Christopher Nkunku staked his claim for a starting spot with a hat-trick against Barrow in a sparkling showing alongside Joao Felix for Chelsea. Enzo Maresca made 11 changes to his team but any fears of an upset were over after just 15 minutes of the contest at Stamford Bridge. Joao Felix cleverly set up Christopher Nkunku for the opener with a lofted pass, before the striker flicked home a Malo Gusto cross to give Barrow a mountain to climb.
Author: liquidsp
An enthralling clash is on the cards as the wounded Red Devils face a resolute Spurs side at the Theater of Dreams.
Manchester United has started the new season rather unconvincingly. They won their opening match against Fulham but then suffered two consecutive defeats. After securing another victory, they dropped points once again in their last match. Currently, Manchester United sits in 11th place in the standings, with seven points. Additionally, this week, the “Red Devils” played against Twente in the UEFA Europa League and could only manage a 1-1 draw.
Tottenham also had a less than stellar start to the new Premier League campaign. They drew with Leicester in their opening match, followed by a victory over Everton. However, they then faced two consecutive defeats against Newcastle (1-2) and Arsenal (0-1). In their most recent game, Spurs convincingly defeated Brentford 3-1. Tottenham also has seven points and currently holds a better goal difference than Manchester United. They began their UEFA Europa League campaign with an emphatic 3-0 victory.
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MAN UTD TEAM NEWS: NO NEW INJURIES
After their 1-1 draw with Twente in the UEFA Europa League in midweek, Erik ten Hag confirmed there were no knocks so there are, presumably, no fresh injury concerns for the Dutchman to deal with ahead of this one.
In fact, England midfielder Mason Mount is back fit and available and featured against the Eredivisie outfit. They do remain without defensive quartet Leny Yoro, Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia.
TOTTENHAM TEAM NEWS: SON EAGER TO IMPRESS
Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that club captain Son Heung-min wants to train on the day before the game and the Australian has said that he will be given ‘every chance’ to prove his fitness and feature at Old Trafford.
Fellow forwards Wilson Odobert and Richarlison are both expected to continue to be unavailable for this weekend with Richarlison not yet seen on grass, in comparison to Odobert.
STALEMATE AT OLD TRAFFORD?
Manchester United are attempting to evolve with the same management and basically the same players that have underperformed in the league in the last year or so. However, some will believe there have been improvements, albeit any that there have been have been nominal. Spurs, though, have never and remain a team you cannot trust to put a fragile and vulnerable side to the sword. With the lack of goals in United games and lack of consistent efficiency for Spurs, a low-scoring affair seems likely.
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Liverpool travel to the Molineux to take on bottom-of-the-table Wolves, who have just lost one of their key defenders for the season.
The Reds have scored 11 goals in three games since suffering their first defeat under the Dutchman against Nottingham Forest, with positive starts in both the Champions League and Carabao Cup complimenting their current rank of second in England’s top flight.
They are firm favourites against a Wolves side that is yet to win a league game this season, while Slot has also confirmed a major injury boost ahead of kick off.
Salah will be back in Liverpool’s starting XI / Dan Mullan/GettyImages
After a somewhat promising display against Arsenal – despite a defeat – on the opening weekend of the season, Wolves find themselves bottom of the Premier League table heading into the latest round of fixtures, having picked up just a single point in their four league games since.
Their latest outing saw them come up short against west midlands rivals Aston Villa. Despite leading the game until the 73rd minute through a Matheus Cunha strike, Gary O’Neil’s men conceded three times in the closing stages to make it a third straight defeat in all competitions.
EASY LIVERPOOL WIN?
With the shock defeat at home to Nottingham Forest notwithstanding, Liverpool have been hugely impressive in attack this season with goals being spread across their various attacking assets, and that does not spell good news for a Wolves side who have just lost one of their key defenders to injury.
The fierce competition for places in the Liverpool frontline is bringing out the best in Slot’s attackers, and they look primed for another goal-laden victory against a weakened Wolves rearguard. Expect the visitors to be leading at both half-time and full-time.
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An in-form Chelsea host the unbeaten Seagulls in a mouthwatering clash at the Bridge on Saturday.
After a shoddy pre-season and opening weekend defeat to the champions, Enzo Maresca’s Blues have rattled off a four-game unbeaten run to sit fifth in the league table through five games.
