Match to catch
Manchester City’s season rests on a knife-edge ahead of Sunday’s trip to Anfield to play Liverpool, as they can’t afford to fall any further behind Chelsea in the league, while their Champions League campaign hinges on an unlikely win at Camp Nou after this week’s home loss to Barcelona. Liverpool may be coming off the back of a draining Europa League penalty shootout loss to Besiktas in Istanbul, but they are the Premier League’s form team and look capable of repeating last season’s victory over City on Merseyside. The Citizens will look to the returning Yaya Toure if they are to earn a much-needed victory, which would see them close the gap to leaders Chelsea to two points. Prediction: Liverpool 2 Man City 2.
Keep an eye on
The first piece of silverware of the English season — the League Cup — is up for grabs at Wembley on Sunday, as Chelsea and Tottenham square off in a repeat of the 2008 final. It was Spurs who claimed a 2-1 extra-time win seven years ago, but their chances this time will be damaged by the fact they played a Europa League match in Italy late on Thursday — and with the team going out to Fiorentina, they will be both tired and low on confidence. Boss Mauricio Pochettino faces a major challenge in lifting his players for the clash with Chelsea, who won this competition twice during Jose Mourinho’s first spell in charge. Spurs won 5-3 the last time the sides met on New Year’s Day, but it’s difficult to see a repeat in this all-London cup final. Prediction: Chelsea 2 Spurs 0.
For the purists
West Ham have got stuck in a rut in recent weeks, with a run of three successive draws and no win in four taking the gloss off their hugely impressive first half of the season. Big Sam Allardyce will need all his powers of motivation to stop his team’s campaign from fizzling out early now that a European spot looks unlikely. Crystal Palace just need to carry on the good work under Alan Pardew and they will avoid relegation comfortably. Prediction: West Ham 1 Palace 1.
Showing form
Everton and big-money striker Romelu Lukaku have proved they are capable of playing well and scoring freely in the Europa League, with the Toffees hammering Young Boys 7-2 on aggregate in the last-32, with five of those goals coming from the Belgian. But in the league this season they have just 33 goals from 26 matches and are a lowly 12th. On Sunday they visit an Arsenal side stung by a woeful performance and result as they went down 3-1 at home to Monaco in the Champions League in midweek — unfortunately for Everton, it is they who will be in the firing line as Arsene Wenger demands a positive response. Prediction: Arsenal 3 Everton 1.
Need a win
Tim Sherwood, in his desperation for a break in top-level management, has walked into something of a nightmare situation at Aston Villa. The ex-Spurs caretaker boss joined a club that hasn’t won in the league since December 7 and is drifting towards a first relegation since 1987, yet he will still be expected to keep them up and be viewed as a failure if they go down. It’s a make or break move for Sherwood and he quickly needs to find a way to get Villa scoring goals and winning games, starting at Newcastle on Saturday. It would be some achievement if he could keep them up. Prediction: Newcastle 2 Villa 1.
Get involved
Think I’m way off the mark? Tweet me your EPL predictions via @MartinDownerGN or email sportsdesk@gulfnews.com
