EPL Matchday Preview: Man City, Chelsea And Liverpool All In Action

Posted by Samson Kankan Latest Headlines, Sports News Saturday, October 29th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – English Premier league matchday 14 set to kick off as Leicester City host Man City at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers appeared to be teetering on the precipice of losing his job. But winning back-to-back games over Leeds and Wolves by a combined 6-0 scoreline appears to have given Rodgers more time. It will undoubtedly take a huge collective push to topple the irresistible Manchester City, especially after Leicester conceded nine times across the last three PL H2H encounters. Playing at home may provide some comfort for the Foxes though, as Rodgers has overseen three straight PL clean sheets at the King Power Stadium for the first time since a four-game run that ended in July 2020.

Yet a clean sheet against Man City seems something of a pipe dream, especially as the defending champions have combined a rip-roaring attack with a rock-solid defence, although boasting the league’s best attack (G36) and the joint-second best defensive record (11 conceded) still isn’t enough to top the table. Kicks off by 12:30 (GMT+1)

Meanwhile, Brighton & Hove Albion, are set to put their premier season back on track against Chelsea, Sea Gulls haven’t won (D2, L3) since Graham Potter left for Chelsea in September, so they’d love to get one over his new side and keep themselves on track for a Premier League (PL) top-half finish. New boss Roberto De Zerbi admitted his team were outclassed by Manchester City (L 3-1) last time out, but was nevertheless pleased with their performance.

Now five competitive away matches unbeaten since sacking Thomas Tuchel (W4, D1), Chelsea scored twice in each of those four victories and as they average 2.2 goals per PL away H2H (W3, D2), fans will expect another strong performance. That would please Potter, the first Englishman since 1906/07 to start his Chelsea management career with nine unbeaten games (W6, D3), as he seeks to extend that run at the expense of his former club.

Liverpool fans just never know which version of their side they’ll get on gameday, after a majorly disappointing 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest last time out in the Premier League (PL), was followed up by a resounding 3-0 win over Ajax in midweek European action which guaranteed the Reds a place in the UEFA Champions League knockouts. That loss to Forest was Liverpool’s third this league campaign, already more than they had suffered all of last season (two), leaving them way off the top-four pace at the moment.

A wounded Leeds make the trip to the North West off the back of an eight-game winless run after a 3-2 loss to Fulham last round (D2, L6), in what is their joint-longest winless streak in the top-flight since a run of ten ending in August 1997. Their slow decline down the table has landed them in the relegation zone, as no other PL side has currently gone as long without a win. Kicks off by 19:45 (GMT+1)

Other matches, Bournermoth vs Tottenham, Brentford vs Wolves, Crystal Palace vs Southampton, Newcastle vs Aston Villa, All matches kick off by 15:00 (GMT+1) Fulham vs Everton. 17:30, All matches will be shown live on Dstv and Gotv.