Injury-hit Manchester City are determined to snap their dropping streak of their remaining Premier League recreation earlier than the worldwide break as Chelsea goal to deepen Arsenal’s distress. Elsewhere within the English prime flight, Ruud van Nistelrooy takes cost of his remaining recreation as interim supervisor of Manchester United and winless Wolves play fellow strugglers Southampton. Lets check out a number of the key speaking factors forward of the motion this weekend.
Man City eye reset
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have turn out to be so accustomed to success that three straight defeats seems like a serious disaster.
Last week City, who face Brighton on Saturday, have been ousted from the League Cup by Tottenham.
Their 32-match unbeaten run within the Premier League got here to an finish at Bournemouth earlier than Sporting Lisbon beat them 4-1 within the Champions League — ending one other lengthy unbeaten stretch.
Guardiola’s males, gunning for a fifth consecutive Premier League title, are simply two factors behind league leaders Liverpool however will likely be cautious of dropping additional floor.
Midfielder Bernardo Silva says the membership’s a number of damage worries usually are not an excuse for his or her poor kind however he admits the worldwide break, which begins after the weekend, comes at a very good time.
“At the second with the accidents that we’ve and the psychological half as effectively, will probably be good to have that relaxation, however earlier than that we’ve an enormous recreation once more,” he mentioned.
One optimistic for City of their defeat to Sporting was the return of Kevin De Bruyne, who got here on as a late substitute after seven weeks out of motion.
Can Odegaard rekindle Arsenal title push?
If outcomes go towards them, Arsenal might discover themselves eighth within the Premier League by the point they kick off towards London rivals Chelsea on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta’s males have picked up only one level from their previous three league video games and misplaced their midweek Champions League conflict towards Inter Milan 1-0.
Arteta was upbeat regardless of the defeat on the San Siro, the place captain Martin Odegaard made a welcome return to motion after being absent since late August.
But defeat towards in-form Chelsea plus a win for Liverpool would depart Arsenal, runners-up in every of the previous two seasons, 10 factors off prime spot.
Thierry Henry mentioned on CBS Sports that if Liverpool and City win on the weekend and Arsenal lose, his former facet might be out of the title race.
“It can be extraordinarily tough since you (would) have too many groups to catch… I do not see two groups collapsing,” he mentioned.
Liverpool — the true deal
Arne Slot has received 14 of his first 16 video games in control of Liverpool in all competitions.
The membership had a comparatively form fixture checklist at the beginning of the season however they present no indicators of letting up — taking seven factors from video games towards Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton in current weeks and boasting an ideal report within the Champions League.
Liverpool have additionally overwhelmed two Premier League groups, West Ham and Brighton, on their technique to the League Cup quarter-finals.
Former Feyenoord boss Slot dismissed a query about whether or not he was discovering his new job “simple” after Liverpool’s thumping 4-0 win towards German champions Bayer Leverkusen this week.
“Every workforce that performs towards us is within the prime of their recreation,” he mentioned. “And if you wish to win that, you at all times should be constant in your depth, and that is not at all times simple however that’s what’s wanted.”
Liverpool have a tricky run of fixtures developing, beginning with Aston Villa at house on Saturday, however to date they’ve proved they’ve what it takes.
Fixtures
Saturday (1500 GMT except said)
Brentford v Bournemouth, Crystal Palace v Fulham, West Ham v Everton, Wolves v Southampton, Brighton v Manchester City (1730), Liverpool v Aston Villa (2000)
Sunday (1400 except said)
Manchester Utd v Leicester, Nottingham Forest v Newcastle, Tottenham v Ipswich, Chelsea v Arsenal (1630)
