Atthefootball

The weekend is behind us and boy oh boy are we in for a treat. Don't underestimate just quite how blessed we are that with 12 games left, the title race is as hot as ever with the top three all headed for record points totals.

We have a race for fourth place heating up nicely, three certainly doesn't go into one but we will be happy to watch them try. Manchester United have suddenly become favourites for that spot but Arsenal won't go away and if Chelsea could get their house in order - be it through a sacking or just a collective improvement - then they will certainly have a major say in the fate of the last Champions league spot.

Add to that the fact that outside Fulham and Huddersfield Town, the relegation battle is on. Three points separate six teams in the bottom half and any one of them could get dragged into the dog fight.

So..... what happened?

Manchester United moved into the top four....

“We need to try to win as many points as possible and try almost the miracle to end in fourth” – Jose Mourinho, December 4.
Turns out they didn’t need a miracle, just to get rid of Mourinho and wait nine matches.
Manchester United beat Fulham and moved into fourth place in the early game on Saturday. Paul Pogba continued his most purple of purple patches under new management. He has been a player reborn. The argument made by most is why he couldn't he play like this under Mourinho? Well, because as with any other form of occupation, employees will always do better when the employer shows that he trusts them and gives them the right conditions to do their job well. Jose Mourinho clearly didn't do any of this. We don't need reminding that it is a manager's job to motivate his players and Mourinho simply didn't do it.
Note too for another sublime performance from Anthony Martial. Alexis Sanchez will not be getting anywhere near the first team as long as he stays fit.
Fulham on the other hand were dreadful once again. There is no shame in losing 3-0 at home to Manchester United, that is a scoreline that can be taken pretty well in isolation by most fans at Craven cottage. The style of the defeat and how inevitable it seemed to be will be the cause for most of the disenchantment in the stands.
Fulham hired Ranieri to shore up a leaky defence. They accepted it may come at the cost of some of their attacking potency. However, he has managed to blunt their attack whilst also not fixing their defence. They have conceded 17 times in their last 7 games and scored 15 in his 15 matches in charge as opposed to 16 in the 15 before. There's a growing feeling of "the more things change, the more they stay the same" with him in charge.
It hasn't helped that Sessegnon and Cairney have been pushed to the fringes since he arrived and it is no exaggeration to say the bulk of Fulham's good work going forward in their promotion season came from those two. The fans voiced their disappointment by chanting that Ranieri did not know what he was doing. I am beginning to think they have a point. Don't tell Claudio I said that.

Liverpool went three points clear (for 24 hours)

The midweek message was clear: the reigning champions will take quite some shifting to relinquish their throne.
It took Liverpool all of three days to muster an emphatic response. After all the talk of them melting under the bright lights and heat of a Premier League title challenge, a comfortable 3-0 win over Bournemouth gives them a three-point lead with 12 games remaining.
It might not be the ten-point gap that was prematurely and giddily forecast ahead of the City game last month, but it is proof that draws with Leicester and West Ham were exceptions to the rule that Jurgen Klopp has implemented this season. And it is a reminder that City are still the ones who are having to try and keep the pace instead of setting it.
Not since Liverpool were sponsored by Carlsberg while winning Coca-Cola, Worthington and Carling Cups have the Reds been so intrinsically linked with the word ‘bottle’. A team that had the fourth-most points in Premier League history after 25 games was suddenly being framed as mentally weak and lacking in the durability required for a title challenge.
It was always a laughable reaction to the smallest of blips. But Anfield was the club’s nuclear bunker: the internal calm defied the external pandemonium.

Arsenal did what they had to do.

Regulation win in all honesty. Huddersfield Town are certainties for the drop and looked every bit the Championship club that they are. To have stayed more than one season in such an unforgiving league was more than anyone should have expected. They've had their party and next season will hope to go again.

Tottenham just keep on keeping on

Isn't typical of Spurs to attempt several times over the last month to trip themselves up and perform all sorts of self sabotage and yet still not manage even that. Despite numerous attempts by fate, the chairman and even their own players to stuff it up at Wembley, they emerge still only five points behind. Tottenham have a projected points tally of 88 at the end of the season which is frankly ludicrous.

