Seems like every game is a crunch game these days with the Premier League being hotly contested this year. Clubs have topped the table and fallen away, Manchester City have marched ahead of the pack with win after win. Can that gap be further bridged? Can we start stating that the bottom three will most certainly be relegated after these weekends results or is a revival on the cards? Find out whats what in our guide to matchday 24 below!
Saturday 13th February
12:30 Leicester City v Liverpool on BT 1
Opening up Matchday 24 is a colossal tussle that is huge fixture for both teams involved as they currently occupy 3rd and 4th place respectively. The Foxes have only come up short once in 2021, against Leeds, but their recent run has provided some stalemates. Notably their five game winning streak ended at the hands of the Blue team on Merseyside with a 1-1 draw. Liverpool notably have been suffering as of late and do not look like the side they were. Obviously it can be pointed out they literally are not the side they were with a huge injury list. However the Reds do have a great record against Leicester having won 16 of their last 20 encounters, included a 3-0 victory over them in November at Anfield.
15:00 Crystal Palace v Burnley On Sky
Disappointing results for both side last weekend as Burnley drew with Brighton and Crystal Palace lost to Leeds 2-0. Palace find themselves in 13th , four points ahead of 14th place Wolves, but have someway to go to break into the top half of the table. the biggest concern for them will be their leaky defence which is the second worst in the league behind West Brom. Lucky for Roy Hodgson though Burnley do have problems in-front of goal away from home, only scoring five goals on their travels all season. Palace will look to avenge their early season lost to Sean Dyches side after previously losing 1-0.
17:30 Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur On Sky
Jose Mourinho will look to do the double of his long term rival Pep Guardiola. This will be the 25th times in their career that both managers have met and are each others most played against opponent. The former Barca manager Guardiola has come out on top eleven times in total with “The Special One” managing his various sides to seven victories. Spurs put to bed their horrid run of form last weekend against West Brom winning 2-0, while City have continued their blistering pace of form setting record along the way. City are unbeaten in their last 22 games with their last defeat coming at the hands of Spurs.
20:00 Brighton and Hove Albion v Aston Villa On Sky
Brighton are the team with the most draws this season but they have also managed a few great results this year against both Spurs and Liverpool. Even more impressively they are unbeaten in their last five Premier League games, with only Man City having a better record. This see’s that the Seagull’s jump ten points clear of the drop zone that they were so precariously hovering over for so long. Unfortunately for them, they do not seem to register many wins at the Amex Stadium, with their last three home victories coming in three separate years, 2019, 2020 and 2021. The Villians managed to win their last game against Southampton, but judging by recent trends that may not be a good thing. Since they lost to Man City, Villa won then lost then won then lost then won. So they are probably due a loss, and Graham Potter will no doubt be happy to oblige. Just like he did in November when Brighton won 2-1.
Sunday 14th February
12:00 Southampton v Wolverhampton Wanderers on Premier Sports
There will be no love lost on the opening Valentines Day fixture as Wolves will hope to enact revenge for their Midweek FA Cup loss to Southampton. Nuno Santos side lost two nil at home, and now have to travel to the south coast of England to the St. Marys Stadium. Both teams have been in poor form recently with The Saints having lost their previous four games before their FA Cup win and Wolves picking up five points from their last six Premier League games. Both teams shared the spoils in an entertaining game last November.
14:00 West Bromwich Albion v Manchester United On Sky
Its the team with the most goals conceded against the team that has the most goals scored so far in the Premier League. The Red Devils are coming off the back of a hugely disappointing draw with Everton last weekend and a hard fought victory over West Ham in the FA Cup midweek. Solskjaer will need to pick up three points to start bridging the gap on leaders Man City and will be hoping relegation strugglers West Brom wont be up for the fight. After The Baggies shock victory over Wolves , Allardyce has only manage his side to one point from a possible 15 and will surely be feeling the gravitational pull of the Championship. The home side make take heart in the fact Sheffield United managed to obtain three points against a lackluster United side recently and also the fact that they ran Solskjaers side close in their last encounter where a Bruno Fernandes penalty retake was just enough to separate the sides.
16:30 Arsenal v Leeds United On Sky
Arsenals blistering form came to a crashing halt after their loss to Wolves and by then going onto lose to Aston Villa. They may take solace in the fact that the high scoring Leeds has not managed to score against Arsenal in two previous attempts by Marco Bielsa. Losing in the FA Cup last year and drawing 0-0 earlier in the Premier League season, makes Arsenal the only team Biesla has faced more then once and failed to score against. Patrick Bamford will no doubt want to put an end to that run as he continues to try and cement a place in Gareth Southgates plan for the Euros. Three wins from their last four will have Leeds fans confident going to the Emirates.
19:00 Everton v Fulham on BT 1
Eight goals in the last two games has the Evertonians quite content after two successive losses to Leeds and Newcastle. Facing them is a Fulham team desperate to bridge the gap between 18th and 17th. The unfortunate thing for the Cotaggers is that they have managed to lose every-time they faced The Toffees at Goodison park in the Premier League era and in fact have never won there in football league history after 27 attempts. Scott Parker’s side put it up to Carlo Ancelotti’s men in the reverse fixture managing more possession, however they did not manage to score more and loss 3-2.
Monday 15th February
18:00 West Ham United v Sheffield United on BT 1
West Ham will view their weeks exploits as a failure after being dumped out of the FA Cup in extra time against Man United and drawing with Fulham in the Premier League. Before hand they were flying high and Champions League was very much in the conversation surrounding The Hammers. They will really need to managed a win against bottom placed Sheffield United, something they narrowly managed to do last November. The Blades have not budged from the bottom of the table since that last game against The Hammers, but have managed to win five times in their last nine games in all competitions.
20:00 Chelsea v Newcastle United On Sky
Thomas Tuchel looks set to continue his unbeaten run this Monday as the Magpies fly down to Stamford Bridge. Newcastle will have to do without Callum Wilson, a player who has scored ten and assisted five 25 league goals Newcastle has scored. No doubt this will be a big blow for Steve Bruce’s as the striker looks set to miss a total of eight games. There is currently a ten point game between Newcastle and the drop zone and that gap will close quickly if they do not find another way to score. Chelsea are knocking on the door of the top four, just one point behind Liverpool after picking up ten points from their most recent four games. The blues managed to win last November against Newcastle when they were flying high under Frank Lampard.
Log on back here at Scoreline.ie ahead of the next set of games!
