Premier League enters final lap, Man City to face Liverpool after the international break

The Premier League returns for its final ten rounds of games this weekend, but it starts with a super fixture on Saturday in the early kick-off as second-placed Manchester City will hope to reduce Arsenal’s eight-point gap to five with a home tie against Liverpool.

Pep Guardiola’s men dropped just a single point in their last five Premier League games, with a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest their Achilles heels in February. Liverpool’s last five games in the Premier League produced only ten points, with their last two games before the break ending in losses to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League and Bournemouth in the Premier League.

The Reds are two outstanding Premier League games and seven points from the fourth position where Tottenham sits. Mikel Arteta and Arsenal will be watching the game closely as they will host Leeds United immediately after on Saturday at Emirates Stadium.

A draw between City and Liverpool will take Arsenal ten points clear if they beat Leeds United, while a Liverpool win will be a confidence booster for the Gunners, who are searching for their first title since 2004.

The fixture would be a challenging one for the Gunners, even though they got a 1-0 victory in the reverse fixture. Leeds United currently sit in 14th position and two points away from the relegation zone and does know that every single game going forward would be crucial to their survival.

Other fixtures on Saturday will see Bournemouth welcome Fulham to the Vitality Stadium while Brentford will travel to Brighton. Crystal Palace will face Leicester City, Nottingham Forest will play Wolves, with Chelsea playing Aston Villa in the day’s late kick-off.

 On Sunday, West Ham will welcome strugglers Southampton to London while Erik Ten Hag and his boys will travel to Newcastle United.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu