1) Start of a tough run for the Hammers
On the last day of the 2006-07 season Manchester United, who had won the title five days earlier, fielded a weakened side – Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were all left out of the starting XI – at Old Trafford against a West Ham team who needed at least a point to avoid relegation. Carlos Tevez, who was to join United a few weeks later, scored the only goal on the stroke of half-time. “They couldn’t have come to Old Trafford on a better day,” said Sir Alex Ferguson after the game. “We had already won the league and the edge was off our game.” There was also a 1-0 win in December 2001, against a wretchedly out-of-form United side that were completing a memorably horrific run of five defeats in seven league games. Those two games are the Hammers’ only highlights in a miserable run of top-flight visits to Old Trafford that now extends over 30 years and in which they have otherwise drawn once and lost 20 times. And now they must go there twice in four days, with Sunday’s match being followed by an EFL Cup quarter-final on Wednesday (in the same time period they have visited Old Trafford four times in cup competitions, losing two and winning one). With the Manchester double-header to be followed by games against Arsenal and Liverpool, stories this week suggesting “West Ham chiefs have started to consider their options should they feel forced to make a change” are not just unwelcome but almost cruel. After the visit to Anfield the Hammers have a less daunting run of four fixtures before the turn of the year and it would seem sensible to delay any judgment until they have been completed, which will helpfully coincide with the start of a new transfer window and, less helpfully, another game against Manchester United. SB
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2) Karanka’s bewildering persistence with Negredo
Álvaro Negredo has failed to score for Middlesbrough since forcing home a close range debut goal with his shoulder against Stoke City on the opening day of the season and there is a growing clamour on Teesside for Aitor Karanka to drop the on-loan Valencia striker from a team that is joint bottom of the Premier League goalscoring charts alongside Hull with just 10. Karanka, whose side face Leicester City on Saturday, recently came out in defence of his compatriot, who has failed to find the net in 11 consecutive matches and looked woeful against Chelsea, where his obvious lack of speed and mobility came in for criticism. “He is working and fighting but he is not playing at Chelsea or Manchester City,” said Karanka, before expanding on a theme that is unlikely to boost dressing-room morale at the Riverside. “He is not with the team-mates he had in the past or the team-mates Diego Costa had at Chelsea.” Negredo has played 85 minutes or more in 10 of the 12 matches he has featured in for Boro this season and on the only occasion he was substituted – replaced by Jordan Rhodes against Tottenham Hotspur – Karanka’s switch was greeted with loud applause from the Riverside faithful. Middlesbrough’s manager may still have faith in his striker, but the fans do not. Rhodes and his fellow striker David Nugent have yet to complete a game in eight Premier League appearances between them this season and surely can’t do any worse than the man who has restricted them to little more than fleeting cameos off the bench. BG
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3) Cherries struggle against top five
Bournemouth have impressed all impartial observers since their promotion in 2015, and indeed for a while before that, but their results against the current Premier League top five have disappointed: in 12 games so far they have won one – against Chelsea shortly before José Mourinho’s sacking last December – lost 10 and sit on the wrong end of an aggregate score of 31-5 (every other team that was in the division last season has been beaten at least once except Watford and Leicester, against whom they have neither won nor lost). Arsenal won both of their meetings last season by the same score, 2-0, and will face a Bournemouth side forced to play without the influential and injury-free midfielder Jack Wilshere, on loan from Arsenal. Despite his absence it might be a tough day for the woodwork, with these teams being the two most post-rattling in the top flight: the Cherries lead the way in this regard, having struck the frame of the goal 13 times so far, and Arsenal follow behind with eight. SB
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4) A touch of dead ball inspiration from Sigurdsson?
