1) Alderweireld could be key against vibrant United
Two tentatively improving teams seek to confirm progress at Old Trafford. Despite a series of frustrating draws, Manchester United have found an encouraging attacking groove in recent weeks and are turning into a very different, and much more vibrant, team than they were under Louis van Gaal. So Toby Alderweireld’s return to action for Tottenham in midweek was well timed as Spurs are likely to need their best centre-back at Old Trafford on Sunday. If Alderweireld can get back up to speed almost immediately, then Spurs could come away with a valuable result, as they too have shown signs of improved attacking – thanks mainly to Harry Kane. If Eric Bailly is fit enough after his injury-enforced absence to play as well as he did on his return to action in the Europa League on Thursday, then José Mourinho would be well-advised to start the Ivorian. Paul Doyle
• Spurs to offer Alderweireld new contract to overwrite £25m clause
• Manchester United defeat Zorya Luhansk to advance in Europa League
• Mourinho praises Mkhitaryan in Manchester United’s win in Ukraine
2) A better showing from Mr Dependable
Following this match against Liverpool, West Ham are scheduled to play a quartet of fellow strugglers in Burnley, Hull City, Swansea City and Leicester City in a series of fixtures that could have a huge bearing on their ability to retain their top flight status. It’s a measure of how far in different directions both teams have progressed that the Hammers can be backed at odds of 10-1 to win a fixture they won 3-0 last season, and an increasingly haunted looking Slaven Bilic must be wondering how so many of his summer signings have proved so utterly underwhelming. West Ham were atrocious in defeat at the hands of Arsenal last weekend in a match where no player was more ineffective than Mark Noble, the one man you could be forgiven for thinking could be relied upon to maintain a high level of performance whatever way the wind is blowing. Of course we all have bad days at the office, but the midfielder will need to up his game against Liverpool and in subsequent matches if West Ham are to avoid the kind of long, drawn out goodbye from the Premier League that will make their protracted departure from the Boleyn Ground seem comparatively brief. Barry Glendenning
• West Ham co-chairman Sullivan backs under-fire manager Bilic
• David Squires on … Klopp and Bournemouth 4-3 Liverpool
3) Ramirez seeks to make a mark on his Southampton return
Southampton will have to be wary of falling foul of the Law of the Ex on Sunday – because Gastón Ramírez is on a hot streak. The Uruguayan left St Mary’s in the summer when his contract expired, following four years in which he never fulfilled the hopes invested in him when the club signed him for £12m back in 2012. But he has been in fine form at Middlesbrough and, in recent weeks, has even started to show the scoring touch that too few of Southampton’s players have found recently. Boro have only lost once on the road this season and could be pesky opponents for Southampton, particularly if the hosts suffer any fatigue from Thursday’s Europa League exertions. PD
• Middlesbrough on the ascent as Ramírez helps them sink Hull
• Wasteful Saints crash out of Europa League to Israeli champions
4) The same tale for two Cities?
How fitting that Saturday’s visitors to the King Power are Manchester City, the last club to be relegated after being champions of England. That was back in 1938 and, City being City, they managed to make the feat ever more farcical by going down despite being the league’s top scorers. That’s one aspect that Leicester sure won’t emulate, because Claudio Ranieri’s side have lost their attacking compass this season. Jamie Vardy has failed to score for the club since September and Riyad Mahrez has largely only looked dangerous from penalties. The continued absence of Danny Drinkwater for Saturday’s match leaves Leicester with limited creative options. And with Leicester’s defence having become so brittle, it is difficult to see the home side outscoring Pep Guardiola’s team even in the absence of the suspended Sergio Agüero. Leicester could be in the bottom three by the end of the weekend. PD
• Porto’s Silva brings Leicester down to earth in final group game
• Guardiola claims City bear comparison to Barça and Bayern
5) A starting berth for Fernando Llorente
Between them, Sunderland and Swansea have been involved in three six-pointers in their past five matches and now they go toe-to-toe. Having bought himself some wriggle-room with three wins in Sunderland’s past four games, David Moyes will be the more relaxed of the two managers, while Bob Bradley continues to have no end of problems demanding his attention in both defence and attack. While there may have been perfectly valid reasons for his omission, the Swansea manager’s decision not to start Fernando Llorente against Tottenham Hotspur last week seemed odd considering the Spaniard’s heroics off the bench against Crystal Palace the previous week. As well as scoring twice and creating a third in an astonishing win, his presence as a hold-up man provided a welcome outlet for Swansea’s under-pressure defenders when hacking the ball long to clear their lines. The presence of a proper centre forward up front for Swansea would also enable Swansea’s stand-out player this season, Gylfi Sigurdsson, to play deeper in an area of the field where he might prove even more effective. Figuring out who to drop and where to put the attack-minded midfielder Leroy Fer in such a scenario are other puzzles that need to be solved, but we’ll leave them to Bob because he gets paid the big bucks. BG
• Sunderland cancel M’Vila move after midfielder changes his mind
• Jonathan Wilson: Goals are on the rise but is defending unfashionable?
