1 week Ago By [email protected] (Felix Keith)
After another testing international break, the Premier League is BACK this weekend – and it won’t be interrupted again until March. The Nations League is over and if you’ve finally calmed down after England’s historic promotion back to Group A , then can I offer you a taste of what’s to come in the Premier League this weekend? It should be good. Undoubtedly the biggest storyline will come at Portman Road on Sunday afternoon when Ruben Amorim takes charge of his first game as Manchester United boss against former United coach Kieran McKenna and his Ipswich side.
Erik ten Hag is gone and Amorim’s appointment promises to turn everything upside down. Liverpool resume after two weeks off with a five-point gap at the top of the table and face bottom club Southampton on Sunday, while Arsenal desperately need a result against in-form Nottingham Forest . Those are just some of the talking points, so allow Mirror Football to take you through every game that's coming up.
1. Maresca’s return Leicester vs Chelsea – Saturday, 12.30pm The build-up to this match will be dominated by Enzo Maresca’s return to his former club.
The Italian swapped Leicester for Chelsea in the summer after guiding the Foxes to promotion from the Championship in his only campaign in charge. Pep Guardiola ’s former coach excelled at Leicester and will surely be given a warm reception, while Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will be given a warm seat on the substitutes’ bench. The ex-Leicester midfielder has a grand total of 44 Premier League minutes under his belt since following Maresca to Stamford Bridge for £30million in what already looks like one of the most pointless transfers of the season.
2. Wolves look to kick on Fulham vs Wolves – Saturday, 3pm After a miserable start to the season, which contained all sorts of bad luck and tough fixture after tough fixture, Wolves got their first league win of the season before the break. Having beaten Southampton 2-0, they now face a much more palatable run of games in the lead-up to Christmas : Fulham (A), Bournemouth (H), Everton (A), West Ham (A), Ipswich (H) and Leicester (A).
Every pundit has given Wolves the classic throwaway ‘they’ll be alright’ reassurance this season, but they now need to prove it. Beat a solid Fulham side at Craven Cottage and we can begin to agree that Gary O’Neil’s side have indeed been the victims of unfortunate circumstances so far. 3.
Battle of direct styles Everton vs Brentford – Saturday, 3pm Those heading to Goodison Park this weekend, expect the ball to be in the air a lot. Everton and Brentford are two of the most direct teams in the Premier League, with Sean Dyche and Thomas Frank largely shunning the trend of playing out from the back in favour of a more route one approach. Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has the most final-third entries of any player in the league (136) and lots of those are long balls aimed at striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has won 47 aerial duels – more than any other player.
They will have to watch out for Brentford’s fast starts, with the Bees on a brilliant run of netting early goals, often from routines involving long balls into the corners. 4. Gunners must show grit Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest – Saturday, 3pm Arsenal have gone four straight Premier League games without a win and could be waving goodbye to their dreams of a first title in 20 years if they lose to Forest this weekend.
The Gunners have welcomed Martin Odegaard back from injury, but have had another miserable international break with Leandro Trossard picking up an injury while playing for Belgium. They will hope to have Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka fit after they both pulled out of England duty. If they are to get back in the Premier League title race then they will need to find a way to grind out a win (as well as other results to go their way).
5. Managerial shop window Bournemouth vs Brighton – Saturday, 3pm When Brighton appointed Fabian Hurzeler as their new manager in the summer there was a lot of incredulity – how could a 31-year-old with so little experience cope with the Best League in the WorldTM? Pretty well, as it turns out. He has continued the enterprising work the Seagulls have become known for and the 2-1 win over Man City last time out proved them to be brilliant as well as interesting.
Andoni Iraola has achieved something similar at Bournemouth, turning the Cherries into a supremely hard-working and hard-to-play-against side that have all sorts of threats. This promises to be a good watch, with clean sheets unlikely. 6.
Watkins with something to prove Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace – Saturday, 3pm Ollie Watkins was the beneficiary of a big call by Lee Carsley last week, with the interim England boss benching Harry Kane to play the Villa striker. He responded by scoring inside seven minutes against Greece , but he now needs to convince Thomas Tuchel he is worthy of a place ahead of the England captain. Watkins has five goals in 11 Premier League games this season, which is a fine return, but there is still a sense of unfulfilled promise.
He has missed 11 big chances in the Premier League this season – more than any other player, ahead of Erling Haaland (10). If Watkins starts banging those chances in then he can give Tuchel a headache. 7.
Blip or crisis? Manchester City vs Tottenham – Saturday, 5.30pm They are unlikely to get much sympathy, given they have won six of the past seven Premier League titles and are currently defending themselves over alleged financial fair play breaches, but City are in a rut right now. Pep Guardiola is experiencing his worst run of results in his managerial career, having slumped to four successive losses across all competitions.
Free-flowing, high-scoring but inconsistent Spurs should make for a good test on Saturday evening’s televised game. City go into the weekend five points behind Liverpool but could trim that gap to two points, with Liverpool playing on Sunday. Given the Reds are playing Southampton, it looks like a must-win.
8. Martin skating on thin ice Southampton vs Liverpool – Sunday, 2pm Russell Martin keeps telling us that, despite sitting bottom and having taken just four points from 11 games, his side are playing good football. They must trust the process and back themselves to play their way out of trouble.
He still has the backing of the Saints hierarchy for now, with director of football Rasmus Ankersen both a big fan and stubborn in his convictions. But if results don’t come soon then it will get harder and harder to hold onto his job. Southampton have already dropped five extremely costly points at home to Ipswich and Leicester and now face a horrible run of fixtures, with Liverpool followed by Brighton (A), Chelsea (H), Aston Villa (A) and Tottenham (H).
If things continue in the current direction then Martin could become the second Premier League manager sacked after Ten Hag. 9. Amorim’s debut Ipswich vs Manchester United – Sunday, 4.
30pm INEOS have made lots of questionable decisions since taking over in February – giving Ten Hag a new contract, backing him with £180m of new players, making 250 redundant etc and so on – and they need the latest one to be correct. They think Amorim is the best young coach in Europe and believe he can turn things around on the training pitch. The 39-year-old is ready to stick by his philosophy, with the 3-4-3 formation he used at Sporting ready for a debut at Portman Road on Sunday.
United will need to adapt pretty quickly if they are to turn things around and climb the table from 13th. 10. Lopetegui out to woo fans West Ham vs Newcastle – Monday, 8pm Julen Lopetegui is not a popular man among West Ham supporters.
The Europa League-winning manager was furnished with £100m of new players in the summer but is yet to turn them into a coherent free-flowing team. There are suggestions Lopetegui has lost the dressing room and he has already been booed by his own fans. In short, he is in desperate need of a morale-boosting statement win.
The visit of Newcastle on Monday could be such an occasion, with rumours already swirling about West Ham searching for possible replacements. Sky’s Monday Night Football has become a platform for out-of-work managers to get their names out there, so Lopetegui won’t want to give his employers any ideas. Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content.
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