Liverpool supervisor is grappling with striker disaster after Alexander Isak fractured his leg
LONDON:
Aston Villa face a troublesome problem at Chelsea on Saturday after muscling their manner into the Premier League title race alongside Arsenal and Manchester Metropolis.
The Gunners, high of the tree at Christmas, host Brighton, whereas Pep Guardiola’s in-form Metropolis journey to Nottingham Forest.
Liverpool supervisor Arne Slot is grappling with a striker disaster after Alexander Isak fractured his leg, whereas Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes additionally faces a spell on the sidelines.
AFP Sport seems at three speaking factors forward of the festive motion:
Rogers spearheads Villa cost
Unai Emery’s third-placed Villa are nonetheless thought of rank outsiders for the Premier League title although they’re simply three factors behind leaders Arsenal.
Villa’s 2-1 house win in opposition to Manchester United was their tenth consecutive victory in all competitions — the primary time they’ve achieved the feat as a top-flight workforce since 1914.
One of many main causes for his or her current success is the type of England midfielder Morgan Rogers, who didn’t register a single objective involvement in his first seven matches in all competitions.
Now it’s a completely different story: he has recorded 11 objective involvements in his previous 15 appearances and the standard of his objectives has been putting.
Rogers’ seven Premier League objectives this season have come from simply 2.86 anticipated objectives — a metric used to find out how seemingly a participant is to transform an opportunity.
However soccer analysts Opta give Villa only a 5 % likelihood of changing into English champions for the primary time since 1981.
Emery’s males have a possibility to silence the doubters after they tackle fourth-placed Chelsea, with a match at Arsenal to comply with simply days later.
Slot’s objectives headache
Within the early weeks of the season, Arne Slot would in all probability have envisaged Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak as two of his first-choice attackers.
Now the Liverpool boss has neither — Salah is with Egypt on the Africa Cup of Nations, whereas Isak faces a minimum of two months on the sidelines after fracturing his leg in opposition to Tottenham.
Slot has steadied the ship at Anfield after a stunning run of six defeats in seven Premier League matches that left Liverpool’s title defence in tatters.
A run of three wins and two attracts in 5 league video games has lifted the reigning champions into fifth spot, however there might be considerations over the place the objectives are going to return from forward of the go to of backside membership Wolves.
Isak’s absence will heap extra stress on the shoulders of top-scorer Hugo Ekitike.
The summer time signing has netted eight occasions within the Premier League — twice the tallies of Salah and Cody Gakpo.
Fernandes blow for Man Utd
Bruno Fernandes has been a shining gentle and nearly ever-present throughout Manchester United’s current lean years.
However supervisor Ruben Amorim goes to should plan for a interval with out his talisman after the Portugal midfielder pulled up with an obvious hamstring harm in United’s 2-1 defeat at Villa Park.
Whereas the prognosis is unclear, Amorim has already dominated Fernandes out of United’s conflict in opposition to Newcastle at Previous Trafford on Friday, amongst an inventory of absentees, with the Portuguese boss urging the remainder of his squad to “step up” within the absence of his “unattainable to switch” captain.
“It is huge,” defender Diogo Dalot informed Sky Sports activities. “We do not know the way unhealthy it’s however for him to return off (in) the sport, we all know how powerful he’s.”
Playmaker Fernandes has 5 objectives and 7 assists within the Premier League this season for inconsistent United, who’re additionally with out top-scorer Bryan Mbeumo, on Africa Cup of Nations responsibility with Cameroon.
Fixtures:
Friday
Manchester United v Newcastle (2000 GMT)
Saturday (1500 GMT except acknowledged)
Nottingham Forest v Manchester Metropolis (1230), Arsenal v Brighton, Brentford v Bournemouth, Burnley v Everton, Liverpool v Wolverhampton, West Ham v Fulham, Chelsea v Aston Villa (1730)
Sunday
Sunderland v Leeds (1400), Crystal Palace v Tottenham (1630)