Chelsea’s confident start to the campaign continued with a 3-0 beatdown of West Ham last week and 5-0 thumping of Barrow in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.
Brighton progressed into the fourth round of the aforementioned competition the week prior as they beat Wolves 3-2. The Seagulls are no strangers to fast Premier League starts, but Fabian Hurzeler will know that his side have to be at their very best to maintain their unbeaten opening to the new season this weekend.
Hurzeler’s side were held by counter-attacking specialists Nottingham Forest at the Amex last weekend.
CHELSEA TEAM NEWS: GUSTO & LAVIA RETURN
Former Manchester City and Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia has returned to full fitness and the Belgium midfielder is expected to be involved this weekend but a start is likelier to come in the UEFA Europa Conference League next week.
They have just one first-team injury issue with that being club captain Reece James and his return, as ever, is still unpredictable. Malo Gusto has returned to full fitness and played in midweek against Barrow
Gusto played 45 minutes in midweek / Gaspafotos/MB Media/GettyImages
BRIGHTON TEAM NEWS: JOAO PEDRO STILL OUT
As he was seemingly returning from injury, Brighton boss Hurzeler has confirmed that Joao Pedro will once again be unavailable for this one and he is unsure how long the Brazilian forward will be sidelined for.
As well as the former Watford man, Matt O’Riley remains injured with fellow new signing Brajan Gruda a doubt, whilst both James Milner and Solly March are out injured.
Pedro will miss Saturday’s game / Steve Bardens/GettyImages
Chelsea welcome a Brighton and Hove Albion side that may be a little concerned about their performances against Ipswich and Forest, albeit the Seagulls were probably the better side against the latter and definitely the better side against the former. A defeat, though, does feel around the corner and now they travel to a Chelsea side that look genuinely good and consistent for the first time in a while so a home win would still appear a good bet for this one.
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With implications at both ends of the table, it may seem like a fairly innocuous, run of the mill encounter at the Emirates Stadium but, for different reasons, both Arsenal and Leicester City are in desperate need of the three points.
Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
With their first five Premier League matches behind them, Arsenal have weathered the storm of their early schedule that looked tough on paper, and was only further compounded by the unforeseen hazards that could have cost them dearly if not for the resolution of the side and manager Mikel Arteta. From costly injuries to baffling officiating, the Gunners were forced to show their mettle early on and made what would have otherwise been a series of frustrating circumstances – almost entirely on the road, mind you – turn into a gauntlet that left them more galvanized than anything.
Arsenal now have a different task ahead of them: managing expectations and refocusing. The upcoming slate is favorable in many ways, as Arsenal play their next three matches before the October international break at The Emirates, welcoming two teams from near the bottom of the table with a high-profiled Champions League home fixture nestled in between.
Goalkeeper David Raya is a reported injury doubt for his side’s Premier League game against Leicester this weekend. The 29-year-old missed Arsenal’s 5-1 Carabao on Wednesday, with 16-year-old Jack Porter deputising in his place. The former Brentford star played in the 2-2 draw against Manchester City last weekend but reportedly left the Etihad with an apparent limp after picking up an issue during the game. Now, he is in a race against time to face Leicester.
Photo:Getty
FUNCTIONAL FOXES
Under the management of former Swansea City and Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper, Leicester City have quite a limited and small-ish squad that isn’t expected to be overly competitive in the top-flight. It will therefore be a bit of a surprise for them to have suffered just two defeats in their opening five matches.
Despite that resilience and functionality, the lack of attacking threat is a concern and has massively contributed to them being winless in the league. There was a lot of criticism aimed at Cooper in midweek, too, as they were held to a goalless draw by Walsall before being the League Two high flyers on penalties in the EFL Cup.
Steve Cooper has reported there are ‘bumps and bruises’ from the Foxes’ midweek clash against Walsall but did not divulge who was suffering and is a potential doubt, although there are a few confirmed absentees.
Defender Jannik Vestergaard remains unavailable for the visitors with fringe goalkeeper Jacub Stolarczyk also sidelined. Zambian striker Patson Daka has been out all season and that is still the case for this weekend.
ARSENAL FOR THE WIN
Arsenal haven’t been overly free flowing or high scoring for quite a while now but they manage the opposition and matches extremely well. This is a game that, even with the continued absence of captain Martin Odegaard, should see them overwhelm the opposition, though. Leicester will once again look to be defensive and difficult to beat but the expectation remains a comfortable Gunners win, especially at the Emirates.
