London: All it took was 90 minutes on Monday for Manchester United to pass their early season crisis 25 miles west to Liverpool and now United coach, Erik Ten Hag will hope to build on their 2-1 win, when his side travels to play Southampton on Saturday.
Casemiro is in line for his debut after signing from Real Madrid and will slot in ahead of the defense, while Harry Maguire will once again be watching from the subs bench — probably sitting close to Cristiano Ronaldo as Marcos Rashford leads the attack.
Southampton have improved in recent games, and United will have to be wary of their dangerman, Che Adams, who has netted four goals in the past week.
Liverpool’s defeat at Old Trafford left a lot of questions to be answered, but the fact is that most of the answers can be supplied by a look at an injury list that includes, Diogo Jota, Thiago Alcantara, Josep Matip, Nabi Keita, Ibrahima Konate, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Curtis Jones, with Darwin Nunez still suspended.
Recently promoted Bournemouth could offer some respite, with the newly promoted side traveling to Anfield after maulings by Manchester City and Arsenal, and Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp will probably give a start to youngster Fabio Carvalho as he looks for the first win of the season.
Manchester City dropped two points in a thriller away to Newcastle United last week, and Pep Guardiola’s men now face Crystal Palace, led by old boy Patrick Viera.
Palace stunned City at the Etihad Stadium with a 2-0-win last season, but a repeat is unlikely, although Guardiola will want his defense to tighten up against the threat of Wilfred Zaha in the visitors’ attack.
Arsenal have a great chance to build on their best start to a season since 2004 when they entertain Fulham.
Mikel Arteta’s side is currently playing some attractive football and has discovered the confidence that looks to have limited them in the past, but Fulham travel across London unbeaten on their return to the top flight, with Marco Silva building a team that is well-organized at the back and has a big threat in attack in the powerful form of Aleksandr Mitrovic.
Chelsea need to get back to winning ways and will be optimistic about three points against Leicester, who have had a poor start to the season. Leicester’s problems are not helped by Wesley Fofana’s desire to move to Stamford Bridge (meaning he won’t be part of their squad) and an injury down over playmaker, James Maddison.
Jesse Marsch has turned Leeds United into a terrier-like rival (as Chelsea can testify) and it will be interesting to see how their ‘in your face’ style works away from a stylish if slightly goal-shy Brighton, reports Xinhua.
Saturday’s final game is another challenge for Everton, who sneaked a late point against Nottingham Forrest last week, but still look like relegation candidates, with an injury list including Yerry Mina, Ben Godfrey, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Andros Townsend.
Brentford pose another major threat to Frank Lampard’s side with Ivan Toney the main threat to the Everton back four.
Sunday’s three matches see West Ham United look for their first points of the season when they visit an irregular Aston Villa, who have not been helped by an injury to Diego Carlos.
Newcastle United could have Alexander Isak available to make his debut for their visit to Wolves, who have now gone 10 league games without a win. If available, Isak would slot in for Callum Wilson, who is out with a calf injury.
Finally, Tottenham’s visit to Nottingham Forrest could provide plenty of work for Forrest keeper, Dean Henderson, who has so far been impressive at the start of his loan spell from Old Trafford.
–IANS
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