Premier League Match Week 24 Preview

Tottenham Hotspur has been poorer at home than any other Premier League team save for one, that being Wolverhampton which is buried at the bottom of the league table. The heat has been on Thomas Frank for some time now and his club’s home form is going to have to rise several levels to meet the challenge this weekend. Manchester City visits Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with renewed title hopes after Arsenal proved vulnerable in a loss to Manchester United last week. Manchester City has also shown some flaws recently, but the Citizens have loaded up this transfer window to make a stretch run for the title. Striker Antoine Semenyo, third in the Premier League Golden Boot chase, was added from Bournemouth to juice the attack. Marc Guehi has been brought in from Crystal Palace to shore up the defense.

The former Crystal Palace captain left a dumpster fire behind him, one that Eagles striker Jean-Philippe Mateta is anxious to leave as well. Crystal Palace, however, continues to put a high valuation on its striker, a price which has torpedoed efforts by several clubs to court the Eagles’ leading scorer. Nottingham Forest is a club still pursuing a deal for Mateta and that only adds fuel to the bad blood between the clubs. Forest took over the Europa League spot Crystal Palace earned with their FA Cup win when the Eagles tripped over a multi-club ownership regulation. Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was believed to be one whom politicked for Palace’s disqualification to the benefit of his own club. Forest later filed a complaint when Crystal Palace supporters unfurled a banner disparaging the Greek owner when the clubs met at Selhurst Park earlier this season. The two clubs meet again, this time at  the City Ground on Sunday, with Mateta being the latest point of disagreement between the parties.

The 17th place Tricky Trees are trying to fend off rejuvenated West Ham in the battle for Premier League survival. The Hammers have won two matches in a row, 40% of their season long victory total, heading into their London derby at Chelsea on Saturday.

Leeds, meanwhile, is trying to avoid making it a three-team relegation fight as it hovers six points above the drop, one point above Nottingham Forest. Visiting Elland Road on Saturday will be an Arsenal squad eager to reassert its league dominance after a humbling loss to Bournemouth last week.

Aston Villa will try to stay on Arsenal’s heels when Brentford comes to Villa Park on Sunday. Manager Unai Emery has puzzles to solve for Aston Villa because of a string of injuries to his midfield. The Spanish manager revealed this week that Youri Tielemans will be out 8-10 weeks, John McGinn 6-8 weeks and Boubacar Kamara appears done for the season. Villa has reached a loan deal for former player Douglas Luiz to help plug the hole in the center of the club’s midfield.

Despite the two wins by interim manager Michale Carrick, Manchester United supporters are moving forward with a planned protest of ownership incompetence when the Red Devils host Fulham on Sunday. Carrick’s success has distracted from the underlying dissatisfaction, but the incompetence of the club’s ownership cannot be masked by the success of an individual that ownership feels is only worthy of a short-term contract.

A nefarious piece of history is on the line for Liverpool on Saturday when the Reds host Newcastle. Arne Slot’s side, the defending Premier League champion, is yet to win a Premier League match this calendar year. Failure to deliver all three points on Saturday would mark the first time since 1954 that Liverpool will have started a calendar year with a six-match league winless streak.

Bournemouth was a dramatic winner over Liverpool last week. Now the Cherries travel to Wolverhampton for what could be a more competitive match than would have been expected just a few weeks ago from the Premier League’s bottom team. Manager Rob Edwrds has the Wolves playing with an energy that was absent much of this season. The cellar dwellers, playing out a schedule which will assuredly end in relegation, had a five-match unbeaten run across all competitions before Wolves were taken down by Manchester City last week.

Sunderland and Burley are the other two clubs promoted for this season along with Wolves. Sunderland, thirteen points removed from the relegation zone, appears intent to stay around for another season. Burnley, however, looks to be making a U-turn back to the Championship along with Wolves. The Clarets are buried a discouraging ten points from safety as they travel to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland on Monday. The Black Cats are the only club in the Premier League not to have lost a match at their home fortress this season.

Brighton is one of three clubs, along with Arsenal and Manchester City, to have stumbled but once at home this season. The Seagulls will try to maintain their own superlative home form when Everton visits the South coast on Saturday.