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Manchester City will look to continue their charge towards a fifth consecutive Premier League title on Saturday lunchtime when they visit Newcastle United at St James’ Park.
After their dramatic late draw with Arsenal at the Etihad last weekend, Man City look to continue their unbeaten start to the campaign against Newcastle.
Haaland mercurial once again / Getty images
MAN CITY PREVIEW: LATE DRAMA AT THE ETIHAD
Substitute John Stones’ late strike salvaged a point for Man City last weekend, with a fine defensive display from ten-man Arsenal frustrating Pep Guardiola’s men for the majority of the second half.
City’s midweek League Cup encounter with Watford was a little more straightforward, with the Premier League outfit progressing to the round of 16 courtesy of a 2-1 victory, goals from Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes doing the damage.
Man City were dealt a cruel injury blow in their title tussle with Arsenal last week as midfield star Rodri came off injured with a devastating ACL injury. The Spaniard is expected to miss most of the season, leaving Pep Guardiola in need of a new stabilising presence in the middle of the park.
The former Barcelona boss also has worries over Kevin De Bruyne’s fitness. The Belgian made his comeback from a severe injury in this fixture last season, inspiring his side to a dramatic 3-2 success after coming on as a 69th-minute substitute.
Oscar Bobb and Nathan Ake remain on the sidelines with plenty of changes expected from the starting XI that beat Watford on Tuesday.
Manchester City midfielder Rodri is injured in a collision with Arsenal’s Thomas Party leading to his substitution.
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NEWCASTLE TEAM NEWS: ISAK STILL NURSING TOE INJURY
Despite playing last week, Alexander Isak is still dealing with a toe injury, and having not trained fully this week, is once again a doubt. Anthony Gordon could occupy a central striker role should the Swede miss out.
Matt Target is the latest player to join the absentee list with the the full-back currently suffering from an eczema flare-up.
Manager Eddie Howe remains without central defenders Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles, while midfielder Lewis Miley and forward Callum Wilson remain unavailable.
Harvey Barnes has been the Magpies’ standout performer at the start of the season and has scored in three successive league games. He should start on the right wing in an attack featuring Anthony Gordon on the opposite flank
Barnes is in great form / Naomi Baker/GettyImages
NEWCASTLE VS MAN CITY PREDICTION
Although being held at home by a side with ten men is rarely seen as a positive result, the manner of Man City’s late draw with Arsenal last weekend will have felt like a victory in some respects, and come the end of the season that could prove to be a vital point in the title race.
There has also been a fair degree of drama in this fixture over the past couple of seasons, with the last two Premier League meetings at St. James’ Park producing 11 goals in total – a 2-3 win for City last season and a 3-3 draw the previous campaign. Given how below-par Newcastle have been this season though, despite their respectable position in the table, this could be more of a one-sided affair.
With the likes of Erling Haaland in such a rich vein of form, a high-scoring City win could be on the cards.
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The Frenchman has been behind Nicolas Jackson in the pecking of late, but he was in fine form at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday
Chelsea’s third arrived before the half-hour mark to effectively end the game as a contest. Felix’s free-kick flew over the wall, hit the post and went in on off the back of helpless Barrow goalkeeper Paul Farman.
The Blues then simply picked up where they left off after the break. Nkunku and Mykhailo Mudryk combined to tee up Pedro Neto for his first Chelsea goal and the Blues’ fourth of the night.
Nkunku’s hat-trick then arrived when he robbed a dawdling Farman and slotted the ball home to seal a comprehensive win and a place in the next round for Maresca’s men.
Here’s this weekend Chelsea’s prediction.
- Slot admits there’s something wrong at Anfield
- Was left fuming after a loss against Forest
- Liverpool face AC Milan on Tuesday
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Liverpool meet Milan in their first Champions League game of the season, in what will be Arne Slot’s first match in charge of the Reds in Europe.
The two sides had contrasting fortunes at the weekend. Liverpool’s superb start to the season was brought to an abrupt and surprising halt at home to Nottingham Forest. The heavy pre-game favourites, Liverpool were expected to continue their winning start to life under new manager Slot.
But Forest had other ideas and secured a first away top-flight win against Liverpool since February 1969, ending their 25-game winless run at Anfield in league competition.