Manchester City absolutely wiped the floor with Chelsea

Before we get into this, Chelsea were undeniably complicit in their downfall, Ross Barkley and his Evertonian roots cannot bear to see Liverpool winning the Premier League. Marcos Alonso just isn't a left back and Ceasar Azpilicueta was far too willing to give Sterling all he wanted with that penalty. Has Kepa made a save that is classed as beyond regulation in recent weeks?
Manchester City were brilliant. They were ruthless and played the sort of football that makes everyone forget they have a) lost more times than Liverpool and shown a surprising ability to just throw games away in recent times and b) played one more game than Liverpool and just hand them the title already.
It is almost impossible to live with Guardiola's side when they play like this. Everything was in sync. You just pray to all that is holy that they have an off day when you meet them.
Even when that happens, you still have to contend with Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero. Sterling has now scored or assisted 50 Premier League goals since the start of last season.
Sergio Aguero has scored 43 times in 64 games against the top six sides since he joined Manchester City. Truly an underrated player.
I do have some sympathy with Maurizio Sarri, because this is partly on Chelsea. A club notorious for managerial short-termism courted and appointed a manager who had a long-term vision. They gave Sarri the honour of changing Chelsea; other managers had been changed by them.
Chelsea also appointed a manager whose style was so distinct that it was likely to take time and perseverance for the squad to grow accustomed to it, and take several transfer windows for the squad to be sculpted according to the manager’s vision. Let’s remember that Pep Guardiola finished fourth in the Premier League in his first season with Manchester City, and Guardiola had a far stronger squad with bigger budgets. To exacerbate that issue, Chelsea appointed Sarri less than three weeks before the Community Shield. Guardiola, you will remember, was lined up months in advance.
But if that is Sarri’s defence, he is quickly using up his goodwill. If there are periods of home matches in which the Italian’s style rises to the surface and you can almost believe that Chelsea might get there, they are easily overshadowed by shambolic, humbling defeats. It is not just that Chelsea are losing, but that they are suffering the type of collapse that any manager can only suffer once or twice before owners get twitchy and HR are asked to work late.
Manchester City have represented these two extremes of Sarri’s Chelsea perfectly. In the home fixture, Guardiola fretted and frowned like a man waiting for bad news as Chelsea out-passed the passers and out-thought the thinkers. But Chelsea’s capitulation on Sunday renders that virtually void. The abiding image was of Marcos Alonso being left with two men to pick up at the back post and opting for the brave option of marking neither.
Chelsea have not yet scored an away goal in 2019 and have conceded 13. If a trip to Malmo this Thursday should allow them to arrest that miserable statistic, they will do so in a competition that they don’t particularly want to be in and yet look increasingly likely to settle for next season.
Sarri may avoid the sack this week, but he should not get too comfortable. Having twice called out his players publicly and failed to get a reaction, it’s difficult to know where you go from there. It makes owners wonder whether it’s not them, but you....

The rest....

Sean Dyche has worked a mini miracle at Burnley. Two months ago, I would have picked them as certainties for the drop. In the intervening time, he has dropped Joe Hart - admittedly not responsible for their slide downward - and brought back Tom Heaton, immediately witnessing a massive improvement in results and performances.
They were conceding shots at a faster rate than any team in Premier League history and Dyche's answer was to revert to what got them where they are. It has worked a treat and they are currently on an upward trajectory which is more than can be said of most of the bottom half.

On January 8, Everton’s majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri warned that the club’s league position and form was not good enough. Since then, Everton have lost to Southampton, Wolves and Watford in the league and tumbled out of the FA Cup to Millwall. They are five points behind Wolves in seventh having played two games more, and four points behind Watford. Marco Silva is in trouble at Everton, isn't he?

Neil Warnock
You don’t have to like the man (and he cares not a jot whether you do or not). But you have to admire Warnock’s ability to motivate a team to be greater than the sum of its own uninspiring parts and to respond to adversity.
We have witnessed that ability in the macro and micro over the past fortnight. The macro picture is how Cardiff’s minds have remained focused on the relegation battle amid the most unlikely and tragic circumstances. The micro is how Cardiff conceded a 91st-minute equaliser in a vitally important away game and still won the contest in the final throes. Warnock’s fingerprints are all over both.
Cardiff could not have picked a more impressive nor more important time to register consecutive top-flight wins for the first time in 57 years. Warnock may still oversee the most unlikely survival bid. After the last three weeks, it’s hard to root against him.

There's so much more going on but that's all there is from here. We'll be back before you know it.....

