EPL 2018-19 Top Six: Weekend Match Preview

In my article last week, I covered three matches from that could have a say on the title race. The matches panned-out more or less the way I had predicted. Going into game week 23, I’ll be covering the five matches that the top six teams on the points table will be involved in.

Until the start of the last game week, the race for the English Premier League 2018-19 title was strongly and closely contested by Liverpool, Manchester City, and Tottenham Hotspur.

However, it now seems to be a two-horse race with Liverpool and Manchester City, who are separated by just four points, fighting for it. And while it seemed that Chelsea will finish fourth, last week’s results have made the race for the third and fourth position in the table rather interesting. Only seven points separate the teams in third to sixth on the points table.

Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace (Saturday, Jan 19 @15:00 GMT)

Mo Salah - Title Race + Golden Boot Race

Let’s start with the league leaders Liverpool. Like I’ve said earlier, this team is looking like a champion side. They pushed the boundaries in the first half of the season and are now playing smartly to keep the gap with Manchester City. At Anfield this season, Liverpool have won nine games and drawn one in the league.

Crystal Palace have won two of their last five games, both away from Selhurst Park. They defeated Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and might fancy their chances against Liverpool. However, the lack of goals upfront is going to be the biggest hurdle. They’ve scored only 20 goals this season, 4th least in the league.

Although Wilfred Zaha has been good on the ball at times, the lack of goals goes against him. With Alexander Arnold out for this game, it would be interesting to see who plays on the right for Liverpool and will have to contend with Zaha’s pace and trickery on the ball.

I don’t foresee Liverpool dropping points this week and narrowing the gap with second-placed Manchester City.

Huddersfield Town vs Manchester City (Sunday, Jan 20 @13:30 GMT)

Gabriel Jesus has scored seven goals in his last three games

Now let’s see what can we expect from the second placed team on the table. Manchester City travel to the bottom-placed team Huddersfield Town this week. After two shocking defeats during the festive period, Pep Guardiola’s team has bounced back with three victories in the English Premier League and some very convincing performances in the League Cup and FA Cup.

Huddersfield Town parted ways with David Wagner this week. And with just 2 wins and 15 losses from 22 games, I do not see any light at the end of the tunnel. This team will be relegated at the end of the season.

Manchester City will come out with three points and keep improving the goal difference, which could come into play if Liverpool were to stumble on their march to the title.

Fulham vs Tottenham Hotspur (Sunday, Jan 20 @16:00 GMT)

Harry Kane has injured his ankle and will be out until March

Third-placed Tottenham Hotspur travel to Craven Cottage to face Claudio Ranieri’s Fulham. Fulham are in the relegation battle sitting 19th on the table with 14 points. In contrast to Huddersfield Town, this team can still hope and fight till the end to come out of the drop-zone.

Since Claudio Ranieri’s appointment as manager in mid-November of 2018, Fulham have lost only one game at home. The team is attacking well, however haven’t been able to give that crucial finishing touch. The latest addition of Ryan Babel is going to make the front-line more threatening and the fans can expect more goals.

In contrast, Tottenham Hotspur who were cruising and scoring heavily have suddenly lost two of their prominent goal scorers. Heung-min Son is unavailable due to national team duty and Harry Kane is out until March with an ankle injury. The lack of goals from other quarters is going to pinch Tottenham Hotspur.

Fulham can fancy themselves to upset Tottenham Hotspur and close the gap on the 17th placed team on the table. If that were to happen, then as I said earlier, four teams will be battling for the third and fourth position.

Manchester United vs Brighton & Hove Albion (Saturday, Jan 19 @15:00 GMT)

Oe! Ole! Ole! the chant will be ringing through Old Trafford this weekend as fans hope for a seventh straight win for the Red Devils under Ole Gunnar Solksjaer. In what was supposed to be his first true test as Manchester United manager last week, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer came up trumps thanks to some smart attacking tactics in the first half and the gloves & feet of David de Gea in the second half. David fought hard and stood tall against the Goliath attacks from Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Heung-min Son, Fernando Llorente, and Toby Alderweireld.

Brighton & Hove Albion surprised Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United at the start of the season with a 3-2 victory. Away from home this season, Brighton have just two wins and two draws, scoring 9 goals and conceding 18.

Against this resurgent Manchester United, Brighton are likely to play deep and hold their form, asking their opponents to try and break the defense. They would like to come away with a point and sit tight on the middle of the table away from the drop-zone.

Manchester United who are in a great run of form with six wins on the trot across all cups, will maintain the attacking style of play and hope to come out with 3 points. Anything less, although unlikely, and that fourth, or possibly even third, position in the table can be forgotten.

Arsenal vs. Chelsea (Saturday, Jan 19 @17:30 GMT)

Arsenal FC v Chelsea FC - Premier League

The biggest game of this week. Arsenal will be hosting Chelsea and would be hoping to close the gap for that fourth position. Arsenal have lost only one game at the Emirates Stadium, the season opener against Manchester City 0-2. The next weekend they lost 3-2 away from home to Chelsea, their opponent this weekend, in a closely fought battle.

Chelsea are without a front-line center forward, as Alvaro Morata is on the cusp of a move back to the Spanish La Liga. They are heavily depending on getting goals from their talisman Eden Hazard, with the odd support from Pedro, Willian, and Barkley.

They could play Olivier Giroud upfront, who would relish a visit back to the Emirates Stadium. However, they have been giving a great defensive performance this season conceding just 17 goals with 10 clean-sheets in 22 games, only bettered by Liverpool, who have conceded 10 goals and maintained 13 clean-sheets.

Arsenal on the other hand have good attacking threat from Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, and Alex Iwobi. However, Unai Emery’s tactics of not starting with either Aaron Ramsey or Mesut Ozil in the past have hurt them with the lack of creativity in the middle. Defensively too they have been poor conceding 32 goals this season.

This game could go down to the wire, with a probable stalemate when the whistle blows at the end of the injury time after 90 minutes of playing time.

Edited by Abhinav Munshi