Between them, Crystal Palace and Swansea City have managed just four wins and a staggering 15 defeats in 24 Premier League matches so far this season, a state of affairs that makes this contest the weekend’s equivalent of two drunks swinging at each other in an alley. Should either manager lose a game likely to be low on finesse but no less compelling a spectacle for its absence, they will find themselves the subject of no end of criticism from fans for whom the spectre of relegation looms increasingly large. Alan Pardew seems genuinely delusional, having convinced himself his side do not concede from set-pieces even though the stats suggest otherwise. Nine of the 21 goals shipped by Palace this season have come from dead ball situations and in Gylfi Sigurdsson, Swansea have one of the most accurate set-piece specialists in the business. Whether it’s from one or more of the free-kicks and corners Pardew’s team have proved so hopelessly inept at defending, the in-form Icelandic midfielder could well prove instrumental in helping Bob Bradley secure his maiden victory as Swansea City manager in a game that looks must-win for both men in charge. BG
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5) Ighalo’s woes to continue
There has only been one home win in the last eight matches between Watford and Stoke, the away side winning five of those games including both of last season’s encounters. But Stoke have only won one away game since their visit to Vicarage Road in March – at Hull last month – and will probably have to overcome a Watford side buoyed not only by last week’s victory over Leicester but by the new formation that brought it. When preparing for his last visit to Hertfordshire Mark Hughes spoke about the Hornets’ key threat at the time, their front two of Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney. “The two guys up top have had a big influence on what they’ve done,” he said. “They are a good pairing who work off each other really well and certainly they are something we’ll talk about before the game.” This time he needn’t bother: Ighalo’s influence in recent months has been minimal, leading to him being dropped in favour of Isaac Success for last month’s victory at Middlesbrough. Injuries to both Success and Watford’s other first-team striker, Stefano Okaka, allowed Ighalo to return to the side for their following three games but last week he was on the bench again as Walter Mazzarri played a 5-4-1 formation in which Troy Deeney was given considerably more effective support by a combination of the two wide midfielders, Roberto Pereyra and Nordin Amrabat, and by Etienne Capoue’s running from central midfield. When Deeney was replaced late in the game, it was by the recently-recovered Okaka; with Success now ready to return to the squad, Ighalo’s hopes of a return to the starting XI appear, like his recent form, underwhelming. SB
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6) A third consecutive win for Sunderland?
Free-scoring Sunderland have never beaten Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League era but will fancy their slim chances of bucking that trend as they arrive on the back of consecutive wins for the first time since last May. Sunderland last won three consecutive league games three seasons and three managers ago, on the run-in of the 2013-14 campaign when wins over Chelsea, Cardiff City, Manchester United and then West Brom helped them pull off the mother of all escape acts. The bookies give them little or no chance of beating Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, who drew a rare blank against Southampton last weekend and have had a full week to find their range. You can get odds of 16-1 against David Moyes’s side making it three wins on the spin, but with confidence high, Moyes having bought himself some much-needed wriggle room and Victor Anichebe joining Jermain Defoe among the goals, Sunderland could conceivably leave Anfield with a point or even more. Of course the far more likely scenario is that they will get thumped but in facing top class opposition will at least get to see if their two recent victories were more down to good luck (Bournemouth) and the poor quality of their opposition (Hull City) than any major advances they have made under the stewardship of Moyes. BG
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7) Burnley have a chance of an upset
