Sunday’s slate of Premier League fixtures features the likes of Wolves, Aston Villa, Manchester United and Brighton all in action. It is also headlined by the biggest match of the season yet: Liverpool vs Manchester City.
[ STREAM: Every PL match live ]
Wolves vs. Aston Villa — 9:00 a.m. ET, on NBC Sports Gold
Just weeks removed from a EFL Cup bout between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa that saw the latter come out victorious 2-1, both West Midland sides will meet again.
This time, however, the scenario will be distinct. Both sides won’t meet at Villa Park; instead, Stadium will be the stadium of choice. Second-choice sides will not be front and center. It’s a league match, both teams will lineup with the best they have to offer and, as a result the intensity, will be vastly fiercer.
That’s if Wolves have the legs for that scenario to be a reality in the first place.
With Europa League added to an already daunting schedule, Nuno Espirito Santo and company have played eight matches since the start of October, averaging more than one per week. Villa, who’ve lost back to back league matches, are mindful of that and hope it will benefit them when all is said and done.
“They’re very tough to beat, they’ve got great organization and structure,” Villa manager Dean Smith ahead of Sunday’s derby. “They’ve got players who can score goals having gone to Manchester City and won, gone to Arsenal and equalized to come away with a point...so they’ll feel they’re in a run of form.”
“People look from the outside and think ‘is the amount of games they’re playing going to catch up with them?,’” he added. “We’re hopeful that is does on Sunday.”
INJURIES: Wolves — OUT: Gibbs-White (back), Boly (leg)| Aston Villa — OUT: Keenan Davis (hamstring)
Manchester United vs. Brighton and Hove Albion — 9:00 a.m. ET, on NBCS and NBCSports.com
Brighton and Hove Albion have never won at Old Trafford.
Graham Potter and his group of players want to make history and change that against a historically-poor Manchester United.
“It would be great to get a result this weekend at one of the best places in world football,” Potter said. “Their quality is undoubted and we respect that - but we want to go there and be ourselves and take on the challenge in a positive way.”
Brighton are in positive form, sitting eighth on the table and two points clear of United, who haven’t had a start to the season as dreadful as 2019’s - 13 points in 11 matches - since 1986 under Ron Atkinson. In their last four bouts, Brighton have earned victories in three, defeating Tottenham, Everton and Norwich City.
It’s all very different for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the Red Devils.
Despite a convincing 3-0 win over a paltry Partizan midweek, the pressure at Old Trafford keeps looming over the injury-riddled team, who lost their previous league match against Bournemouth 1-0. Time and time again, the questions have been asked, but the answers have yet to surface.
Even then, Solskjaer feels their latest Europa League victory has left them with a blueprint.
“This is a little bit of a template on how we want to play, definitely,” the Norwegian manager stated following his team’s win on Thursday. “No disrespect to Partizan, but they gave us spaces. Of course after we scored the first goal, they went forward.”
“These boys are learning,” he added. “Tonight will give them loads of pointers of how to play. Even though the opposition is not the same as in the Premier League, it was still good principles.”
Nowhere was the word “consistency” mentioned, however. If they want to right the ship, they’ll need to learn it.
INJURIES: Manchester United — OUT: Dalot (hip), Matic (knock), Luke Shaw (thigh), Tuanzebe (hip), Eric Bailly (knee), Fosu-Mensah (knee), Pogba (ankle); SUSPENDED: Ashley Young (one match) | Brighton — OUT: Bernardo (knee), Izquierdo (knee), Webster (ankle)
Liverpool vs. Manchester City — 12:30 p.m. ET, on NBCS and NBCSports.com
It’s the match everyone had circled on their calendars: Jurgen Klopp’s unbeaten Liverpool against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in front of a sold-out Anfield.
It’s the type of spectacle that requires no added hype, even though Klopp did just that heading into the season’s biggest match yet.
“From a sport’s point of view this rivalry is getting bigger and bigger,” the German manager said in front of an eager press conference room this weekend. “Thank god there is a rivalry because it means we are a pretty good team as well.”
“If you are not brave against Man City you don’t have the chance of even a point,” he added. “Everyone has to be in top shape in the stadium on Sunday, even the guy selling the hotdogs. Everyone has to be there from the warm-up and invest all our emotions.”
With City in position to jump to second and be only three points from Liverpool with a win, the match promises to have it all. And Guardiola main message is urging his players to leave it all on the field when they take on the league’s favorites.
“I just want my team to fight to the end,” the 48-year-old said. “Liverpool are a team that lost one game last season, none this season, so you cannot believe that they will lose many, but the season is long.”
“They do everything well,” he added. “You see the team, what is the weak point? They are a real complete team and we need this kind of rival.”
That said, City is stuffed with injuries - namely, Ederson and David Silva, who were both unable to recover and get fit for Sunday’s clash. Claudio Bravo, who saw a red card midweek in Champions League play, will be between the sticks for the defending champions.
What many think will prove to be problematic for the visitors, is the opposite of loss of quality for Guardiola. The Spaniard is convinced that the Chilean goalkeeper has the ability and is of the pedigree to play in matches of such stature.
“He is an exceptional goalkeeper,” Guardiola said. “He is an international goalkeeper. I have no doubts.
“Why shouldn’t I be confident about my players? I see him every day in training. We won’t lose because of Claudio.
“The red card the other day was because we lost the ball,” he added. Respect the guy. He is a top keeper.”
Surely, Liverpool, led by Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, will look to exploit any deficiencies City puts forward. For now, those deficiencies are unknown.
What is public knowledge, however, is that very few matches - if any - this season will be as big as Sunday’s.
INJURIES: Liverpool — OUT: Joel Matip (knee), Xherdan Shaqiri (calf), Nathaniel Clyne (knee) | Manchester City — OUT: Ederson (knock), Rodri (hamstring), David Silva (thigh), Zinchenko (knee), Leroy Sané (knee), Laporte (knee)