It looks set to be another pivotal weekend in the Premier League with title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal facing off in north London and winless Crystal Palace taking on Tottenham.
The standout fixture is without doubt Arsenal’s intriguing clash with early league leaders Liverpool, who have enjoyed a superb start to the season under new boss Arne Slot.
Arsenal have impressed, too, but they suffered a shock defeat to Bournemouth last weekend and will be without several key players for the visit of Liverpool.
Elsewhere, bottom-placed Wolves will look to pick up their first win at Brighton while exciting Chelsea play host to potential top-four rivals Newcastle United.
As ever, Betfair Ambassador Alan Shearer previews all the action for Metro…
It was a big result for Leicester last week, coming from 2-0 down. The way they changed things when Abdul Fatawu came on was impressive. He was magnificent.
Confidence will be huge there at the minute, and I was slightly worried about Leicester earlier in the season but from what I’ve seen in the last few weeks, I think they may have enough to stay up.
They have great experience in the side with none more so than Jamie Vardy, who’s been around the block, knows what it’s about, still scoring goals and, winding the fans up. I love his attitude and it’s brilliant that he’s still playing at his age.
In terms of going up against Forest this weekend though, who’ve had a great start to the season, they’re in for a really tough game. .
The euphoria of the Champions League affected Aston Villa going into their next league game last time, so they will need to avoid that this weekend.
The win against Bologna earlier this week was another unbelievable atmosphere, and everyone was up for it at Villa Park.
They’ll have to be wary of being flat again in this, but they are at home, and . I haven’t forgotten the result Bournemouth pulled out last weekend vs Arsenal, but Villa Park is a fortress.
Everton used all their experience against Ipswich last week. It was a tactical masterclass from Sean Dyche. They sort of beat Ipswich up if you like and the know-how to win a game like that showed with the experience that they have.
It wasn’t a good performance from Ipswich at all and they’ll have to improve massively. I don’t see them having enough to survive in this league and I don’t see them having enough going to Brentford either.
.
It was a great result and performance from Brighton against Newcastle. Danny Welbeck scored his goal, went off injured and we hope he’s okay because he has been fantastic in front of goal this season. They’ve had a really positive start.
It’ll be a tough game this one because Wolves offered a little bit of hope last week; hope for their fans and hope for the manager with the performance that they gave against Man City.
However, Wolves are away from home, under pressure and with Brighton getting the result against Newcastle, .
With Southampton throwing away a 2-0 lead at home last week, you can just imagine the damage it does for the belief and confidence of everyone involved.
The last game you need is to go to the champions, a huge football club with a genius of a manager.
It would take a brave or stupid man to predict that Southampton will get any points at Man City. .
I mentioned Everton’s experienced win over Ipswich last week, and whilst this will be a tougher test, I think it could be a draw, and that wouldn’t be bad for both teams.
Fulham are coming off a defeat to Villa, but they missed a penalty at 1-1 and the game may have played out differently.
.
Newcastle can get something at Stamford Bridge with another week on the training ground and no midweek game.
Eddie Howe will have plenty of time to work on their finishing and final ball this week and if they can improve on that, with the confidence of Anthony Gordon signing a new contract, they can go to Chelsea and get a point which will hopefully kick-start their season.
Chelsea impressed me at Liverpool and are showing signs of progress, so I am expecting this to be a tight game on Sunday. .
It feels like any game is a big ask for Crystal Palace with the form that they’re in at the moment.
They can’t seem to score, the manager is under pressure, and it certainly hasn’t gone as anyone would’ve liked or hoped.
Tottenham are strong in forward positions, scoring another four last weekend and and take the three points at Selhurst Park.
This is tough to predict because of the unpredictability of Man United. Can they kick on and get another result like last weekend? I suspect not. The pressure may be right back on them this weekend.
West Ham, with the atmosphere at the London Stadium may have enough to take the points on Sunday just as they did in their last home game against Manchester United last season.
.
We have a huge game on Sunday at the Emirates, and If Liverpool were to win and increase their gap to seven points over Arsenal, that would be huge after nine games.
I was on commentary in the Champions League on Tuesday, and it was a good atmosphere at the Emirates.
When Arsenal didn’t score in the first 15 minutes, they stayed patient, the fans were patient, and it was massively important to get that result because they needed to bounce back.
When you have a tough result at the weekend, you’re desperate to get a game three days later because you need to rectify things, which Arsenal ultimately did.
We said last week that Liverpool will face a huge test in Chelsea and they’re about to face an even bigger test in Arsenal, away from home, which makes it even more difficult.
However, whatever tests they’ve had already this season they’ve passed, and don’t be surprised if they pass this one too.
I’d be shocked if Curtis Jones wasn’t the first name on the team sheet. It would be difficult to understand if you put in the performance like he did last week, get man of the match and the winner, to be then left out the following week. I’d be amazed if he wasn’t in the XI.
I’m going to sit on the fence here though and in a fantastic game at the Emirates.
.
.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.