicted Iran upsetting Morocco at +275, just to name a few of its big calls. Anyone who followed it was way, way up.

Now, Sumpter has set his sights on the Premier League Week 1 fixtures, and his picks are in. You can only see them over at SportsLine.

We can tell you Sumpter's backing Chelsea (-158) away at Huddersfield.

Sumpter knows the last time these two teams met at John Smith's Stadium, the Blues came out with 3-1 victories. And Chelsea will be eager to get back in the win column after losing 2-0 to Manchester City in the Community Shield on Sunday.

He's also revealed a strong moneyline pick for Friday's match between Manchester United and Leicester City that you don't want to miss.

Who else is Sumpter backing in Week 1 of the English Premier League season? And which surprising underdog is poised for a shocking upset? Visit SportsLine now to get Professor Sumpter's English Premier League picks, all from a European soccer expert who created a model that's returned an 2,000 percent profit on the bookmakers' closing odds.