Will Spurs use Manchester (and Sheffield) United blueprint vs. Liverpool?
Steve Nicol believes Liverpool will bounce back vs. Tottenham after their draw with Man United. (1:19)
Everything you need to know about this weekend’s Premier League action, all in one place.
Jump to: Will Spurs learn their lesson? | Who will Emery pick vs. Palace? | Sheffield United out for revenge | Fantasy tips | Stats of the weekend | Kane replacing Eriksen? | Match to watch | Man United need some luck | What will VAR do next? | Predictions
Will Spurs take lessons from United (Manchester and Sheffield) to face Liverpool?
It wouldn’t be fair on a few other teams, most notably Sheffield United, to say that Manchester United provided a blueprint of how to stop Liverpool last weekend. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was not the first manager to use wing-backs to push up and halt the forward raids of Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, thus cutting off one of Liverpool’s more threatening attacking options, but he was the first this season for whom it worked in any tangible sense, in that they actually took points off Liverpool.
You would almost be surprised if Tottenham don’t do that on Sunday, not least because they’re used to the required 3-5-2/3-4-3 system, so the question probably then becomes: What can Liverpool do to stop being stopped? Because they will have to at some point; as opposition managers see the tactic working, they will use it more and more, so Liverpool must figure out a way to combat it.
Who will Unai Emery pick against Crystal Palace?
Arsenal have only actually lost twice in the Premier League this season, so from that extremely basic perspective it might seem odd to witness the discontent grow in their fan base. Then you actually watch them play.
There are several questions about how Unai Emery is managing Arsenal at the moment, but a big one is his team selection: Why, given that his best two players are strikers and seem to enjoy playing with each other, has he not figured out a way to get Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the team every week? Why is Joe Willock being played in a different role most games? Why isn’t Lucas Torreira playing more? Why did Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney have very promising run-outs in the Carabao Cup more than a month ago, but have subsequently only appeared in the Europa League? And why, even if you acknowledge his performances have not justified his talent, has Mesut Ozil been ostracised so unequivocally?
In short, it’s going to be fascinating to see who Emery picks to face Crystal Palace on Sunday, which, even considering the 3-2 win over Vitoria Guimaraes on Thursday, is a colossal game for both club and manager.
Will there be a little extra edge to Sheffield United vs. West Ham?
Neil Warnock still talks about the 2006-07 season. That was his first shot at the Premier League, with his hometown club Sheffield United, but, in his mind at least, they were cheated out of survival by an illegitimate player. West Ham eventually agreed to pay the Blades £20 million after being found guilty of breaching third-party ownership rules over Carlos Tevez, but for Warnock it was already too late. His chance at the top flight was gone, United relegated on the final day, at least in part because of Tevez’s astonishing late-season run of form.
Saturday will see the first meeting of the two clubs since that season, and while current Blades manager Chris Wilder said this week that it was all “water under the bridge,” it won’t be a surprise if there is just a little extra edge to this game.
– ESPN Premier League fantasy: Sign up now!
– VAR in the Premier League: Ultimate guide
– Ogden: Man Utd need Kane. Are they bold enough to get him?
Kieran Darcy has some tips for the weekend action. Read his full preview here and set your team lineup!
Must-have player: Raheem Sterling, Tier 1 midfielder
Manchester City scored five goals in their Champions League win over Atalanta on Tuesday. Sterling provided the assist on the first one, drew the penalty for the second, and then scored the final three himself.
Worth considering: Daniel James, Tier 2 midfielder
James hasn’t scored in his past five games but got an assist against Liverpool last week, and now faces Norwich City, who have conceded 21 goals in nine games — no team have conceded more.
Avoid at all costs: Teemu Pukki, Tier 2 forward
Pukki hasn’t scored in four straight games against Burnley, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Bournemouth, and now he’ll be up against Manchester United, who are tops in the league in terms of xG (expected goals) conceded at 9.06.
Information provided by ESPN Stats & Information
– Tammy Abraham is tied with Sergio Aguero as top scorer in the Premier League this season with eight goals and is the top away scorer (six).
– Aston Villa lost their past nine Premier League away meetings vs. Manchester City by an aggregate score of 30-4. Their last league win against City away from home was a 2-0 victory in April 2007.
– The home team has never won in eight previous Premier League meetings between Watford and Bournemouth (0-2-6 W-L-D). No fixture in Premier League history has been played more without a home win (Leicester-West Brom also eight).
Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen
Watching Tottenham blitz Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday, it was interesting to note the developing role of Kane — who now looks like their best creator as well as their best goal scorer — and what impact that will have on the rest of the squad. Eriksen is the most obvious man who could lose out, and not just this time because he wants to leave and is being marginalised by Mauricio Pochettino accordingly.
Kane cannot literally perform the roles of a No. 9 and No. 10 simultaneously, but him switching between the two only really works with some dynamic attackers behind him, who will push on when he drops deep. Son Heung-Min, Erik Lamela, Dele Alli and Lucas Moura are all better suited to that job than Eriksen, who frankly would probably just get in the way when Kane moves back. It’s possible that Kane’s development as a player is, for now at least, making Eriksen’s role obsolete.
Everton vs. Brighton
What to make of Everton this season? At times they’ve looked pretty good, at times they’ve been absolutely desperate. Last weekend’s win over West Ham came after four straight defeats, a run that was starting to make Marco Silva’s position look a little precarious. Equally Brighton, whose performances under Graham Potter have been generally quite positive but their results inconsistent, need to start picking up points before that positivity starts to be consumed by a relegation battle. This could be a fascinating tussle.
Manchester United
Shaka Hislop questions whether Man United are in a position to sack Ole Gunnar Solskjaer right now.
You could argue that Manchester United got their luck last weekend when, after a perfectly planned first hour or so against Liverpool, they were fortunate to escape with a draw after they dropped so deep that they invited the Premier League leaders to attack, attack and attack for the final 30 minutes. But Solskjaer would probably say instead that it was a fine result that gave some reward to performances that have deserved just that over the past few weeks.
After a long journey back from Belgrade this week, they could have done without a potentially ticklish trip to Norwich, and while the Canaries have only picked up a point since beating Manchester City in September, they tend to save their best performances for the big teams. United would take a spot of fortune leading the way this time.
VAR will overturn a penalty decision
Well, it’s got to happen at some point, surely?
It’s becoming increasingly hard for proponents of VAR in the Premier League to make convincing cases in its defence, as every week seems to bring an example of how it is merely confusing matters rather than making them clearer and fairer. We have seen a wide selection of obvious penalties not given by the video review system this season, the latest example coming last weekend when Gerard Deulofeu was clearly tripped by Toby Alderweireld, only for the erroneous on-field decision to be backed. We’re told that VAR is an evolving process, that tweaks are being made, but at the moment the failure of the video assistant referee to use video to assist the referee is embarrassing and hugely unfair.
Southampton 1-2 Leicester City
Manchester City 4-0 Aston Villa
Watford 1-1 Bournemouth
West Ham United 2-2 Sheffield United
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-1 Everton
Burnley 1-3 Chelsea
Newcastle United 1-2 Wolves
Norwich City 2-2 Manchester United
Liverpool 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Arsenal 1-2 Crystal Palace