After losing three games in a row, taking into account all competitions, Manchester City (2nd) and Aston Villa (6th) will try to get back on track, on Saturday in their duels on matchday 11 of the Premier League.
It won’t be easy for them as they both play away against formations capable of giving them a new scare: the ‘Citizens’ visit Brighton (8th) and the ‘Villains’ have a highly demanding commitment in the field of leader Liverpool (1st).
At City, the wave of injuries seems to be the cause that is weighing down the team, which has had to resort to several of its young and more inexperienced players. The formula did not work in the last commitments.
“This is difficult to digest. But I now have more desire than ever to return the team to its level,” said City coach Josep Guardiola, after the slap suffered on Tuesday when they lost 4-1 in the Champions League against Sporting de Lisbon.
Before that, the English champion had been eliminated last week by Tottenham (2-1) in the League Cup and had lost last weekend, also 2-1, in the league clash against Bournemouth.
Manchester City comes into this matchday as second in the table, two points behind the leader Liverpool. The ‘Sky Blues’ are the only ones who could mathematically unseat Arne Slot’s men from first place this weekend.
Aston Villa also seems to be in a difficult moment, also eliminated in the League Cup (2-1 against Crystal Palace), which lost in the previous matchday 4-1 against Tottenham and which on Wednesday ended its full European triumphs by fall 1-0 in Bruges.
Another team that is in a delicate moment is Arsenal (5th), current runner-up and who in the last three league games have added just one point. In the Champions League, they also lost (1-0) in their visit to Inter Milan.
The ‘Gunners’ also have a difficult test to pass this weekend, in their case in the form of a London derby at Chelsea’s field (4th), on Sunday to bring the curtain down on the day.
“If we play like we did today, we have a great chance of beating Chelsea,” said Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta, just after Wednesday’s setback in Italy.
Chelsea will come into the game after showing off on Thursday in the Conference League, with an 8-0 victory over the modest Armenian Noah.
The surprising third-placed team, Nottingham Forest, will host Newcastle (11th) on Sunday.
At Old Trafford, Manchester United (13th) will host Leicester (15th) with the mission of adding the three points to reduce the severity of their crisis and give a good farewell to their interim coach Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who with the start of the new week he will leave his position due to the arrival of the Portuguese Ruben Amorim, who is living his last days at the helm of Sporting Lisbon.
The ‘Red Devils’ already beat Leicester last week, 5-2 in a League Cup duel.
— Schedule of the 11th day of the Premier League
– Saturday:
(15h00 GMT) Crystal Palace – Fulham
West Ham – Everton
Wolverhampton – Southampton
Brentford – Bournemouth
(17h30 GMT) Brighton – Manchester City
(20h00 GMT) Liverpool – Aston Villa
– Domingo:
(14h00 GMT) Manchester United – Leicester
Nottingham Forest – Newcastle
Tottenham – Ipswich Town
(16h30 GMT) Chelsea – Arsenal
Ranking: Pts JGEP GF GC Dif
1. Liverpool 25 10 8 1 1 19 6 13
2. Manchester City 23 10 7 2 1 21 11 10
3. Nottingham 19 10 5 4 1 14 7 7
4. Chelsea 18 10 5 3 2 20 12 8
5. Arsenal 18 10 5 3 2 17 11 6
6. Aston Villa 18 10 5 3 2 17 15 2
7. Tottenham 16 10 5 1 4 22 11 11
8. Brighton 16 10 4 4 2 17 14 3
9. Fulham 15 10 4 3 3 14 13 1
10. Bournemouth 15 10 4 3 3 13 12 1
11. Newcastle 15 10 4 3 3 10 10 0
12. Brentford 13 10 4 1 5 19 20 -1
13. Manchester United 12 10 3 3 4 9 12 -3
14. West Ham 11 10 3 2 5 13 19 -6
15. Leicester 10 10 2 4 4 14 18 -4
16. Everton 9 10 2 3 5 10 17 -7
17. Crystal Palace 7 10 1 4 5 8 13 -5
18. Ipswich Town 5 10 0 5 5 10 21 -11
19. Southampton 4 10 1 1 8 7 19 -12
20. Wolverhampton 3 10 0 3 7 14 27 -13
