Manchester City face the stiffest test of their recent revival when they travel to Arsenal this weekend, as AFC Bournemouth seek to take down English Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Third-placed Nottingham Forest host Brighton & Hove Albion hoping to banish memories of last week’s 5-0 hammering at Bournemouth, while slumping Tottenham Hotspur aim to stop the rot at Brentford.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have won four of their past five Premier League games to climb back into the top four after a miserable run of results.
Photo: AP
In midweek they survived a huge scare against Club Brugge to scrape into the UEFA Champions League playoffs, further evidence that they might have turned a corner at last.
So is it back to business as usual for the four-time defending Premier League champions?
The fixture list has been relatively kind in recent weeks, but they now have a daunting run, with a trip to Arsenal followed by games against Newcastle United, Liverpool, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest.
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners are unbeaten in 14 league games at home since a 2-0 defeat by Aston Villa in April last year and they cannot afford to drop points as they hunt down Liverpool.
Second-placed Arsenal have been pipped to the title by City in each of the past two seasons, but will kick off six points above their old rivals, determined to state their credentials as serious challengers for the title.
Despite Tottenham’s plunge down the table, relegation talk has appeared fanciful, with an eight-point buffer between themselves and the bottom three, but when will Ange Postecoglou’s injury-hit team turn their form around?
Fellow strugglers Everton and Leicester City both closed the gap on Spurs last weekend.
The slide has been dramatic for Postecoglou’s men. In late November last year, Tottenham were sixth and just four points off second place. Since then, they have slumped to 15th, 23 points off second.
They have taken just four points from their past 10 games — only Southampton (one) have taken fewer.
It is still difficult to imagine that enough of the teams below Tottenham have the quality to reel them in, but they are alarmingly fragile.
Tomorrow, they travel across London to face mid-table Brentford, who boast an impressive home record and significant firepower.
If they do not start winning again soon, fans will start to think the unthinkable.
At the start of the season, a trip to Bournemouth’s modest Vitality Stadium would not have given Liverpool head coach Arne Slot sleepless nights, but it is a different story now.
Andoni Iraola’s team are unbeaten in their past 11 Premier League games, their longest run without defeat in the competition. The Spaniard, in his second season at the club, has done a remarkable job despite missing a host of players through injury, including Marcos Senesi, Marcus Tavernier, Luis Sinisterra, Evanilson and Enes Unal.
Iraola’s free-scoring side are seventh in the table, but are just a single point behind fourth-placed Manchester City as their fans dream of European competition next season.
Justin Kluivert, on 11 Premier League goals, is emerging from the shadow of his father, Netherlands star Patrick Kluivert, while Dango Ouattara scored a hat-trick in the 5-0 demolition of Nottingham Forest last weekend.
Bournemouth have already beaten Arsenal and Manchester City this season, but Liverpool, who have lost just once in the league, would be their biggest scalp so far.
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
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LACKLUSTER FIGHT: At one stage, the referee lost patience with the two fighters, warning them in the fourth round that ‘the fans did not pay to see this crap’ Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami. The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of US$184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an Internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests. However, in the event, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told
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