It will be two struggling clubs which meet in the Manchester derby on Sunday. Manchester City has now won just one of its last 10 matches after Wednesday’ Champions League loss to Juventus. Manager Pep Guardiola’s side continues to get overrun in midfield and generates little threat from its wing positions as striker Erling Haaland forms a one-man attack. Injuries and illnesses, of course, play into the disastrous run but no relief is clearly on the horizon. Manchester United, meanwhile, could be poised for an overhaul as new manager Reuben Amorim is becoming more familiar with the many flaws of his currently 13th place Red Devils. The abrupt departure of Sporting Director Dan Ashworth must certainly relate, to some degree, to the realization of the flawed roster which Amorim has inherited. Whichever club comes out the winner at the Etihad will still have a lot of work to do.
Liverpool remains perfect in the Champions League after defeating Girona on Tuesday and has just one loss in the Premier League this season. The table leaders are at home on Saturday to face Fulham with the pesky Cottagers having lost but one of their last seven matches after defeating Brighton and drawing with Arsenal in their last two matches. Liverpool is unlikely to underestimate the Cottagers after the Reds surprisingly lost to Nottingham Forest at Anfield earlier this season. If that’s the case, the Cottagers face a rough afternoon as the Forest loss is the only time in the last 13 Anfield matches that Liverpool has not come out the victor. The Reds expect to have Alisson Becker back in goal after the keeper’s extended injury absence. Anfield in our sights. 🔋 pic.twitter.com/fJoncV61nF
Second place Chelsea is home at Stamford Bridge to face Brentford on Sunday with the Blues looking to extend their winning run in the league to five matches. Their visitors have yet to win a match on the road this season while, in true Jekyll and Hyde fashion, they are the best home side in the Premier League. Odder still is the fact that Brentford has come out with the win in all three Premier League matches it has played at Stamford Bridge. Goals should be likely. Chelsea leads the league in finding the net while Brentford are joint second.
Everton, meanwhile, is joint second in goal futility, despite an uncharacteristic four goals against Wolverhampton last weekend. Only Southampton has been less prolific in front of goal than the Toffees who have scored but 14 times in 14 matches, including last week’s outlier performance. That baseline scoring proficiency is not promising for Saturday’s visit to Arsenal. Only Liverpool has allowed fewer goals than the Gunners. The Toffee hopes will likely rest on trying to shut down the Gunner attack. Everton has posted a clean sheet in three of its last four Premier League outings.
Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa are level on points just outside the top four as the two clubs prepare to face each other at the City Ground. Villa snapped a four-match losing run in away matches with a 3-2 Champions League win over a bad RB Leipzig team during the week. Their poor away form, however, could return Saturday on short rest and against a surprisingly good Forest side. The Tricky Trees’ Chris Wood is fourth in Premier League goal scoring this season, his 10 tallies being just three short of leader Erling Haaland.
Crystal Palace and Brighton resume their strange non-geographic derby on Sunday with the Eagles heading down to the seacoast to face the Seagulls. A good start to the season has now hit a rough patch as Brighton has captured just two points out of the nine offered in its last three matches. Crystal Palace, meanwhile, has begun to show some life after a somnolent start to the season. The south London side has lost just one of its last seven matches and a four-match unbeaten run has lifted the Eagles out of the relegation zone. Brighton will be trying to get its league form on track while Palace will try to break the hex which has plagued its recent meeting with the Seagulls. Crystal Palace has not won one of these encounters since 2021.
Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle both have aspirations for European qualification yet are level on points with each other just outside the top half of the table. Both clubs should have the opportunity to improve their point totals this weekend when they face newly promoted sides. Spurs could not hope for a better opponent to recover from back-to-back losses. The London side travels to Southampton on Sunday to face the Saints. Southampton is holding up the bottom of the Premier League table with just one win to its credit this season. A loss Saturday would immeasurably increase the volume of calls for the sacking of Spurs’ Manager Ange Postecoglou. The once popular manager got into it with his own catcalling away supporters after a loss at Bournemouth two weeks ago and the Australian did not improve his standing with a derby loss to Chelsea at Tottenham Stadium last week.
Newcastle has lost only one of its last 21 matches against newly promoted sides as it prepares to face Leicester at St. James’s Park on Saturday. This marks the first away match for Leicester under new manager Ruud van Nistelrooy who has a win and a draw in his two matches in front of home supporters. The Foxes scored five goals over those two matches with Jamie Vardy scoring in both contests for the man whose record he broke for consecutive Premier League matches with a goal scored. Newcastle’s defense has been suspect at times which could present an interesting matchup with the reinvigorated Fox attack. Leicester is currently five points above the relegation zone where the other two promoted sides reside. Southampton is in the cellar.
Ipswich Town faces fellow relegation occupant Wolverhampton in a key survival battle at Wolves Molineux Stadium on Saturday. Ipswich has won just once on the road this season, a shock result at Tottenham Hotspur. Wolverhampton, however, has won just once at home amid a miserable season which might see Manager Gary O’Neil lose his job with a loss on Saturday.
West Ham Manager Julen Lopetegui got a much-needed win over Wolves last week but the Hammers must travel to Bournemouth, winners of three consecutive league matches. That win streak has seen the Cherries climb the table from 13th position to their current eighth place standing. In a highly congested Premier League table, Bournemouth is just three points from fourth place Manchester City.