Manchester City’s last two Champions League games were followed by disappointing 1-1 draws at home to Southampton and Middlesbrough, and now they must follow a similar result at Borussia Mönchengladbach with a visit to a side that has already beaten Liverpool and Everton (as well as Watford and Crystal Palace) and come within a whisker of holding Arsenal, all at home. Burnley are the division’s Jekyll and Hyde side, boasting the sixth-best home record with an average 1.86 points per game (having played once more at home than any other team) and the second-worst away record, with the goalless draw at Old Trafford last month securing the only point they have won in five games on their travels. Motivated by the rollicking Sean Dyche gave them following a 4-0 capitulation at West Bromwich Albion on Monday – he told the press they “got drunk on the ball” and “just looked weak willed” – and against opponents who are themselves out of form and against whom they have a decent recent record (amounting to two draws and a win each in four Premier League encounters, though Burnley’s victory was a tight 1-0 win in March 2015, and City’s a 6-1 thumping in April 2010), there is reason for genuine optimism. Dyche said his side are relying on little more than “the marvel of football” and the fact “random results turn up”, but he is perhaps understating the chances of an upset. SB
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8) Some sanity after the all poppy madness
Football is never slow to embrace a cause and the Premier League has promised to throw its weight behind Stonewall’s rainbow laces initiative on a weekend when its own branding will feature a rainbow motif and most, if not all, Premier League players will wear rainbow laces on their boots as part of a wider push to encourage diversity in grounds around the country. Along with several extremely courageous former footballers, the Guardian’s chief football correspondent, Daniel Taylor, continues to shine a light on the hitherto unreported scandal of historical cases of child abuse of footballers in a depressing story that looks likely to run and run. Considering some of those victims who have come forward to tell their horrific stories previously felt unable to speak out for fear of being labelled “gay”, any campaign to support LGBT people and stamp out homophobic abuse in football can only be applauded. BG
9) Some resilience from Spurs
Ten minutes. That’s how long Chelsea need to keep Tottenham Hotspur at bay this weekend to rack up 600 Premier League minutes without conceding a goal. Should they beat Spurs and hold them scoreless, Antonio Conte’s men will have recorded seven consecutive league wins without conceding a goal, two shy of the record set by Stockport County, then of League Two, between 13 January and 2 March 2007. It will be intriguing to see how Spurs bounce back from the midweek disappointment of their defeat at the hands of Monaco, in which there were several conspicuous absentees from Mauricio Pochettino’s starting lineup and few of those the manager did select covered themselves in glory. After their midweek meltdown, Tottenham could hope for no stiffer test than a run-out against the Premier League leaders with their apparently impregnable defence and an attack that is behind only Liverpool in terms of goals scored. With Pochettino having questioned the mental fortitude of his players during the week, the manner in which Spurs bounce back from Wednesday’s Champions League reverse ought to give a fair indication of whether their season will end with a half-decent title challenge or merely end up petering out and finishing up in an underwhelming and characteristically Spursy fashion. BG
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10) Koeman’s return to Southampton
It is the season of reunions for Southampton, who after facing Liverpool’s selection of ex-Saints last week prepare for Ronald Koeman’s first return to the club he departed in the summer under something of a cloud, a few weeks after promising supporters that “I know nothing about the Everton job” and that not only does “everybody know I have a year on my contract” but he “could sign a [new] contract next week”. After his move was announced the former Southampton goalkeeper Artur Boruc tweeted something Koeman had said a couple of moths previously, criticising “the lack of loyalty in modern day football” and asserting not only that would not be tempted away from the St Mary’s Stadium for “short-term gains”, but he “would hate to ever become that kind of manager”. As he walks out before the game he may become the latest manager to be reminded that it is not so much the leaving of a club by which they will be judged, but the manner of it. SB
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| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | 12 | 18 | 28 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 12 | 16 | 27 |
| 3 | Man City | 12 | 16 | 27 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 12 | 13 | 25 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 12 | 10 | 24 |
| 6 | Man Utd | 12 | 3 | 19 |
| 7 | Everton | 12 | 2 | 19 |
| 8 | Watford | 12 | -3 | 18 |
| 9 | West Brom | 12 | 1 | 16 |
| 10 | AFC Bournemouth | 12 | -2 | 15 |
| 11 | Southampton | 12 | 0 | 14 |
| 12 | Burnley | 12 | -8 | 14 |
| 13 | Stoke | 12 | -6 | 13 |
| 14 | Leicester | 12 | -6 | 12 |
| 15 | Middlesbrough | 12 | -3 | 11 |
| 16 | Crystal Palace | 12 | -4 | 11 |
| 17 | West Ham | 12 | -10 | 11 |
| 18 | Hull | 12 | -17 | 10 |
| 19 | Sunderland | 12 | -9 | 8 |
| 20 | Swansea | 12 | -11 | 6 |
