1) Tricky assignment for City at Forest
With Arsenal travelling to Villa Park for Saturday’s early kick off, Manchester City will have the opportunity to capitalise on any slip-up from Mikel Arteta’s side when they take on Nottingham Forest in what might, on paper, seem a fairly straightforward assignment at the City Ground. It is one they should not take lightly following their win at the Emirates, as Forest are unbeaten in seven league matches at home, taking 15 of the past 21 points available. City’s shortcomings are few and far between but before their win over Arsenal they had lost back-to-back matches on their league travels, the two defeats coming after another away loss at Southampton in the Carabao Cup. Any show of complacency after their statement midweek win could be brutally punished. Barry Glendenning
2) More than a club
Aston Villa have big plans. Owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens eventually want Unai Emery to restore Villa into European competition but they are also determined to make their mark across the globe. This week Villa confirmed their plans to buy a 46% stake in Portuguese club Vitoria SC, who are fifth in their domestic division, for an initial £4.9m. Sawiris says plans have been in place for two years to strike a deal, which signals a significant step in the expansion of their V Sports portfolio, which includes ZED FC in Egypt. A multi-club model encourages the sharing of scouting networks, coaching methodologies and youth development strategies. Villa, however, undoubtedly remain their focus with victory over Arsenal in Saturday’s early kick-off top of the agenda. Ben Fisher
3) Howe’s thin squad seek atonement
Newcastle’s solitary Premier League defeat of the season came at Anfield and Eddie Howe’s team should be suitably keen to atone for that narrow, contentious, reverse when they are reunited with Jürgen Klopp and co at St James’ Park. Howe is looking a bit light in the midfield department: Bruno Guimarães serves the final game of his three match suspension and Joe Willock is sidelined by a hamstring injury. With Jonjo Shelvey now sold to Nottingham Forest and no replacement signed the likeliest midfield trio will be Sean Longstaff, Joelinton and the promising but inexperienced Whitley-Bay born 20-year-old Elliot Anderson. The other difficulty is that, in recent weeks, Howe has often preferred Joelinton to Allan Saint-Maximin and Anthony Gordon for a starting role on the left of the front three. Newcastle may remain creditably hard to beat but a run of five draws in their last six Premier League games suggests a certain lack of quality in depth within the squad. With next Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Manchester United fast approaching and a Champions League place to challenge for there could not be a better time for Anderson to confirm his rich potential. Louise Taylor
4) Ideal time for a Saints miracle?
And now over to Stamford Bridge, where a team with a manager who needs more time meets a team with an ex-manager who wasn’t given the luxury. While Nathan Jones’s sacking has denied us a Dali-esque Match of the Day montage featuring ticking clocks, cracked hourglasses and alternate shots of him and Graham Potter looking miserable, there is still plenty of potential for angst. Chelsea, fresh off the back of their midweek Champions League defeat to Borussia Dortmund, have two wins scattered across their past 13 league games, meaning they can ill afford to drop points against rock-bottom Southampton. Their opponents, meanwhile, are without a permanent manager and four points adrift of safety, though they may take some solace from the fact that one of their four league wins this season – a 2-1 victory at St Mary’s in August – came against Chelsea. There’s no better time for a miracle turnaround than now. Will Magee
5) Ten Hag’s strength in depth on view
The odds say Manchester United will not end a 10-year title drought this season, but knowing victory over Leicester on Sunday will leave them no more than five points off the top (if Arsenal and Manchester City win on Saturday) shows the excellence of Erik ten Hag’s work so far. A microcosm of this was offered in last Sunday’s win at Leeds that came without Casemiro (suspended) and Christian Eriksen (long-term injured) and with the maligned Harry Maguire in central defence and the one-paced Wout Weghorst in attack. If the Foxes are beaten at Old Trafford, Ten Hag will have coaxed his team to seven points from the nine available during Casemiro’s three-game ban. That will be the best fillip before Thursday’s Europa League playoff second leg against Barcelona and Sunday-week’s Carabao Cup final against Newcastle, when United aim to end a six-year spell without a trophy. Jamie Jackson
6) A second chance to shine for Porro?
The omens look bleak for West Ham as they travel to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. With Antonio Conte continuing his recuperation from surgery following a post-operation check-up, his place in the technical area will be taken by his assistant Cristian Stellini, who boasts a perfect record as his boss’s stand-in. Unceremoniously dropped after an underwhelming debut against Leicester City last weekend, the deadline day signing Pedro Porro sat out Tottenham’s midweek defeat against Milan but could get another opportunity to impress. “The team has to help a player like Pedro who arrives now and needs time to play in this type of league,” said Stellini after Harvey Barnes had given the Spanish wing-back the runaround. Whether or not his new teammates come to his aid this weekend remains to be seen. BG
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7) Everton look toothless without DCL
Sean Dyche has asked for a repeat of his Goodison Park debut, requesting fans park their protests against the Everton board for 90-odd minutes to back their team to record another vital home win in the bid to avoid relegation. Everton can climb out of the drop zone at Leeds’ expense with a repeat of their Arsenal triumph but their ineffectiveness without the injury-prone Dominic Calvert-Lewin was again laid bare during a timid derby defeat at Liverpool on Monday. Leeds’ caretaker manager Michael Skubala is also in the discovery process after starting his reign with two difficult assignments. He drew encouragement from phases of both games against Manchester United but, with Southampton to follow the trip to Goodison Park, admits Leeds “need to pick up points” in a hugely significant game at the bottom of the table. Andy Hunter
8) Mitoma is a problem
If Fulham are to take anything from their visit to Brighton, one suspects they will need to find a way of shackling Kaoru Mitoma. A revelation this season, the Japanese winger has scored in three of his past four games and it took a splendid save from Vicente Guaita to stop him extending that run as Brighton were held at Crystal Palace. “Maybe there are less players who come directly towards me to rob the ball,” said Mitoma of the different methods teams are coming up with to nullify his impact. “More often now they block the vertical lane and try to force me inside. I was able to deliver in that type of play but I would like to focus especially on breaking through vertically and getting in a cross, and then the quality of the cross is also important.” Over to you, Marco Silva. BG
9) Palace look to find their punch
The team third in the five-game form table hosts joint-bottom at the Brentford Community Stadium. Everything around Crystal Palace feels rather flat and it is hardly an ideal time to face an opponent that is, by contrast, buoyant. A relegation battle looks unlikely but Palace’s progress under Patrick Vieira appears to have stalled, even if they are generally competitive on the pitch. There is a sense they will have to muddle through the next three months before attempting a summer rebuild, but that is hardly an appetising prospect. If they cannot match last season’s fluency then at least they can have a go at rivalling Brentford’s punchiness: Thomas Frank’s team are operating with supreme knowhow in both boxes and a repeat of last week’s performance at Arsenal would probably be enough to deepen Palace’s torpor. Almost exactly a year ago these teams ground out a goalless draw in the same fixture and it says plenty that Vieira might well sign up for that now. Nick Ames
10) New faces look to make it count
One of Wolves’ January recruits, João Gomes, was the match-winner for Julen Lopetegui last time out and the Spaniard’s side entertain another team whom attacked the transfer window in an attempt to steer clear of trouble. Bournemouth spent more than £50m on adding six new faces, with Dango Ouattara and Hamed Traorè particularly impressive in their draw against former manager Eddie Howe’s Newcastle last weekend. Gary O’Neil will know his players must replicate that performance if they are to have any chance of picking up their first victory since the World Cup at Molineux. “I am very pleased to see the club doing well and back in the Premier League,” Howe said. “I hope they continue to go from strength to strength. I think they have the players and manager to stay up.” BF
