…Liverpool faces Everton in Merseyside derby
Two big city rivalries will take the Premier League spotlight in Week 14 as Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Everton brace themselves for derby fixtures on Sunday.
The Gunners will entertain Spurs at the Emirates Stadium before Marco Silva takes Everton to Anfield, hoping to end the Toffees’ eight-year wait for a win over their Merseyside rivals.
Tottenham Captain, Harry Kane will be relishing taking on Arsenal, as he has a superb record in London derbies. The striker has 25 goals in 39 Premier League appearances against teams from the capital.
The England international also comes into the game in good goals coring form: He has six goals in his last seven games for club and country.
He will fancy taking on an Arsenal back line that has not kept a clean sheet in the top flight since September’s 2-0 win over Watford.
There’s more than just bragging rights up for grabs at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. Victory for Arsenal would move them level on points with Spurs, while an away win would move Tottenham six points clear of their local rivals.
Dele Alli man-marked the Italy international at times and managed to stifle him throughout the 90 minutes. Everton used a similar tactic to good effect in their 0-0 draw at Goodison Park.
Jorginho’s place in the team has also seen N’Golo Kante shifted out of his favoured holding midfield role.
Tottenham’s 3-1 win over Chelsea on Saturday pushed them up the Premier League table, and Mauricio Pochettino’s men have now won their last three league fixtures in a row.
Arsenal is 17 matches unbeaten and has developed their own head of steam under Emery, who has fast improved their results away from home.
However, the Gunners have drawn their last three home games and could be on track for a tense fourth in Week 14, as they prepare to face Harry Kane, who has netted in two of his last three league outings.
While Emery was given money to spend in his first summer in England, Pochettino has lifted Spurs to within five points of the summit despite not spending a penny in the last transfer window.
Spurs were superb when securing a third straight top-flight triumph by inflicting a first loss of the season on Chelsea at Wembley.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men are rated a cut above the Gunners on that form and 17/10 for an away win is our initial Arsenal vs Tottenham prediction.
Arsenal deserve plenty of credit for picking up a 2-1 win at Bournemouth, where Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang went joint-top of the Premier League Golden Boot table with his eighth goal.
However, that was still a close contest and followed a trio of draws for the Gunners in this competition, with the feeling being that Arsenal are still short of the finished article.
Defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos admitted: “We are around 70-80 per cent. We need to improve sometimes to not lose the ball, or when we have the ball to finish the action and score.”
The progress made under Unai Emery is there for all to see and the future does look bright again for Arsenal, but question marks remain when they come up against elite-level opponents.
Liverpool sit two points off leaders Manchester City, who play host to Bournemouth on Saturday. Manchester United travel to Southampton that evening and are out to end their two-match winless run in the league.
It’s been nearly two decades since the Toffees last triumphed at Liverpool, and analyst Duncan Alexander pointed to the Reds’ improved defence as a reason why that record looks unlikely to change:
Alongside leaders City, Liverpool are the only other team in the Premier League yet to lose this season, while Everton’s two away defeats this term have come against bigger opposition—Arsenal and Manchester United.
Jurgen Klopp’s Reds will also have a member of the 2004-05 UEFA Champions League-winning team in attendance for added motivation:
Liverpool’s team at present outranks Everton’s, although Silva has started to bring about signs of improvement, with Merseyside’s blue half unbeaten in their last three games.
The stalemate at Chelsea on November 11 underlined the Toffees’ progression, but Liverpool’s lethal nature should see the hosts maintain the upper hand over their Merseyside rivals.
Possible Line-up
Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Papastathopoulos, Holding, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Mkhitaryan, Torreira, Iwobi, Xhaka, Aubameyang.
Tottenham: Lloris, Alderweireld, Foyth, Aurier, Davies, Dier, Sissoko, Alli, Eriksen, Son, Kane.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Team P W D L
Arsenal 169 67 49 53
Tottenham 169 53 49 67
LEAGUE TABLE
English Premier League
Team GP W D L F A GD P
Man City 13 11 2 0 40 5 +35 35
Liverpool 13 10 3 0 26 5 +21 33
Tottenham 13 10 0 3 23 11 +12 30
Chelsea 13 8 4 1 28 11 +17 28
Arsenal 13 8 3 2 28 16 +12 27
Everton 13 6 4 3 20 15 +5 22
Man Utd 13 6 3 4 20 21 -1 21
Bo’mouth 13 6 2 5 22 18 +4 20
Watford 13 6 2 5 17 17 0 20
Leicester 13 5 3 5 18 17 +1 18
Wolves 13 4 4 5 12 15 -3 16
Brighton 13 4 3 6 14 19 -5 15
Newcastle 13 3 3 7 11 16 -5 12
West Ham 13 3 3 7 14 22 -8 12
Hud’sfield 13 2 4 7 8 22 -14 10
C/Palace 13 2 3 8 8 17 -9 9
Burnley 13 2 3 8 13 27 -14 9
So’mpton 13 1 5 7 10 24 -14 8
Cardiff 13 2 2 9 11 26 -15 8
Fulham 13 2 2 9 14 33 -19 8
SERIE A
Team GP W D L F A GD Pts
Juventus 13 12 1 0 28 8 +20 37
Napoli 13 9 2 2 26 13 +13 29
Inter 13 9 1 3 25 10 +15 28
Lazio 13 7 2 4 19 15 +4 23
AC Milan 13 6 4 3 22 17 +5 22
Parma 13 6 2 5 14 16 -2 20
Roma 13 5 4 4 22 16 +6 19
Sassuolo 13 5 4 4 21 19 +2 19
Atalanta 13 5 3 5 25 17 +8 18
Fiorentina 13 4 6 3 18 10 +8 18
Torino 13 4 6 3 17 15 +2 18
Sampdoria 13 4 4 5 17 16 +1 16
Cagliari 13 3 6 4 12 16 -4 15
Genoa 13 4 3 6 18 27 -9 15
SPAL 13 4 1 8 11 21 -10 13
Udinese 13 3 3 7 12 18 -6 12
Empoli 13 3 3 7 15 23 -8 12
Bologna 13 2 5 6 11 18 -7 11
Frosinone 13 1 4 8 10 28 -18 7
Chievo 13 0 4 9 10 30 -20 1
SPANISH
Team GP W D L F A GD P
Sevilla FC 13 8 2 3 25 14 +11 26
Barcelona 13 7 4 2 35 19 +16 25
A/Madrid 13 6 6 1 17 9 +8 24
Alavés 13 7 2 4 17 13 +4 23
Espanyol 13 6 3 4 17 13 +4 21
R/Madrid 13 6 2 5 20 19 +1 20
Girona 13 5 5 3 16 15 +1 20
Sociedad 13 5 4 4 17 15 +2 19
Levante 13 5 3 5 20 21 -1 18
Eibar 13 5 3 5 15 18 -3 18
Valencia 13 3 8 2 11 9 +2 17
Getafe 13 4 5 4 12 11 +1 17
Valladolid 13 4 5 4 9 10 -1 17
Real Betis 13 4 4 5 13 17 -4 16
Celta Vigo 13 3 5 5 23 22 +1 14
Villarreal 13 3 5 5 13 14 -1 14
Leganes 13 3 4 6 10 16 -6 13
A/Bilbao 13 1 8 4 14 20 -6 11
Vallecano 13 1 4 8 14 28 -14 7
Huesca 13 1 4 8 12 27 -15 7
Bundesliga
Team GP W D L F A GD P
Dortmund 12 9 3 0 35 13 +22 30
Mo’gladbach 12 8 2 2 30 14 +16 26
Frankfurt 12 7 2 3 29 14 +15 23
Leipzig 12 6 4 2 22 10 +12 22
Bayern 12 6 3 3 23 17 +6 21
Hoffenheim 12 6 2 4 27 18 +9 20
Bremen 12 5 3 4 20 20 0 18
Berlin 12 4 5 3 19 20 -1 17
Wolfsburg 12 4 3 5 16 17 -1 15
Mainz 12 4 3 5 11 14 -3 15
Freiburg 12 3 5 4 16 20 -4 14
Leverkusen 12 4 2 6 18 24 -6 14
Augsburg 12 3 4 5 20 21 -1 13
Schalke 12 4 1 7 13 17 -4 13
Nurnberg 12 2 4 6 13 29 -16 10
Hannover 12 2 3 7 15 26 -11 9
Düsseldorf 12 2 3 7 13 28 -15 9
Stuttgart 12 2 2 8 8 26 -18 8
Ligue 1
Team GP W D L F A GD P
PSG 14 14 0 0 46 7 +39 42
Lyon 14 8 3 3 24 16 +8 27
Montpellier 14 7 5 2 22 10 +12 26
Lille 14 8 2 4 21 12 +9 26
Marseille 14 8 1 5 27 22 +5 25
St-Etienne 14 6 5 3 19 18 +1 23
Nice 14 7 2 5 12 14 -2 23
Reims 14 5 5 4 10 13 -3 20
Trasbourg 14 4 6 4 20 17 +3 18
Nantes 14 4 5 5 21 19 +2 17
Nimes 14 4 5 5 19 20 -1 17
Bordeaux 14 4 5 5 14 15 -1 17
Rennes 14 4 5 5 18 21 -3 17
Angers 14 4 4 6 18 20 -2 16
Toulouse 14 3 5 6 11 22 -11 14
Amiens 14 4 1 9 14 24 -10 13
Caen 14 2 6 6 11 17 -6 12
Dijon 14 3 3 8 12 23 -11 12
Monaco 14 2 4 8 13 22 -9 10
Guingamp 14 1 4 9 10 30 -20 7
FIXTURES
EPL
Cardiff v Wolves
C/Palace v Burnley
Hud’sfield v Brighton
Leicester v Watford
Man City v Bo’mouth
Newcastle v West Ham
S’Ampton v Man Utd
Chelsea v Fulham
Arsenal v Tottenham
Liverpool v Everton
Serie A
SPAL v Empoli
Fiorentina v Juventus
Sampdoria v Bologna
Milan v Parma
Torino v Genoa
Frosinone v Cagliari
Sassuolo v Udinese
Chievo v Lazio
Roma v Inter
Atalanta v Napoli
LA LIGA
Rayo v Eibar
Celta Vigo v Huesca
Valladolid v Leganes
Getafe v Espanyol
R/Madrid v Valencia
Real Betis v Sociedad
Girona v Atletico
Barcelona v Villarreal
Alaves v Sevilla
Levante v Athletic
BUNDESLIGA
Düsseldorf v Mainz
Dortmund v Freiburg
Hannover v Hertha
Stuttgart v Augsburg
Bremen v Bayern
Hoffenheim v Schalke
Leipzig v Mo’gladbach
Frankfurt v Wolfsburg
Nürnberg v Leverkusen
LIGUE 1
St-Etienne v Nantes
Lille v Lyon
Monaco v Montpellier
Angers v Caen
Guingamp v Nice
Nimes v Amiens
Toulouse v Dijon
Rennes v Racing
Marseille v Reims
Bordeaux v PSG
