LONDON, March 11 — Another decisive weekend of Premier League matches kicks off on Saturday when Liverpool travels to Brighton aiming to close the gap at the top of the table to just three points behind Manchester City, who travel to face Crystal Palace on Monday night.
Jurgen Klopp’s men reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League despite a rare home defeat on Tuesday and will have to improve their finishing against a Brighton side who suffered four straight losses.
With key games against Arsenal and Manchester City on the horizon, this is a match Liverpool simply has to win.
Saturday’s other big game sees Manchester United entertain Tottenham Hotspur in a clash between two sides who still maintain hopes of a top-four finish.
Both teams are hugely irregular, capable of excellent moments of football, but also spells of play that frustrate coaches and fans, with United perhaps the guiltier of the two.
Perhaps the efficiency of Spurs’ strikers Harry Kane and Son Hung-min could be the decisive factor at Old Trafford, especially if Harry Maguire has another of ‘those’ afternoons.
Saturday’s third match in a relegation dogfight between Brentford and Burnley. Last week’s win away to Norwich allowed Brentford to put six points between themselves and Saturday’s rivals and if Ivan Toney has another good day and Christian Eriksen can reproduce something close to his best form, then survival will be in touching distance for the south London side.
A point for Burnley meanwhile would lift them above Everton and out of the bottom three.
Sunday kicks off with a fascinating game as in-form Newcastle visit Chelsea.
Six wins from seven matches have lifted Newcastle almost into mid-table and relegation now looks like it has been well and truly avoided by Eddie Howe’s Saudi Arabian-owned team.
Everton could find themselves in the relegation zone by the time they kick-off at home to Wolves and Frank Lampard needs to find a reaction after three successive defeats, the last of which was a dreadful 5-0 capitulation against Tottenham that raised serious questions about his side’s fighting spirit.
It’s also make-or-break time for Leeds United, who entertain bottom-of-the-table Norwich City. Seven defeats from eight games have taken Leeds to the brink and new coach Jesse Marsch’s home debut ended in a 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Thursday. If Leeds can’t beat the team who is bottom of the table after five consecutive defeats, then they are in real danger of relegation.
A run of just one point from four matches has left Watford second from bottom and they have to bounce back from a 4-0 thrashing by Wolves when they visit Southampton, whose upward mobility was ended by Newcastle on Thursday.
Meanwhile, West Ham entertains Aston Villa. West Ham coach David Moyes will hope to have Jarrod Bowen available against a rival who moved up to ninth in the table after three successive wins, inspired partly by Phillipe Coutinho, who looks to be a different player to the one who left the Camp Nou in January.
Finally, Arsenal will be grateful that Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy will miss Sunday’s clash. Vardy has scored 11 goals in 14 matches against Arsenal and his absence should help Mikel Arteta’s side in their efforts to seal a top-four finish this season. (Xinhua)
