The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsA preview of all the weekend’s Premier League action. Chelsea look to pick up maximum points when they host Bournemouth Saturday evening, while Arsenal look to bounce back at home to Sunderland.
Saturday:
Stoke City V Manchester City, 12:45, Britannia Stadium.
The first game of the weekend sees Manchester City travel to Stoke. The Manchester team were impressive last week, and swept Southampton to one side. A win here would put pressure on all the teams below them. Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure will be missing for the visitors. Stoke will look to bounce back after last week surprising loss at the hands of Sunderland. A win here will see Stoke into 9th place.
Arsenal V Sunderland, 15:00, Emirates Stadium.
After failing to win in their last three outings, Arsenal will need a win here if they wish keep their title hopes alive. Santi Cazorla looks set to be out for a lengthy spell, which will irritate Arsene Wenger due to having lost so many players this season through injury. The Black Cats have had a turn of fortune of late, and will feel confident they can something off this out of form Arsenal team.
Manchester United V West Ham, 15:00, Old Trafford.
After United’s unimpressive display last week they’ll be looking to pick up maximum points when they host the Hammers. Wayne Rooney has been ruled out of this one and if Anthony Martial can impressive up top, he could lose his place when fully fit. West Ham have struggled of late and will need a win here to get back to their usual, creative, winning ways.
Southampton V Aston Villa, 15:00, St Mary’s Stadium.
Southampton have not had a good week, they were beaten comfortably when they travelled to Manchester last weekend, and we completely humiliated at home when they hosted Liverpool midweek in the cup. Villa are struggling to produce results and will need to be on top form to take anything back to the Midlands with them.
Swansea City V Leicester City, 15:00, The Liberty Stadium.
Garry monk is on thin ice, he needs to start producing results or the board will replace him. Football in this day of age is very tough for managers, and unless he gets some good results before the turn of the year, he’s gone. Leicester will look to pile more misery on Swansea, and if they play like they did during the first half of last week, there can only be one winner.
Watford V Norwich City, 15:00, Vicarage Road.
Having both been promoted from the Championship, both teams will be right up for this. Both teams can win and it will be an enthralling encounter. Watford are in better form of the two, and Odion Ighalo has stormed the Premier league, with Troy Deeney now finding himself in some excellent form, they are a menace going forward. Norwich need to tidy their defence up and they can easily survive in this league. Should be a good one.
West Brom V Tottenham, 15:00, The Hawthorns.
Having picked up four points from their last two games, West Brom are playing some good football. Good defensive play after going 1-0 down last week got them a deserved point. This will be a tough match for them, Tottenham going forward are flowing as well as any team in the country. Although spurs were not at their best last week they’ll be targeting this match as three points. If they can rediscover that ruthlessness going forward it should be a good afternoon for the north London team.
Chelsea V Bournemouth, 17:30, Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea looked like such a different team last week. Although the fact they had one shot on target may raise questions their midfield and defence played well. Hopefully for the Blues the Blip has gone and they can get their heads down and finish in the top four. Bournemouth were incredible last week, most teams in this league would have accepted they’ve lost the game and tried to keep their goal tally down. This courageous team went on to score three goals in the last eighteen minutes and pick up a valuable point. They’ll definitely give Chelsea problems tomorrow.
Sunday:
Newcastle V Liverpool, 16:00, St James’ Park.
Newcastle are in trouble yet again. Their last two outings ended in defeats and currently sit 19th in the league. Last week’s loss to Palace would have hurt the fans a lot. Somehow Jurgen Klopp has got the Kop playing like European champions. A fantastic signing from the board’s point of view, they’ll go for maximum points here, no doubt. After midweeks crushing to defeat of Southampton confidence will be high in the away changing room.
Monday:
Everton V Crystal Palace, 20:00, Goodison Park.
Both teams have been playing aggressively throughout this season. They’ve leaked goals at time, but going forward is an absolute treat to watch. Everton will feel that they dropped two points last week. They bounced back midweek though when they booked their semi-final spot of the cup. Palace completely humiliated the Toon last week and will feel that they can go to Goodison and give Everton a real game.
