Without disrespecting Chelsea nor Aston Villa, Liverpool and Arsenal’ trips to Old Trafford and White Hart Lane will be the most talked about games in yet, another exciting weekend as the men look to be separated from boys in the Premier League tittle race gets tougher.
Liverpool travel to Old Trafford for the Super Sunday showdown against Manchester United, with one team battling for the title and the other scrambling to stay in contention for European football. United have plummeted under David Moyes so far,while Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool have gone from targeting the top four position to aiming the tittle. Victory at the home of their bitter rivals will ensure Liverpool remain second in the standings. The visitors have dropped points in just two games during a nine-match unbeaten Premier League run and their form in front of goal has seen them overtake Manchester City as the leading scorers in the top-flight. United need not be told their title defence is over and even the Champions League looks unlikely, but the champions can not be predicted when pitched against tough oppositions, especially their rivals. A draw will be decent for a United side that seem not to have found understanding among themselves. However, with the newly found confidence and believe, Liverpool will storm Old Trafford hoping for nothing, but outright victory, and this is not an impossible task if Luis Suarez and Premier League player of the month Daniel Sturridge find their chemistry.
At White Hart Lane on Sunday, Arsenal will hope to return to winning ways after losing two of their last four matches, with the latest leading to their exit from the UEFA Champions League following 1-3 aggregate loss to champions Bayern Munich on Tuesday. Similarly, Tottenham go into the Super Sunday encounter on the back of their 0-4 humiliation at Chelsea as well as Thursday’s 1-3 Europa Cup home loss to Benfica. In a reverse fixture in September, the Gunners snatched a 1-0 victory at the Emirates. The two North London sides however, will not be thinking about their recent past when the centre referee’s whistle goes off in this derby.It will be difficult to predict who carries the day, but matches between Tottenham and Arsenal hardly end in a draw. Only Liverpool v Newcastle (126) has seen more goals than meetings between the north London duo (125) in Premier League history.
Manchester City have little time to recover from their Barcelona disappointment as they head for Hull City looking to cut the gap to leaders Chelsea, who can restore their nine-point advantage over Manuel Pellegrini’s men on Saturday Night Football away to Aston Villa.
After losing the Capital One Cup final and then exiting the FA Cup, Sunderland must now refocus on avoiding Premier League relegation when they host fellow strugglers Crystal Palace at the Stadium of Light.
Rock-bottom Fulham have a home date with Newcastle, Cardiff face a testing trip to Everton buoyed by their win against the Cottagers last weekend and West Brom, who are only out of the bottom three on goal difference, head to Swansea.
Norwich need to improve on their miserable away form to ease their drop fears as they head to Southampton, while Stoke City host West Ham, having already overcome Arsenal and Chelsea at the Britannia Stadium this season.
By Demola Aluko
