The Premier League returns from international break when Chelsea and Manager Enzo Maresca face the manager’s former club, Leicester City, in Saturday’s early game. Maresca led the Foxes last season to the Championship division title which returned Leicester to the Premier League. This year he has brought success (so far) to a Chelsea side badly in need of a steadying hand after former Manager Mauricio Pochettino exited the ownership induced chaos at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea is currently third, by goal differential, in the Premier League table while Leicester is hovering three points above the relegation line under former Nottingham Forest Manager Steve Cooper.
Forest and Arsenal, along with Brighton, share the same point total as Chelsea in a crowded chase for the top four. The Tricky Trees are at Arsenal this weekend, hoping to continue their fairy tale start to a season which many expected would end in relegation for Manager Nuno Espirito Santo and the Trees. Arsenal, meanwhile, never expected to be nine points back of league leading Liverpool at this juncture and cannot afford more dropped points.
Front running Liverpool is on the south coast for a match with Southampton which sits at the bottom of the Premier League table. The Saints have lost nine of their 11 matches to date and would seem to be just marking time as they await inevitable demotion.
Second place Manchester City, which stumbled into the break with two consecutive Premier League losses, announced this week that Manager Pep Guardiola has agreed to a two-year extension with the club. The new deal is surprising in two respects. First there was strong speculation that Guardiola was ready to move on, having already delivered multiple Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy at City. Second, it has been reported that the new contract contains no “break clause,” which would free Guardiola in the event that the 115 allegations of financial foul play against Manchester City were to result in a relegation. The contract reflects Guardiola’s previously stated confidence that Manchester City has done nothing wrong off the pitch. In the meantime, Guardiola’s club needs someone besides Erling Haaland to do something right in front of the net. Last year’s Premier League Player of the Year, Phil Foden, is one of several prominent City attackers yet to find a first goal this season. This weekend should provide an opportunity to kickstart the Manchester City goal machine when the Citizens host visiting Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs’ wide-open style of play creates spaces vacated by defenders bombing forward in attack. Foden and friends, including the prolific Haaland, should be able to make them pay.
Manchester United, meanwhile, will hope Ipswich Town provides a warm welcome for new Red Devil Manager Ruben Amorim.
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 22, 2024The new leader, however, will have had little time to work with players who have been trickling in from duty with their national clubs. Amorim’s preferred 3-4-2-1 formation is different from what the club employed under former Manager Eric ten Hag, particularly for its use of three defenders and two Number Tens. It will thus be interesting to see how the Red Devils line up versus the Tractor Boys on Saturday. Despite disappointing results and the firing of their manager, Manchester United is only four points removed from third place Chelsea and the three other clubs that are level on points with the Blues.
One of those deadlocked clubs in the chase for the Champions League is Brighton, which will travel down the coast to visit Bournemouth on Saturday. Bournemouth, level on points with 13th place Manchester United, is a dangerous club which has recently defeated both Manchester City and Arsenal. Saturday’s match will feature two of the league’s brightest new managers with Fabian Hurzeler finding early success with the Seagulls as the league’s youngest manager and the Cherries’ Andoni Iraola building on his own successful debut of last season.
Danger, however, lurks for managers further down the table. Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace has been one of the greatest disappointments in the early stages of this campaign as the Eagles nest in the relegation zone after an encouraging end to last season. That status is unlikely to change with Palace facing a daunting challenge at Aston Villa Saturday.
Wolverhampton Manager Gary O’Neil, meanwhile, has his own problems when his relegation bound Wolves visit seventh place Fulham. O’Neil’s side has conceded a staggering 27 goals this season.
The pressure on Everton Manager Sean Dyche has subsided a bit as the Toffees have recovered from a dreadful start to lose only one of their last seven matches, albeit that one loss was an embarrassment which accounted for the only Southampton win of the season. Brentford visits Goodison Park on Saturday. The 11th place Bees are only three points removed from third place Chelsea as Ivan Toney has become a distant memory with current star Bryan Mbeumo banging home eight goals to rank joint second in Premier League scoring. Goals were absent when West Ham played Everton to a turgid draw just before the break.
Hammer supporters, never shy to criticize their club’s manager, have been outspoken about West Ham’s uninspiring play to date, not to mention five Premier League losses already under new man in charge Julen Lopetegui. The Hammers now go to St. James’s Park on Monday to face a Newcastle side which has knocked off top four contenders Nottingham Forest and Arsenal in consecutive matches before the break. Newcastle’s recent form has moved the Magpies into the thick of the chase for European places and enhanced the current job security of Manager Eddie Howe who is in his third season working for Newcastle’s Saudi ownership. With no more international breaks until March, clubs are back to business approaching the busy holiday schedule.
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