



1) Will Liverpool and Arsenal provide moment of fleeting greatness?

Liverpool’s miserable record in 2017 would earn them only 15th place in a calendar-year table (elsewhere on Merseyside, unbeaten Everton have a three-point lead at the top). Outside the league they have been held by Plymouth Argyle, beaten at home by Wolverhampton Wanderers and lost a two-legged EFL Cup semi-final against Southampton. But though they have struggled against their supposed inferiors, falling to Swansea City, Hull City and Leicester City, they have notably beaten Tottenham Hotspur and drawn against Chelsea and Manchester United. Jürgen Klopp’s side remain top of the top-six mini-league, and issues with motivation and organisation that were worryingly evident for much of the match at the King Power Stadium on Monday should be remedied for the visit of Arsenal. The Gunners’ only win against a top-six side this season was at home against Chelsea in September, a match that by prompting their formation change and subsequent surge ultimately did more to help the losers than the victors. Liverpool’s 4-3 win at the Emirates Stadium in August remains one of the games of a season that neither of these sides is likely to remember for more than occasional snapshots of fleeting greatness. SB

2) Swansea aim to overcome Burnley’s spirit

Burnley’s battling performance in their draw at Hull last weekend is a warning for Swansea City not to take them lightly, despite the way Sean Dyche’s side have struggled away from Turf Moor this season. Michael Keane’s late equaliser not only brought Burnley their second away point, it showed that their battling spirit always gives them a chance of earning something from a tight game. It was still two dropped points for Hull, however, and Swansea cannot afford to be similarly generous at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday afternoon. They have impressed at home since Paul Clement’s arrival, beating Southampton and Leicester, and another win could see them rise to 14th place and end the weekend five points clear of the bottom three. JS

3) Allardyce looks to benefit from Baggies’ comfort zone

Baseball caps doffed to Tony Pulis, who has already led West Bromwich Albion to the magical 40-point mark. But while the challenge now for West Brom is not to rest on their laurels, his former team travel to the Hawthorns on Saturday with bigger concerns. Crystal Palace remain in the bottom three despite last weekend’s win against Middlesbrough, while West Brom have won seven of their past eight home matches. Sam Allardyce knows how to keep a side in the Premier League, though, and Palace produced an encouragingly solid performance to beat Middlesbrough after their recent travails. Key to their improved defending was Mamadou Sakho, who had an excellent debut in central defence. Allardyce will need Sakho, a canny loan signing from Liverpool, to be at his best against the power of Salomon Rondon. JS

Mamadou Sakho could prove to be a canny signing. Photograph: John Walton/PA

4) Stoke and Middlesbrough desperate for goals and relief

The last time Middlesbrough were in the Premier League, in 2008-09, they failed to score on 17 occasions and in total mustered only 28 league goals – a tally only bettered, which is to say worsened, by Aston Villa’s 27 last season since Derby County’s unimprovable – which is to say undiminishable – 20-goal, 11-point 2007-08. Boro’s efforts eight years ago worked out at 0.737 goals scored per league game. This season they are running at the uncannily similar if slightly inferior 0.731, and though this year’s defence is massively improved, the end result may very well be the same. Boro have not won in nine games, and in their past five league matches have scored 0, 0, 0, 1 and 1 goal. Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sánchez, Diego Costa, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jermain Defoe have all scored at least as many goals this season as Boro’s top scorer, Álvaro Negredo, has had shots on target. Aitor Karanka suggested on Thursday that there would be no sweeping tactical change despite all this culminating in last weekend’s damaging defeat at Crystal Palace. “I would have more pressure if I went home every day thinking I could do more, maybe if I changed this or I changed that,” he said. “When you are doing your best, you just have to trust your job.” Stoke have troubles of their own – in their past five league matches they have drawn two, lost two, won one and scored 0, 1, 0, 1 and 1 goal – but will want to get something from this game with Manchester City and Chelsea awaiting in their next two fixtures: they have lost all six games against the current top five this season, conceding 23 times, equivalent to 82% of Boro’s total goals-against tally. SB

5) Hull try to do double over the champions

“They have had a change in management and when this happens there is normally a change in the performance of the team. We need to be ready for this situation.” The words of Marco Silva, who himself was appointed only two months ago on Sunday and has proceeded to inspire a significant change in the performance of his team, and is thus something of a role model for Craig Shakespeare and the new-look, old-look Leicester. The reverse fixture was the very first played in the Premier League this season, Hull’s 2-1 win giving the first indication of the troubles to come for the champions, while delaying the revelation of Hull’s own. Never in Premier League history – and possibly a good while before that – have a newly promoted side done the double over the league champions, but if Leicester can even vaguely approach the level they reached against Liverpool on Monday it is a fate they should be able to avoid. SB