It's Harry Kane (again). Just seventh goal in seven games in the Premier League. Arsenal were timid and fragile up against a bullish Spurs side here. The vigor and verve from the win against Everton all gone. They were a deer in headlights and visibly off.
The change from the first half was startling. The opening period was slow and tepid. Where Tottenham ascended in the second half, Arsenal players visibly shrank and retreated into their shells. After Kane's header, the die was cast. Dembele found Davies on the left and with the lack of closing down he managed to find Harry Kane with a wonderful cross and the best forward in the league was on hand to apply the finish. it was a jewel of a goal. The type that makes every pundit say "classic center forwards header". Arsenal protested more in hope than any form of expectation really and as expected those protests fell on deaf ears. Kane anticipated it better and just attacked it better. To use another proper football man phrase, " he just wanted it more". The moment encapsulated the entire second half and how it went, Tottenham were first to everything, the were quicker, and stronger.
With Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan both on board and on song heading into the game it was no surprise to see them start the game. The change in the visitor's line up was typical Arsenal though. Ramsey scored three times last week so invariably he injured his groin and was replaced by Elneny. Jack Wilshere was the gunners' best thing in an all round show of abject performance and negation of responsibility. That Alexandre Lacazette had two opportunities to drag Wenger and his men to an unlikely and very much unwarranted draw was down to Petr Cech and Tottenham profligacy. Harry Kane could have had a hat trick. Alli, Son, Lamela and Trippier could all have scored before then too.
So seven points from consecutive games against Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal will leave Spurs more than happy and their move up into third should put them over the moon. For Arsenal, that win over Everton which changed the entire outlook of this game pre match, was put into perspective. Everton are not only a worse team than this spurs side but also a worse team. in much poorer form. Concentrating on the europa League should be their best bet for a way back into the champions League......

1006 - Since he made his league debut in August 2006, Mesut Ozil (1006) is the only player to have created over 1000 goalscoring chances within the big 5 European leagues. Class.

Chelsea have finally managed to put in a convincing performance in the year 2018. Brighton couldn't live with Chelsea at times today, Willian's goal in particular a treat. The incision, accuracy and speed of thought and action between Hazard, Willian and the much maligned Batshuayi was something to behold. When they play like this Chelsea are almost impossible to live with.
To their credit Brighton didn't down tools despite that horrendous start. By the time they were groggily pushing snooze on the alarm clock, Chelsea had showered, got the morning paper and prepared breakfast. It was difficult not to feel as though Brighton's fight back was not in part motivated by desperation.
Despite the near farce that was the mid week game against Norwich, VAR cannot come to England soon enough. Ezequiel Schelotto was one of the home side's better players this afternoon and should have got at least one penalty after he was brought down by stand in goal keeper Caballero. His tangle with Bakayoko also could have brought a penalty and his frustration was clear and understandable after he got booked for dissent.
Final word on two transfers. One having been already concluded and the other a rumoured one. Locadia could be hugely important for this Brighton side who are currently the lowest scoring side in the league. Glenn Murray is a willing and occasionally able but he will not score enough goals to keep you in the league. So, no pressure after his recovery from a hamstring strain, eh?
The other being Marcos Alonso, he has been a wonderful player for Chelsea but was given an absolutely torrid time today against Brighton's wingback and if Chelsea can get in Palmieri they could give him some rest which will be vital in their pursuit of glory on four fronts. All in all, well deserved victory for Antonio Conte and his men, now to build on it.. .. .

The Premier League is back to serve up another (hopefully) stellar weekend of action. So are we. Should we explain where we’ve been the past few months? Nah, you don’t want to hear about that. Plus without the mystery, what else do you come here for?
Oh yeah, that’s right, the football.

Brighton and Hove Albion vs Chelsea

The big talking point his weekend is Antonio Conte’s side and their blunt attack. It is very obvious Mitchy Batshuayi is out of favour with the manager who still thinks despite the fact that he wouldn’t hit a barn door with 73 attempts, Alvaro Morata is a better option. The Spain international failed to have a single shot against Leicester City last week and he will not be having any this week after his sending off. Chelsea have a wonderful record against newly promoted sides but this one feels different. The “give it to Hazard” game plan is quite alright when the Belgian genius is on song, however, the Arsenal game aside, he has been about as average as all of his teammates this year. Cesc Fabregas is a doubt (according to this social media post we will just blindly believe because we cannot be bothered to actually check) and this means even more of the creative burden rests on Chelsea’s number 10. Chelsea will likely field Hazard as the furthest man forward which means a lot is being asked of a midfield of Kante, Bakayoko and Drinkwater. We don’t hold much hope for excitement in this one.
This is only the 10th ever meeting between Brighton and Chelsea – the Blues have won each of the last seven contests in all competitions. Chelsea have won all five of their English league matches against Brighton – should they win this match, only one team will have a better 100% record against an opponent since the Football League began in 1888 (Wimbledon against Bournemouth, eight wins out of eight). Brighton have one win in 12 in the premier league but haven’t lost in their last 10 at home. Chelsea have won one in five away and drawn their last two. Conte has never gone three away games without a win in England and so we think Chelsea will win this. Are we right? Quite probably not, we rarely are but this is what you get for reading this.

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace

What is the fuss about for this match?
As with Chelsea and misfiring forwards, it is impossible to talk about Arsenal without mentioning their transfer activity so here we go. Without focusing too much on this can we all just agree that losing Sanchez with six months left on his contract, getting about (or is it over?) 30 million pounds for Theo Walcott and Francis Coquelin and bringing in a player who has 141 goals in 212 games for Borussia Dortmund and is currently on 21 in 23 despite being unmotivated and clearly wanting to leave the club (kind of the opposite of a certain Chilean in London) is ruddy good business. Given the make-up of the common Arsenal fan and his natural aversion to optimism, it is understandable that everyone involved with the club is keeping their heads about this (We will get into this later on today).
On to the game, with the circus going on at the Emirates and their resurgent form, Crystal Palace might actually have a chance here. The Eagles are unbeaten in their last five on the road (W2 D3). Only Liverpool (6) are on a current longer run without defeat away from home in the division. They haven’t won at Arsenal since 1994 but with one of the most in form players in the league in their side and facing a defence as bad as he one at Bournemouth, they are guaranteed to cause Arsenal problems.
What will happen?
Arsenal will score. Arsenal have never failed to score in 17 home league games against Crystal Palace, netting 39 goals in total (2.3 per game). Indeed, the Gunners have scored in each of their last 25 home Premier League games, their longest run since scoring in 29 in a row between April 2007 and November 2008.
Prediction?
Arsenal to win 3-1.

Burnley vs Manchester United

What is the narrative?
Again what dominates is the bigger club and their transfer dealings. We have heard ridiculous amounts concerning Manchester United and their pursuit of Alexis Sanchez and whilst there have been some detractors, the general consensus seems to be positive. It is strange that nobody mentions the age of the player or his reliance on an explosive burst of speed as with Arsenal and their target to replace Manchester bound Alexis.
Anyway, on to the actual game and Manchester United still look not exactly like the finished article. They were brilliant against Stoke City on Monday but on a different day they could have conceivably been down at the breakAll these problems mean that this is a good time for United to face Burnley. Only Southampton (10) are on a longer winless run in the Premier League than the Clarets (6). Manchester United have also only conceded once at Turf Moor in their last nine visits. Sean Dyche has only faced Mauricio Pochettino (6) more often in the Premier League without winning than he has against Jose Mourinho (5). This will be his 100th game is charge of Burnley in the Premier League, the last three managers whose 100th game in the competition came against Manchester United have all won (Mick McCarthy with Wolves in Feb 2011, Roy Hodgson with Fulham in March 2009 and Steve McClaren with Middlesbrough in Feb 2004) so he will hope this is a good omen.

Are we certain of anything that’ll happen?
Pogba’s influence will contine to grow. The midfield to get the best out of Paul Pogba is yet to be settled on, however, the Frenchman has been directly involved in 14 goals in his last 14 Premier League games (4 goals, 10 assists). He has four assists in his last two games.

Everton vs West Bromwich Albion

It’s January, so it’s all about transfers. Good thing for the fans of both teams because this might actually be the most boring game of the season. The yin to Liverpool vs Manchester City’s yang. If Big Sam could just once give us some entertainment, just once is all we’re asking (we’ll ask again next week because it is the way of the football supporter). Yeah that won’t happen, what matters is results and doing things in a business like fashion so that’s what we’ll do. We’re busting out the stats with our serious face because really, this match could just not be played and we all agree it was a 0-0 and we guarantee you three weeks from now, nobody will have noticed anything weird.
The Toffees have lost one of their last 10 Premier League clashes with West Brom (W5 D4), losing 1-0 at Goodison Park in February 2016. The Baggies have failed to score in 10 of their last 16 league visits to Goodison Park, including three of their last four. This is the first time these sides will meet at Goodison Park in a top-flight match with both sides managed by Englishmen since September 1981, when Everton were managed by Howard Kendall and West Brom managed by Ronnie Allen. Everton had 17 shots on target in Sam Allardyce’s first four Premier League games in charge, scoring seven goals – however, in his last five, Everton have managed just four shots on target, scoring once.