Milan finally kickstarted their season with a resounding 4-0 win over promoted Venezia. Four goals in the first 30 minutes helped ease the pressure on Paulo Fonseca, who earned his first win as Milan boss at the fourth time of asking.
Slot will now turn his attention to Europe, where Liverpool return to the Champions League after a year in the Europa League. They reached the quarter-finals in that competition last season before being eliminated by eventual winners Atalanta.
Slot was managing Feyenoord, of course, in the 2023–24 season. The Dutch side qualified for the Champions League group stage, but Slot could only guide them to a third-place finish in Group E after losing all three away games against Atlético Madrid, Lazio, and Celtic.
Despite having one of the most difficult set of fixtures, Liverpool will be confident of getting a result here. They have won four of their last five away games against Italian sides in European competition (L1), with all five of those coming since 2020. They also did the double over Milan in the 2021-22 UCL group stage.
Mohamed Salah has started the Premier League season on fire and thrives in Europe, too. His 41 Champions League goals for Liverpool is the highest tally any player has recorded for an English club.
Milan are unbeaten in their last four games against English sides in the Champions League (W2 D2), with each of those coming across the previous two seasons (against Spurs and Newcastle). They’ve never previously managed to avoid defeat in five consecutive games against English opponents in the European Cup/Champions League.
In team news, Ismaël Bennacer, Alessandro Florenzi and Marco Sportiello are long-term absences for Milan, while Malick Thiaw is out until the end of the month with an ankle injury.
Liverpool got through their game at the weekend unscathed. Harvey Elliott is the only member of the squad out through injury, although Federico Chiesa is still lacking match fitness.
Milan vs Liverpool Head-to-Head
This will be the fifth meeting between Milan and Liverpool in European competition, with half of their previous clashes coming in the UEFA Champions League final (2/4) – 2004-05 (won by Liverpool on penalties) and 2006-07 (won 2-1 by Milan).
Liverpool have won all three of their Champions League games at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium, winning 1-0 in 2008 and 2-0 in 2022 against Inter, and 2-1 against Milan in 2021. The Reds are the only team to play there more than once as a visiting side in the competition while maintaining a 100% record.
Recent Form
Despite their win at the weekend, Milan have not yet convinced under Fonseca. They’ve won just one of their opening four matches in Serie A and sit four points behind leaders Napoli. They’ve not really had any issues creating good opportunities; they lead all teams in Serie A for touches in the opposition box (133), while only Atalanta (7.9) have generated a higher expected goals tally than them (7.6).
It’s at the back where they’ve been susceptible though, and have consistently been conceding high-value chances to their opposition. Milan’s 0.17 xG faced per shot is the highest in the league. Unsurprisingly, their opponents’ 20.7% shot conversion rate is also the highest mark in the league. So while they’re not conceding shots at a frequent rate, when they do get cut open, their opponents are getting excellent chances on goal.
Liverpool will hope their hiccup to Forest was only a blip. After all, they’ve won three of Slot’s first four games, and Callum Hudson-Odoi’s strike at the weekend was the first goal they have conceded all season.
Who will come out on top? Comment below.
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An under-strength Arsenal face a huge test of their Premier League title credentials at rivals Tottenham, while Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag desperately needs a response from his side at Southampton.
AFP Sports looks at the pick of the action as the English top-flight returns from an international break this weekend:
Can Arsenal cope?
Arsenal have already blinked first in the title race to fall two points behind Manchester City and Liverpool.
The Gunners were held 1-1 at home by Brighton last time out after Declan Rice was harshly sent-off early in the second half.
Rice is therefore suspended for tomorrow’s north London derby to compound injury woes for Mikel Arteta.
Captain Martin Odegaard is expected to miss three weeks due to an ankle injury picked up on international duty with Norway.
New signing Mikel Merino is also absent from the Arsenal midfield with a shoulder injury.
However, there was some good news for Arsenal as Arteta signed a new three-year deal on Thursday.
“Together with the players and everyone at the club, we are looking forward to the coming years, with our supporters, who have emotionally transformed the club and the team,” said the Spaniard.
Arteta has led Arsenal to second-place finishes in each of the past two seasons but he must come up with a masterplan to avoid leaving his side with an early mountain to climb in the title race.
A trip to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium kicks off a daunting run of three tough away games in eight days.
Arsenal face Europa League winners Atalanta on Thursday in the Champions League before a showdown against City.