1) Spurs need to maintain fear factor on Friday night

The likelihood is that Tottenham Hotspur’s chance to win the title vanished with Chelsea’s win at Goodison Park, making their deconstruction of Arsenal all the more impressive. And well though they played in that game, this was not even Spurs at their best, rather a simple assertion of immense, intense superiority: a team so grooved, with players so good, that they need only play fairly well to win, which they do more or less every week. Their win over Arsenal was also impressive because it showed their progression from last season. The collective misplacement of swede once the title seemed lost, though entertaining and sustaining, did not suggest a team poised to make the ultimate leap; on the other hand, their calm, ruthless degradation of their local rivals dripped with future menace.

Spurs did not fail to overtake Leicester because they combusted at the end, rather because they did not start properly – an error they subsequently repeated. And with a move to Wembley imminent, they will have an excuse for doing likewise yet again; the atmosphere, character and dimensions of White Hart Lane suit them, while away teams will fancy their chances at what will feel like a neutral ground. To ameliorate the problem, Tottenham must use the rest of this season to their advantage. If they can maintain their winning run and spirit, they can imbue the rest of the league with requisite fear for when they meet next. A London derby is the perfect place to start. DH

2) The big match at the Emirates may be a letdown

Arsenal entertaining Manchester United at the Emirates this late in the season is undeniably a Big Game with plenty riding on the outcome for both sides, but few could have predicted in August that this would be little more than a battle for both teams to keep alive their – extremely faint, in the case of Arsenal – hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. The inconvenience of managing a football team that are forced to play football more often than he would like prompted José Mourinho to focus on the Europa League and threaten to field a second-string side at the Emirates, while little can reasonably be expected from an Arsenal team that couldn’t rouse themselves to contest a North London derby last weekend. They might try a bit harder this time, if only because they can scarcely make less of an effort than they did in defeat at the hands of Spurs. In his pre-match press conference, Arsène Wenger suggested he is prepared to forget about a decade’s worth of juvenile insults from Mourinho and make peace with his rival. Don’t do it, Arsène – technical area enmity might well be the highlight of a game where on-field entertainment could be in very short supply. BG

Arsène Wenger and José Mourinho’s touchline rivalry may be more interesting than the match between their teams. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

3) Guardiola to persevere with two up front

Like his pal across town, Pep Guardiola’s first league campaign in Manchester has been a disappointment. In patches, City have been very good, but that is only to be expected given players as good as David Silva, Kevin de Bruyne, Sergio Agüero and Leroy Sané. Management is about extracting more from individuals than anyone thought they had, and forging a collective to accentuate their strengths and hides their weaknesses. At this, Guardiola has palpably failed. In particular, he has found it impossible to find a first XI, and while it is true that his defensive issues cannot be secreted, it is also likely that there is a best way to protect his goal, or at least, that his goal is best protected by a settled defence. No doubt he will sign reinforcements in the summer, but he also has a decision to make up front. For a while, it looked as though Agüero might be forced out, unwilling to sit at the side while Gabriel Jesus ran around. But for 10 minutes in the Manchester derby and for 92 minutes at Middlesbrough, the two were used in tandem, and given a cohort of centre-backs unused to marking a striking pair, let alone a striking pair with such ability and versatility, Guardiola will surely persevere with the combination against a Crystal Palace side short on centre-backs. The question for next season is whether he can balance his side accordingly. DH

4) Everton get a closer look at Swansea’s MVP

The Premier League does not have a Most Valuable Player award but if it did, Gylfi Sigurdsson would undeniably be a leading contender. Following his strike at Old Trafford last Sunday, the Iceland international has now been directly involved in 21 of Swansea City’s 40 Premier League goals this season (nine goals, 12 assists) and quite simply, without him, the club would be relegated by now. As it is they retain hope of staying in the division, but even if they achieve that the likelihood of Sigurdsson still plying his trade in south Wales next season is remote. One of the clubs consistently linked with the 27-year-old is Everton and, as such, Saturday’s encounter at the Liberty Stadium provides him with a chance to directly impress a potential employer. Looked at another way, the game provides Everton with a chance to show Sigurdsson that they are the type of dynamic, upwardly-mobile club that he should be interested in signing for. SN



5) Liverpool out for revenge and top-four finish

Three games, no goals scored. That is Liverpool’s record against Southampton this season, a rather remarkable one given Jürgen Klopp’s side are one of the highest scorers in the country – and a painful one for them given two of those games were EFL Cup semi-final ties. On Sunday comes Liverpool’s chance for revenge and, looking at the wider picture, an opportunity to all but seal Champions League qualification – win and they would be seven points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United before José Mourinho’s side visit the Emirates Stadium later in the day. It is all set up for a barnstorming home performance at Anfield, especially given the visitors have little to play for, but as Crystal Palace most recently showed Liverpool can struggle against sides they are meant to swat away with ease on their own patch. Surely in their penultimate match at Anfield this campaign, with something at stake and confidence bolstered following Monday’s victory at Watford, they will get the job done. Surely? SN