What will happen?
If you’re going to push us (which you aren’t), Everton will win, barely. Sam Allardyce has never lost a home Premier League match against the Baggies (P8 W2 D6 L0); his only home league defeat against them came in December 2000 in the second tier as Bolton manager, a 1-0 defeat via a Jason Roberts goal. Wayne Rooney has had a hand in 14 goals in 13 Premier League starts against West Brom (seven goals, seven assists). In his Premier League career, Rooney has been involved in 55 goals in 58 starts against sides starting that day in the relegation zone (31 goals, 24 assists). So there, Rooney with the only goal of a turgid affair.

Leicester City vs Watford

Narrative?
Goals, goals, goals. Watford’s 23 Premier League games this season have seen a total of 75 goals scored (F33 A42) – only Man City’s (84) and Liverpool’s (82) have seen more. So we already know where we’re going Saturday afternoon (figuratively). Leicester were massively unlucky not to beat Chelsea last time out and will be doubly determined to make their efforts count this time around. Having won seven of nine home fixtures against the Hornets, Claude Puel’s men will be confident of recording another victory against their visitors this weekend.
On a different note, it shows just how poor the rest of the league is when you consider that Watford, with their porous defence and their penchant for inconsistency, having picked up a frankly miserable 5 points from the last 30 available are somehow in 10th position on the log.

What will happen?
Leicester City will score first but Watford will not give up easily. No team has scored more (5, level with Man City) or conceded more (4, level with West Ham) 90th minute goals in the Premier League this season than Marco Silva’s side, with eight of those nine goals in total changing the outcome of the match (W2 D3 L3). Only Stoke (18) have gone behind in more Premier League games this season than Watford (16), with the Hornets coming from two goals down in their last match against Southampton to draw 2-2.
We expect a Leicester City win.

Stoke City vs Huddersfield Town
Narrative?
Can Paul Lambert fix that defence?

This will be Paul Lambert’s first Premier League game in charge since February 2015, when his Aston Villa side lost 2-0 at Hull. He failed to win any of his last 10 in the competition at Villa (D3 L7), with his side scoring just twice in that run. After the derision that followed his appointment maybe Paul Lambert deserves a revisionist approach this week. We don’t know where that’ll come from but we think it’s necessary. What he must do is fix the defence. Stoke City have conceded 50 goals in the league this season. Five of the previous six sides that conceded 50+ goals at this stage of the season were relegated, with the exception being Swansea in 2016-17. Indeed, the Potters have conceded more league goals than any other team in Europe’s big five divisions this season. It’s going to take him a while though because he is missing key components of this team. Ryan Shawcross, Erik Pieters and Glen Johnson are all doubts for the next few weeks so Stoke City fans don’t get your hopes up.
As the third richest owners (behind Roman Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour) bet365 should invest in the club and make sure they secure their safety.

What will happen?
Stoke City will concede a goal and it will not be scored by Tom Ince.

West Ham vs Bournemouth

Narrative?
David Moyes and his repair of a reputation in tatters. David Moyes has collected 15 points from his last eight Premier League matches (P8 W4 D3 L1), one more than he won in his previous 28 matches in the competition (14). The chosen one is a new man with fresh ideas again.
Who would have thought that the man that got Sunderland relegated could turn Marko Arnautovic, the most mercurial of footballers and Manuel Lanzini into a working partnership upfront? Marko Arnautovic has been involved in nine goals in his last seven Premier League matches (six goals, three assists). The Austrian has turned into a pound shop Ibrahimovich all bustle and strength blended with a silk touch and an eye for goal. It is wonderful to see. For such a basket case of a club, the fact that the manager is making it work is a near miracle. All credit goes to him.

What will happen?
More goals. And this is exactly why we watch the football. The five previous Premier League meetings between these teams have seen 23 goals scored at an average of 4.6 per game, which remains the highest average for any Premier League fixture to have been played at least five times. Bournemouth have only won one of their five previous visits to West Ham in all competitions (L4), a 4-3 win at Upton Park in the Premier League in August 2015.
However, these may come late so do not leave too early. 16 of the 23 goals scored in this fixture in the Premier League have been scored in the second half, accounting for 70% of the goals; indeed, eight have come in the final 10 minutes of matches (35%). Side note: On the date of this match, it will be 364 days since West Ham last won back to back Premier League matches.

