A fifth win from five games last weekend saw Liverpool maintain their 100% start to the Premier League season and open a five-point lead over second placed Manchester City. Here, we preview the best games this weekend.
Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur
Two teams in the top five meet at the King Power Stadium, as fifth placed Leicester host fourth placed Tottenham in the Saturday lunchtime kick off.
Leicester’s unbeaten start to the campaign came to an end at Old Trafford last weekend, losing 1-0 to an early Marcus Rashford penalty. The Foxes had the better of the possession and chances to get something from the game, but just six goals from their five games will be a concern for manager, Brendan Rogers.
Tottenham have had an erratic start to the season after winning two, drawing two and losing one. That one defeat was at home against Newcastle, but on their travels, they have drawn 2-2 at both Manchester City and Arsenal. They arrive at Leicester off the back of another 2-2 draw in midweek after being held at Olympiakos in the Champions League, despite being 2-0 up.
It should be a tight game and the long journey from Greece on Wednesday, coupled with an early Saturday kick off, won’t help Spurs. We see this ending in a first draw between the clubs since 2016.
Manchester City v Watford
Manchester City have the chance to close the gap on Liverpool when they welcome bottom of the table Watford, to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon. This will be a repeat of last season’s FA Cup final, which City won 6-0.
The hosts were favourites to win at newly promoted Norwich last weekend but produced an abject defensive display to slip to a shock 3-2 defeat. That was the first time they had lost in the Premier League since January and the first time they had conceded three goals domestically since December.
After three straight opening defeats, Watford have recorded two successive draws against Newcastle (1-1) and Arsenal (2-2) but remain bottom of the league with just two points. They only scored four goals from their five games, but that draw against Arsenal will have given them a much-needed boost.
However, City will see this game as the perfect way to get their title challenge back on track. They come into it off the back of a long midweek trip to the Ukraine where they were comfortable winners against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League, and it would be a major shock if anything else happened other than an easy victory for City.
Chelsea v Liverpool
Premier League leaders, Liverpool, travel to Chelsea on Sunday afternoon hoping to continue their excellent start to the season. This will be the first meeting between the two sides since Liverpool won the UEFA Super Cup on penalties in August.
Chelsea’s young side have been nothing if not entertaining this season, scoring and conceding 11 goals in their opening five games. Tammy Abraham is joint top scorer with seven goals, but defensively the Blues have conceded two goals in each of their last three league games. Last week’s 5-2 win at Wolves was impressive, but they suffered a 1-0 midweek defeat against Valencia in the Champions League.
This is probably Liverpool’s toughest game in the league so far and the eyes of scrutiny will be on them. Away from home they have won 2-1 at Southampton and 3-0 at Burnley, but they were beaten 2-0 at Napoli in midweek, meaning they were the first team defending their Champions League title to lose their opening game.
Mo Salah and Sadio Mane continue to get amongst the goals, and they could take advantage of a leaky Chelsea defence in a game that should see plenty of goals.