Emre Can sees a shot blocked during Liverpool’s EFL Cup defeat by Southampton, who return to Anfield this weekend. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

6) Silva’s home streak likely to continue against Sunderland

Hull could scarcely have hand-picked more suitable opposition as they continue their fight to stay ahead of Swansea City in the battle against relegation. Freshly relegated Sunderland are the visitors to Fortress KCom, as Marco Silva attempts to continue an unbeaten home run that stretches back to March 2014, when he was still in charge of the Portuguese side Estoril. Hull should and almost certainly will avoid complacency, however. Sunderland won November’s corresponding fixture 3-0 and Hull are the only team in the league not to have scored against them so far this season. With relegation assured and the pressure off, and a game against Swansea to come next week, only time will tell if it’s completely ridiculous to suggest David Moyes’s men might stir themselves, put in a long overdue decent performance and have a major say in who goes down with them. BG

7) Conte may need to keep Chelsea fringe players onside

Without European football getting in the way, Antonio Conte has been able to pick more or less the same team for every game, the result an exceptionally cohesive and well-drilled outfit. Next season, that will not be so, and he will have to persuade fringe but important players such as Cesc Fàbregas and Willian to remain at the club – and perhaps some of his current first XI, given the likely influx of new players. Middlesbrough at home is precisely the kind of game in which it’s possible to give substitutes a start, especially those who, like the aforementioned, lost their spots to more defensively adaptable alternatives. Last week at Everton, Fàbregas and Willian played only seven minutes between them, combining for a beautiful goal in that time; should they return to the bench on Sunday, it might be hard for Conte to reassure them that they have his trust. DH

Willian proved his worth in Chelsea’s win at Everton and can do so again. Photograph: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

8) The end of an era for struggling Stoke?

Having finished ninth in each of the past three seasons, the aim for Stoke City before this campaign was to go at least one better, but as things stands they are three places worse off and in danger of sliding further down the division. Indeed Mark Hughes’s team will start this match in 13th should West Ham beat Tottenham on Friday. Stoke’s form is terrible – five defeats in their past seven games and seven points down on the same stage in the 2015-16 season. The sense of a club gone stale is inescapable. Starting at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, Stoke have the chance to finish the season strongly and it will be intriguing to see if the players rise to the challenge against Bournemouth. If not then what we may be witnessing is the last knockings of a side which at times over the past few years has fired the imagination. The likes of Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri may leave, as could Hughes after four seasons in charge and with a reputation for always having at least half an eye on the latest managerial vacancies. SN

9) A tense Championship denouement

By 2pm on Sunday, one of Nottingham Forest, Birmingham City or Blackburn Rovers will be relegated to League One and the woefully inept owners of the two clubs that stay up will be smugly patting themselves on the back for a job well done. Blackburn currently occupy the spot directly below the thick black line by dint of a solitary goal but could conceivably save themselves with a draw at Brentford. On the same number of points, Nottingham Forest entertain Ipswich Town, while Birmingham are two points clear but know a draw at Bristol City might not be enough to ensure their survival. That these three once-proud clubs find themselves in such a predicament on the final day of the season is a damning indictment on the way they’re run, but monitoring the progress of the three matches in which they are involved will make for absolutely gripping Sunday lunchtime entertainment for neutrals. BG

Danny Graham celebrates scoring Blackburn’s winner against Aston Villa, but will they be celebrating on Sunday? Photograph: Paul Burrows/Reuters

10) More sweeping changes from David Wagner?

Huddersfield Town found themselves in hot water last weekend after their manager, David Wagner, made 10 changes in order to rest players for the play-offs, for which they have already guaranteed themselves a place. A second-string side – albeit one comprising players who have made an average of 23 appearances each in all competitions this season – lost to Birmingham, provoking no end of righteous indignation and fury from the camps of City’s fellow relegation strugglers, Nottingham Forest and Blackburn. Considering the riches on offer in the event of promotion to the Premier League, the threat of a fine is unlikely to affect Wagner’s selection policy for a meaningless match against Cardiff City, who have nothing to play for. Football League rules state that teams are required to play full-strength sides in all league matches, unless some satisfactory reason is given. If keeping your best players fit and fresh for play-offs worth around £200m to the winner doesn’t constitute a satisfactory reason, what exactly does? BG

