London, Jan 2 (IANS) The Premier League’s hectic schedule continues this week, with another round of matches ahead of the FA Cup at the weekend. The standout game of the week is on Tuesday night and sees league leaders Arsenal take on third-placed Newcastle United.
Arsenal have shown no ill effects from the World Cup break or the injury to Gabriel Jesus, winning their first two games of the holiday period with some impressive football and a win would take them 10 points clear of Manchester City, who visit Chelsea on Thursday night.
Leeds United held on to end Newcastle’s six-game winning streak, but Eddie Howe’s men have just one defeat all season and will be optimistic about taking something from their visit to the Emirates Stadium.
Manchester United continue to improve under Erik Ten Hag, and with Marcos Rashford scoring on a regular basis, they should have few problems in beating a Bournemouth side, whose coach Gary O’Neil is looking for arrivals to help boost his squad.
Leicester City are at home to an impressive Fulham and Brendan Rodgers is still without England international, James Maddison and forward Patson Daka against Marco Silva’s well-drilled team, reports Xinhua.
Meanwhile, Everton need to build on their draw away to Manchester City when they entertain Brighton.
Wednesday sees two matches at the bottom end of the table, with rock-bottom Southampton entertaining third-from-bottom Nottingham Forest. Forest will be boosted by the point at home to Chelsea, while Southampton are still looking for their first win under new coach, Nathan Jones.
David Moyes commented after West Ham’s recent defeat to Brentford that his job is on the line unless he can end a run of five league defeats and it’s likely to be a tough evening away to Leeds United, who could have Patrick Bamford back in attack.
Villa Park hosts a Midlands derby and a duel between Spanish coaches as Unai Emery’s Aston Villa take on Wolverhampton Wanderers under Julen Lopetegui.
Villa have won three out of four league games since Emery took over and although Wolves suffered a narrow defeat to Manchester United on New Year’s Eve, they are showing signs of improvement since Lopetegui took over and 24 hours more recovery time could be a factor in their favour.
Tottenham’s home defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday raised further doubts over coach Antonio Conte and the Italian needs a positive response when Spurs make the short visit to play Crystal Palace.
Tottenham looked flat in an attack against Villa and with Richarlison and Lucas Moura both still out, Conte’s options for freshening things up are limited.
Injuries to Ben Chilwell, Reese James, N’Golo Kante and Wesley Fofana continue to give problems to Chelsea coach Graham Potter and Thursday is probably not a good time to play Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola’s side was guilty of wasting chances at home to Everton and is likely to be more focused in Stamford Bridge where World Cup winner Julian Alvarez should be available for the first time since Qatar 2022.
–IANS
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