Man City face Arsenal in Premier League title face-off, Postecoglou under stress

Manchester City host Arsenal in a face-off in between the Premier League title favourites on Sunday, while Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou terribly requires a win when his side host Brentford.

Liverpool are wanting to recuperate from a shock home loss to Nottingham Forest when Bournemouth browse through Anfield and Manchester United look for vengeance with a journey to Crystal Palace.

AFP Sport checks out the choice of this weekend break’s Premier League activity.

Early title tussle

A fight in between the leading 2 pits the unstoppable pressure in City’s in-form demonstrator Erling Haaland versus the stationary things in Arsenal’s obturate protection.

Haaland has actually struck a Premier League document 9 times in the opening up 4 video games of the period.

But Arsenal have actually just yielded when, when to 10 males versus Brighton, and maintained tidy sheets currently away at Aston Villa and Tottenham.

The leading 2 in each of the previous 2 periods currently inhabit those placements again.

“It’s another unbelievable team that defend really well,” stated City managerPep Guardiola “They don’t concede chances, they don’t concede goals. In many aspects they control everything.

“Was the greatest obstacle for the title the last 2 periods, they exist and will certainly be there for years due to the fact that they developed a deepness of team and a young group.”

City are the only side with a perfect 12 points so far, but a depleted Arsenal made sure they are only two points behind by grinding out a 1-0 victory over Spurs in last weekend’s north London derby.

The Gunners are set to be missing captain Martin Odegaard once more due to an ankle injury but can welcome back Declan Rice from suspension.

City are also set to be without their creative hub as Kevin De Bruyne limped out of Wednesday’s 0-0 Champions League draw against Inter Milan.

Postecoglou under pressure

Arsenal’s third consecutive away derby win at Tottenham ramped up the scrutiny on Postecoglou.

Spurs have taken only four points from their opening four Premier League games of the season and their form has been trending downwards for some time.

After a blistering start under the former Australia manager, Tottenham have won just 13 of their last 32 league games, including seven defeats in the last 11.

Postecoglou has insisted he will deliver silverware in his second season in charge but narrowly avoided a League Cup exit to second-tier Coventry in midweek.

With trips to Manchester United and Brighton to come, Spurs need to steady the ship against a Brentford side that troubled City last weekend in a 2-1 defeat.

Man Utd’s momentum

What a difference a week has made for United boss Erik ten Hag.

The Dutchman returned from the international break under pressure after back-to-back defeats to Brighton and Liverpool.

But two victories and 10 goals against Southampton and Barnsley has lifted the mood ahead of the trip to Palace.

The low point of a dismal league campaign last season arguably came in a 4-0 thrashing by the Eagles in May.

But Ten Hag believes this weekend will be a different story as he is now blessed with options rather than fighting an injury crisis.

“It was a 4-0, absolutely was worthy of, yet Saturday will certainly be various,” said Ten Hag. “From February onwards, we needed to locate 11 gamers to create a group.

“Now it is 18 and we can pick one.”

Fixtures (perpetuity GMT)

Saturday

West Ham v Chelsea (1130 ), Aston Villa v Wolves, Fulham v Newcastle, Leicester v Everton, Liverpool v Bournemouth, Southampton v Ipswich, Tottenham v Brentford (all 1400), Crystal Palace v Man Utd (1630 )

Sunday

Brighton v Nottingham Forest (1300 ), Man City v Arsenal (1530 )

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