Another international break has come and gone with many nations taking a step closer to the World Cup on their road to Russia 2018 but our attention turns back to domestic football for another month as the Premier League title race hots up.
Weekend’s Premier League fixtures:
Saturday, October 14th
Liverpool vs Man United
Burnley vs West Ham
Man City vs Stoke
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea
Tottenham vs Bournemouth
Swansea vs Huddersfield
Watford vs Arsenal
Sunday, October 15th
Brighton vs Everton
Southampton vs Newcastle
Monday, October 16th
Leicester vs West Brom
Liverpool vs Manchester United
Fans will not have to wait long for the first fire-cracker this weekend. Liverpool will be without star forward Sadio Mane, who has picked up a hamstring injury, when the Reds welcome the Red Devils, Manchester United, to Anfield for the lunch-time kick-off on Saturday. Jose Mourinho’s men have won 9 of their last 10 matches in all competitions as they prepare for their first real big test of the season, with fixtures against Benfica, Spurs and Chelsea all coming in the next month too. Jurgen Klopp has seen his side manage just one win in their last seven in all competitions, and have slipped to seventh in the league in the process. The corresponding fixture last season was a drab 0-0 draw, and fans on Merseyside have to cast their minds back to September 2013 to their last home win in the league over the red men from Manchester when Daniel Sturridge’s header secured a 1-0 win. Liverpool have a good record against this weekend’s opponents in recent years however, winning 5 of their last 10 against United at Anfield in all competitions, drawing twice.
Manchester City vs Stoke City
The two Manchester sides are the only two unbeaten teams left in the Premier League so far in 2017/18. Log leaders Manchester City welcome former manager Mark Hughes and his Stoke City side to the Etihad on Saturday as they look to keep their lead at the summit. They sent out a resounding message to the rest of the chasing pack that they are the team to beat after they left the Blues feeling bruised at the Bridge before the international break when they edged last season’s champions Chelsea 1-0 thanks to a wonderful strike from Kevin de Bruyne against his former club. Since the Potters won promotion back to the Premier League in 2008, they have managed just four wins over City in all competitions, the last coming at home in December 2015 with their last win at the Etihad coming in August of 2014 when former Man United striker Mame Biriam Diouf scored the only goal in a 1-0 for Stoke City.
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea
The first of two London derbies on Saturday sees Crystal Palace, who have yet to score a single goal in the league so far this season, under new manager Roy Hodgson welcome Chelsea to Selhurst Park. Anonio Conte’s side will be looking to bounce back from that defeat to City and could find it difficult this weekend. Palace have won on their last two visits to Stamford Bridge but their last home victory over the Blues came back in March 2014 when a John Terry own-goal gifted the Eagles a 1-0 win. Those three wins were the only times that they have tasted success over the Blues in any of their last 15 meetings dating back to Palace’s last victory, a 3-1 win over Chelsea in the League Cup quarter-final in 1993. Conte’s side will be hard to breach though. That goal against City was just the fourth that they have conceded in their last eight games, winning six in the process, and was their first defeat since the opening day when they were shocked at home by Burnley, losing 3-2.
Tottenham vs Bournemouth
Harry Kane didn’t score a single goal in August but then went on to score 13 for both club and country in September. They will be relying on his goals once again on Saturday as they still seek their first league win at their season-long temporary home at Wembley. They welcome south-coast club Bournemouth to the National Stadium having won three of their four Premier League meetings thus far, scoring 12 goals in the process and conceding just once against the Cherries. Former Spurs striker Jermaine Defoe will line up against them when he turns out for Bournemouth and he needs one more goal to reach the 160 mark in the Premier League. Defoe scored 91 goals for Tottenham in 276 appearances across three different spells with the club and it would no surprise to see him net again on Saturday. He has scored 8 goals in 5 games for England at Wembley including a stunning hat-trick against Bulgaria in 2010 as well as a goal on his return to international football in March, nearly four years since his previous appearance for the Three Lions.