The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
London, England | THE INDEPENDENT | The Manchester derby is the highlight of the weekend’s matches in the Premier League which sees Chelsea travel to play an Everton side struggling for form, while league leaders Tottenham have a London derby and Liverpool also visit the capital.
Manchester United suffered a hammer blow in midweek when they were outplayed by RB Leipzig to lose out on a place in the last 16 of the Champions League. United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was guilty of fielding a pedestrian and over-defensive side that was no match for their rivals’ slick passing and paid the price for his error.
Manchester City are also known for their passing and it will be interesting to see if Solskjaer falls into the same trap or looks to take the game to Pep Guardiola’s men, who are showing signs of getting close to their best form.
United have just one league win at Old Trafford so far this season and they will need to improve drastically if the second is to arrive on Saturday.
The weekend kicks off with a ‘Midlands derby’ as Wolves entertain Aston Villa. Wolves are without striker Raul Jimenez after his head injury against Arsenal and need players such as Adama Traore and Pedro Neto to start contributing more goals.
West Brom travel to Newcastle United still smarting from their 5-1 thrashing at home to Crystal Palace, which quickly doused the ‘feelgood’ factor of their first win of the season at home to Sheffield United the previous week.
The feeling is that another setback in St. James Park could see Slaven Bilic become the first coach to be sacked this season.
If the season were just seven games old Everton would be fourth from bottom of the table as their early season form has evaporated as mysteriously as James Rodriguez’s contributions to the side.
Rodriguez improved in last week’s draw away to Burnley but he will need to improve again if Everton are to take anything from a rival that has moved up to third after a run of nine games without defeat.
Southampton get Sunday under way at home to Sheffield United, who are still looking for their first win of the season, before Tottenham defend their leadership away to Crystal Palace.
Crystal Palace demolished West Brom 5-1 last week with Wilfred Zaha on top form, but they will find things a lot harder against the side with the best defense in the league after conceding just nine goals in 11 games.
Fulham have shown signs they can survive this season, but they will find it tough at home to Liverpool, even though the visitors surprisingly kept striker Mohamed Salah on the pitch for 90 minutes in their Champions League dead rubber against Mitjylland on Wednesday.
Arsenal may have cruised through the Europa League group stage, but a haul of just four points from their last seven league games tells a different story in the Premier League and coach Mikel Arteta may be tempted to start with young striker Eddie Nketiah for what could almost be called a relegation clash at home to Burnley.
Sunday’s last game sees Leicester City at home to a Brighton side that flatters to deceive, playing nice football, but all too often failing to back their impressive passing game with results.
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