Manchester City vs Newcastle United
So Amanda Staveley does not have the funds to buy Newcastle United football club. What a shame for the magpies because this really is a wonderful club in need of an owner with even a modicum of interest or care in their affairs.
Rafa Benitez has escaped blame and opprobrium for much of the season. Despite many problems emerging and his continued failure to address even the ones he can without a transfer window, Newcastle fans are just grateful he stayed and brought them back up. We very much doubt he will stay beyond the end of the season should a new owner fail to emerge.
After losing the best match of the season so far, Manchester City will be looking to get back on the horse as quickly as possible and they could not have asked for a better fixture. Manchester City are unbeaten in 20 Premier League matches against Newcastle United (W17 D3) – it is their longest unbeaten run against a side in their league history. Newcastle have lost each of their last eight away top-flight matches at Man City.
Many have looked at what Crystal Palace, Bristol City and Liverpool did against Manchester City and decided that the only way to go up against this side is to press them relentlessly and high up the pitch. But, anybody who watched the last game between these two sides will know not to expect this. Rafael Benitez has seen his sides keep four clean sheets at the Etihad in the Premier League – only Alex Ferguson (5) has masterminded more shutouts than the Spaniard.

What will happen?
A home win. Quite possibly a twonking. Since the start of the 2013-14 season, Man City have lost just nine of their 87 Premier League home games, the joint-fewest of any side in that time to have played more than one season in the competition. Only three of these defeats have been against non ‘big six’ sides. The Citizens have scored at least four goals in each of their last four home top-flight matches against Newcastle (19 scored in total) – the last team to achieve this in five in a row were Spurs against Blackburn in January 1966 (four or more in six consecutive games).

Southampton vs Spurs
February 16th was Chinese New Year, Harry Kane is on course to get the most goals in a Chinese calendar year (we’re not sure who has that record at the moment but we know Harry will beat it). Tottenham seem to have found a great balance now with Kane back in the goals and Son (in our opinion the most underrated player in England’s top flight) firing as well. Dele Alli looks like he is getting back to his best and Christian Eriksen as ever quietly going about his business.
Southampton were wretched last time against Spurs and were frankly flattered by the final scoreline and we expect a similar situation to unfold here. Mauricio Pellegrino looks like a dead man walking. Southampton are winless in ten in the league and do not be surprised if they show him the door and ask him to do one.

What will happen?
A comfortable Spurs win. Southampton are winless in five home Premier League matches against Spurs since re-entering the top-flight in 2012 (D1 L4). Since 2012-13, Spurs have won 28 of a possible 33 points in the Premier League against Southampton (P11 W9 D1 L1). Mauricio Pochettino is yet to lose a Premier League game at St. Mary’s since he left Southampton at the end of the 2013-14 season, drawing one and winning two. Dele Alli has had a hand in eight goals in just four Premier League games against Southampton (five goals, three assists) – only two players have ever been involved in more goals in their first four Premier League appearances against an opponent (Alan Shearer v Nottingham Forest and Wayne Rooney v Hull City, both nine). Harry Kane has scored five goals in his last four Premier League appearances against Southampton, including a hat-trick in the reverse fixture at Wembley; he has also scored twice and assisted once in three matches at St. Mary’s. All of which points to nothing other than a Spurs win, a good thing too as they go into consecutive games against Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal.

Swansea City vs Liverpool

Best team in the league on form? Quite rightly so, yes. Carvaljal will not be judged on games against Jurgen Klopps heavy metal band. This is more or less a free hit for him. After their win against Manchester City, Liverpool will be keen to continue what has been a rather impressive run since the shambles that was the 4-0 loss at Wembley.
What will happen?
Liverpool will win. This is certain. But maybe not by as many as most might think. Although Swansea have conceded 27 goals in 13 Premier League games (W3 D3 L7) against the Reds, just six of those have come at Liberty Stadium. 14 of Liverpool’s last 15 Premier League goals in this fixture have been scored in the second half (93%).
The Swans have scored fewer home goals than any other Premier League side this season (6), while Liverpool have scored the most away from home (29). Roberto Firmino has scored five goals in his last three Premier League games against Swansea, including braces in each of the last two. Mo Salah has scored 18 goals from 44 shots on target in the Premier League this season – Swansea, by contrast, have scored just 14 goals as a team from 52 shots on target.