6) West Brom and Chelsea test their strengths
A trip to Stamford Bridge is a proper test of the quality of West Bromwich Albion, who have jumped from 17th to seventh in the table over their last four matches, all against relatively modest opponents. The visit of Albion is also a significant test of Chelsea. Tony Pulis’ side has the capacity to frustrate the hosts, if Pulis adopts the same conservative approach as at Anfield in October. They can also pose a formidable threat from set pieces if they attack enough to win some, which the recent run of form may inspire them to do. James McClean has not started Albion’s recent games but might be brought back into the lineup on Sunday to irritate Victor Moses – by being as diligent going backwards as he is going forward, of course. PD
• Mood swing helps Pulis’s West Brom discover their inner buccaneer
• FA charges Manchester City and Chelsea with failure to control players
7) Success at last for Watford and Deeney?
Roberto Pereyra’s suspension could mean a return to the starting lineup for Isaac Success. The Nigerian youngster became Watford’s record signing in the summer but has been frustrated by injury since then and been able to give Watford fans only glimpses of his talent. He was voted man of the match after his only start of the season – against Middlesbrough in mid-October – but then got hurt again. Last week he rejoined the match-day squad but remained on the bench at the Hawthorns. This week, on the back of further training, he might make his long-awaited return to action. That would be something to celebrate. If he marked the occasion by creating a goal for Troy Deeney against Everton, the celebration could become positively ecstatic. Deeney is still seeking his 100th career goal for Watford, and has been stuck on 99 for more than two months. PD
• Isaac Success: ‘Football can take you anywhere in your life’
• Bolasie injury may be worse than stated, admits Koeman
8) A more swashbuckling Hull City
With their unpopular owners, rumbling uncertainty over a possible takeover, threadbare squad and no permanent manager in place, few gave Hull City a snowball’s chance in hell of staying up just before the start of the season. Since then, not much has changed: their owners are still unpopular, uncertainty over a possible takeover continues to rumble, their squad is still threadbare and the man in charge now was the man in charge then. Without serious investment in transfers, which may or may not come in January, they look doomed to relegation with a squad that simply doesn’t look good enough for the Premier League.
For now, however, Mike Phelan and his players could do worse than remember that they shocked plenty of people by winning their first two games of the season, playing with the kind of gung-ho spirit of a team that knew very little was expected of them but decided to give it a lash anyway, just for the hell of it. Since Phelan’s appointment on a full-time basis, their approach has become more cautious and with the odd exception their results have gone off a cliff. With defensively fragile Crystal Palace coming to town now might be time to revert to the more swashbuckling style that served them so well back in August in the hope of picking up a few more points between now and the January transfer window. It’s a risky strategy and without new recruits they’ll probably still go down, but their fans would probably prefer to see them do so while on the front foot swinging haymakers. BG
• Pardew has chairman’s backing before critical fixture at Hull City
9) Will Stoke City apply the handbrake at the Emirates?
It’s been a season of two halves thus far for Stoke City. After taking just three points from the first 21 up for grabs, they’ve amassed a further 16 from the second. It’s worth noting, however, that all five of their recent wins have come against teams in the bottom half of the table, while three of them were against the clubs currently occupying the relegation places. You can only beat what’s put in front of you, as the old adage goes … but the Potters’ recent run of fixtures could scarcely have been kinder: Bournemouth are the only side inside the top 10 they have played in over two months and they beat Mark Hughes’s men. Saturday’s trip to Arsenal ought to prove a real test of Stoke’s mettle and give Hughes a fair idea if his side are anything more than flat track bullies. He has a decision to make ahead of a tip to the Emirates, where Stoke have never won so much as a point. Apply the handbrake and reign in the excellent Xherdan Shaqiri’s baser instincts for fear of taking a pasting or just go for it? With relegation seeming an extremely remote possibility, here’s hoping he chalks this one up as a freebie and takes the second option. BG
• Özil and Alexis Sánchez will not be sold early, insists Wenger
• Champions League: who can Arsenal, Leicester and City face next?
10) Players dreaming of a Kevin Nolan Christmas?
Three years ago playing for West Ham against Liverpool, Kevin Nolan stamped on Jordan Henderson to earn himself a straight red card and get his fifth consecutive Christmas and/or New Year’s Eve off through suspension. While the midfielder insisted it was a purely coincidental state of affairs, it would be extremely naïve to think there aren’t players out there who might go out of their way to incur suspensions that enable them to cut loose on Christmas Day without having to worry about playing 24 hours later. This weekend marks the first of three consecutive fixtures in which anyone getting a straight red will be able to put their feet up over the festive period, so it will be intriguing to see – depending on whether or not they play their cards right – if the number of cautions and dismissals this weekend is any greater than usual. BG
• Football Weekly Extra: Arsenal top as Spurs head to Europa League
• Quiz: which competitions are these managers and players discussing?
