EPL - 2018/19 - Game Week 10

Another interesting week beckons. Leader Manchester City undergo a rigorous examination when they visit Tottenham and will fall from the top if they fail and could slip behind Spurs if beaten. Liverpool will be home and have what may seem an easier task at hand. Even Chelsea and Arsenal will overtake City if they too get their win. 

It is very tight at the top. City (1) are leading with 23 points from 9 matches with superior goal difference, Liverpool (2) are on 23 points, like City also unbeaten. Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham are on 21 points. There is little margin for error. The games are coming fast and furious including Champions League and the Europa. 

Each team is being fashioned by their managers. So leaders play a very big part and make a huge difference to their teams. The character, positivity, confidence, growth, teamwork and results. So City are playing Guardiola-ball,Liverpool Klopp-ball, Chelsea Sarri-ball, Arsenal Emery-ball and Tottenham Pocchettino-ball and Manchester United Mourinho-Pogba-ll.

Brighton v Wolves - Brighton are playing welling and have won their last two matches by 1-0 and the Seagulls are hosting Wolverhampton who crashed 0-2 unexpectedly at  home to Watford. Wolves will recover as a good team should but Brighton are a good team with home support. 1-1.

Fulham v Bournemouth - Fulham is now the lowest ranked London club in 18th. All their summer spending and passing game did not get them results. 18th is relegation zone and they are leaking goals. Bournemouth is in 6th just behind Tottenham and playing the best football of their lives with best results too. The Cherries have the ability to win here but last week Southampton found a way to thwart them but Fulham is not Southampton. 2-3.

Liverpool v Cardiff - This is no easy game. Liverpool are not as gung-ho and high scoring but they do not get caught on the counter plus winning despite not playing too well. Cardiff were without a win but having dumped Fulham 4-2 they look dangerous prospects. They may have been invigorated. Fulham who should be superior in their passing game have no answer to Cardiff. Of course the Welsh side will adopt a different approach at Anfield with probable defensive play and to hit on the counter but The Reds are not Fulham. Liverpool will just want the full 3 points and if they could add more to the goal tally as at the end it could go down to goal difference in the title chase. Will this be the game that Liverpool take off since their strike force have not peak? At this point last season they have already dropped points to Burnley, Watford and Newcastle and got thrashed by Spurs and City so in this sense Liverpool are doing really well. 

Things may have turned a corner now since they have beaten Crvena Zvezda and that is really Red Star Belgrade, one of the finest teams in their time. I was fortunate when Red Star Belgrade came here with Celtic to play. Celtic and Scotland captain Danny McGrain was the best right back in the world and could walk into any world XI and Red Star's captain/sweeper and the then Yugoslavia international was the closest thing you could see next to Franz Beckanbauer. He was nicknamed the strolling giant as his style was effortless and he would sprayed accurate passes whatever the distance. Back to Liverpool, their front three came on together all scoring in their win. Again Joe Gomez was supreme at the back. Shaqiri has shown himself to be a very important member of the team and Fabinho played a starring role. It may be the right time to unleash Fabinho and continue with Shaqiri. So a  Liverpool win is on the cards maybe a handsome one as they started high scoring again. 3-0.

Southampton v Newcastle - The Saints are in danger if they stay where they are now but the Magpies have been there since the season begins and now rock bottom. They have given a good account of themselves when they played the big boys but it won;t be easy to beat Southampton. Draw for me here. 1-1.

Watford v Huddersfield - The Hornets 2-0 away win over Wolves came from nowhere but it was a very good result for them. The Terriers played very well against Liverpool but unfortunately lost 0-1. If they repeat that performance Watford will face problems. Watford are good to win here but I just think that Huddersfield  could force a draw. 1-1.

Leicester v West Ham - Both sides have identical results, they lost their last two matches but they have interesting players like Vardy, Gray, Maguire, etc. for the Foxes and Noble, Felipe Anderson and Marko Arnautovic. For their playing style this could have quite a few goals but Hammers have concern with Yarmolenko out. 2-2.

Burnley v Chelsea - The Clarets suffered a drubbing at the Etihad last week and are no where near their best form of last season. To play City and then Chelsea back to back is very tough. After a draw with United Chelsea won their Europa tie against BATE 3-1 with Reuben Loftus Cheek scoring a hattrick giving Sarri new thoughts. That was a very compelling performance for RLC. Burnley are late bloomers and at this point in the season are unlikely to cause a surprise. 0-2.

Crystal Palace v Arsenal - Palace lost three in a row while the Gunners won 1-0 away to Sporting with a Danny Welbeck goal that made it eleventh straight wins. That was unthinkable not so long ago. Although this is a London Derby, Palace's form will not cause any worry to Arsenal as they have fired blanks in their last tow matches. By the way, for those who did not witnessed the Mezut Ozil magic show last week this is a must watch (below link). He created everything. The first was his first touch finishing. The second was that slide rule pass and finally he started with a back flip in the middle and ended up and a cheeky flip past the goalie for an assist. Amazing player! 0-2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyE3cP27VoY

Manchester United v Everton - The Red Devils are in 10th place. There has been no suggestion that they are or will improve and they have not won their last two matches while Everton have won both of theirs and are a point above them two places up. The visiting Toffees must feel strongly that they have a chance here. If they played without going down and prolong it, they will be more likely to get a result. United may depend once again on Mata, Rashford and Martial to reverse their fortune. 1-1.

Tottenham v Manchester City - Tottenham are keeping the pace well despite no new signing this season. Though Spurs are at home, Wembley's wide expanse is good and suitable for City. Pochettino's team seemed to have sorted out their defence and recently conceded just one in four outings. The two most prolific goal scorers will be on display - Sergio Aguero and Harry Kane and Kane will be seeking to end his two game without a goal. City were hardly inferior when they lost Kevin De Bruyne to injury but he made a substitute performance for  half an hour last week and he showed he make City far superior. Question is if he is as fit and sharp. Jan Vertonghen is out with injury so it will be down to Toby Alderweireld and Davidson Sanchez to keep City's potent attack at bay. Tottenhma are not doing badly as they are just two points behind the leaders. At this stage of the season two points are like almost equal. Last year's record favoured City who won 4-1 at home and 3-1 away. On their day Spurs could beat anyone. If they play to form they could even win this one but I think a draw is likely. 2-2.