*** Man Utd Hope to bounce back as Chelsea Fight On
By Moshood Isha
The English Premier League (EPL) is set to return this weekend with big matches on the cards! Arsenal will hope to avoid their 13th consecutive Premier league defeat when they go head to head with their EPL, nemesis, Manchester City. The last time Arsenal defeated City was in December 2015; spanning close to 8 years.
With only one point separating both sides on the EPL log, the game scheduled to hold Sunday is an opportunity for either side to make an early mark in the title race. Speaking on the poor record against city, Arsenal Manager, Mikel Arteta said, the team is not looking back as there were different players participating in those games. He said “We have to be at our best in every department for 100 minutes. Then we have a chance.”
On a positive note, Arteta hopes to have his star player Bukayo Saka available for the game against city. Saka limped off during the midweek defeat at Lens and there were major fears about his fitness ahead of the big game on Sunday. However, Arteta revealed that the English winger is in contention to play. “Well, he is in contention, we’ll see how he progresses from here to Sunday. Obviously he had to leave the pitch [against RC Lens], that’s never good news, but let’s see how he recovers”, Arteta said.
Meanwhile, City coach Pep Guardiola will be without his influential midfielders, Rodri who is suspended after receiving a straight red card in the game against Nottingham Forest, Kevin Debrunye is also out with injury. The game also came too quickly for defender John Stones who is also out injured. On Rodri’s absence, Pep said “ We are not going to cry or complain [about replacing Rodrigo in the team]. We have to find a solution. We will have 11 players there to try and win in London”.
On De Brunye, Pep said, “I see him every day and he’s getting better and his mood is good. Hopefully sooner than expected he will be back.”
After back to back defeats to Crystal Palace in EPL and Galatasaray Champions league, Manchester United will host a stubborn Brentford side on Saturday as they hope to return to winning ways. Anthony is set to return to the team despite ongoing investigation on assault allegations while Jadon Sancho remains out of the squad due to disciplinary issues.
Erik Ten Hag will also miss combative defenders, Lisandro Martinez and Aaron Wan Bissaka. The team’s growing injury list also include Luke Shaw, his loanee replacement Sergio Reguillon.
However the Reds look fairly strong in forward areas, with Champions League joint-leading goalscorer Rasmus Hojlund looking to break his Premier League duck against the west Londoners.
After mustering back to back wins for the first time this season, another Londoners, Chelsea will be heading into the game against Burnly this weekend. With a big money winter signing, Mykhailo Mudryk scoring his first goal of the season against Fulham, Mauricio Pochettino and his boys will be hoping to go on a winning streak to get their city back on track.
Pochettino during his press conference confirmed the team is also set to welcome Carney Chukwuemeka, who hasn’t featured since scoring during the defeat to West Ham United earlier in the season.
Expressing optimism about the prospect of his team, Pochettino said, ‘In three months we’ve tried.” According to him, “there are a lot of young players who joined the squad to train. It’s a big job to try to understand everyone and then to try to apply the things that we believe can help. To help them to perform and then improve to adapt to the quality.” READ ALSO:
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In other games, Luton Town will host in-form Tottenham Hotspur, Everton will host Bournemouth while Fulham hosts Sheffield United. Indignant Liverpool travel to Brighton while Newcastle, still basking on the euphoria of its big win in the champions league, will have a date with Westham United.