Leicester City caretaker manager Craig Shakespeare. Photograph: Matt West/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

6) History and logic says United will continue their fine run

Over the past three months, since the weekend in early December when Manchester United drew at Everton and Bournemouth beat Liverpool, United have not lost a league game, winning eight of 11 and snaffling 27 points – the second best record in the league behind Chelsea (two points ahead having played a game more) – while Bournemouth have won twice, lost eight and won eight points, more only than Middlesbrough’s seven. Eddie Howe’s problem has not been his attack, which has scored 17 goals in that time (compared with United’s 19), but a defence that has shipped 29 (to United’s five). Recent history and all logic suggests that United have little to worry about here except perhaps their own inflated confidence, with their players spending much of the time since their somewhat flukey victory in last week’s EFL Cup final talking about their chances of now completing a knockout trophy treble (“It won’t be easy but we are confident,” said Phil Jones; “That trophy has given us so much confidence. I think we can do it,” said Antonio Valencia). SB

7) Gabbiadini the threat to Watford at Vicarage Road

Somehow Southampton’s away record – three league wins all season and since the start of November defeats at Hull, Crystal Palace, Everton, Burnley and Swansea – is officially the 10th best in the division (though with their five remaining trips after this one include visits to Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool they may not end the season with such a high ranking). It is hardly daunting to potential hosts, though the arrival of Manolo Gabbiadini and the speed with which he has settled into impressive goalscoring form may be. Watford’s own goalscoring form has significantly improved of late – they have scored two goals in three of their past five league games, and failed to score only once, at Old Trafford – but Mauro Zárate’s season-ending injury will hinder their attacking efforts, particularly with Nordin Amrabat, presumptive player of the season before he sustained an ankle injury in January, still missing and the sporadically impressive Isaac Success not fit enough to play more than one half. Last week Walter Mazzarri refused to bring the Nigerian off the bench before half-time, explaining that “if Zárate had injured himself in the second half I would have put Success on the pitch”, even though the Argentinian was taken off on a stretcher in first-half stoppage time. SB

8) Everton face Spurs with Europe in their sights

Watch out for Everton quietly sneaking into the battle for European qualification. A push for a place in the top four is probably beyond them, but they are playing well enough to finish in the top six and earn a place in the Europa League, possibly at the expense of Liverpool if their slump continues for much longer. Unbeaten in the league since losing the Merseyside derby on 19 December, Everton have moved four points behind Manchester United and five behind their neighbours. This situation seemed unlikely when rank defending led to Ronald Koeman’s side crashing at Watford on 10 December, but a gutsy home win against Arsenal three days later gave them a timely shot in the arm. While supporters were not entirely convinced with Koeman’s worth before Christmas, goodwill has flowed towards the Dutchman since January’s thrashing of City, and Everton travel to Tottenham on Sunday looking to show they mean business. It won’t be easy. Tottenham will be brimming with confidence after thrashing Stoke City and it’s just the three hat-tricks for Harry Kane in 2017, so Everton will need a strong contribution from Romelu Lukaku, who has been prolific at Goodison Park but goalless on the road since Boxing Day. JS

Everton manager Ronald Koeman during the reverse fixture against Tottenham, at Goodison Park. Photograph: Paul Currie/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

9) Moyes must find way to stop Sané

Whoever David Moyes selects at right-back at the Stadium of Light on Sunday could be in for a long afternoon. After a brief settling in period in England, Leroy Sané has burst into life in recent months and the young German winger has been at the forefront of Manchester City’s resurgence. Quick, skilful and utterly brilliant, Sané has become impossible to ignore, as much as Sunderland fans might find themselves wanting to cover their eyes whenever City give him the ball. JS

10) Moses returns to West Ham reborn

Victor Moses’s final appearance for West Ham United was a catastrophe. Players failing to try their hardest has been a hot topic in the past week and Moses gave the impression that he wanted to be somewhere else when Swansea ran riot at Upton Park last May. Looking at it from his perspective, however, it becomes easier to understand why he was struggling to produce his form at the end of yet another loan spell. Moses had actually begun brightly at West Ham, scoring once and creating two goals in his first six games, but a thigh injury stalled his momentum and created an opportunity for Michail Antonio to move above him in the pecking order. While Antonio never looked back, Moses just looked unloved and unhappy. But it turns out that all he needed to flourish was a place to call home. His Chelsea future was bleak under José Mourinho, who had no time for him at all, but Antonio Conte has recognised the 26-year-old’s potential and saw a role for him as a right wing-back, a position that few other players in the Italian’s squad are capable of filling. Moses’s pace, energy, skill and touch have earned him a regular place in the best side in England and he returns to West Ham on Monday night as a man transformed. JS