Manchester City's quest for a fifth consecutive Premier League crown remains on course heading into Matchday 10 of the 2024/25 season.
Pep Guardiola's unbeaten side are top of the pile after nine games, one point ahead of Liverpool and five of Arsenal, who have finished runners-up to City for the last two seasons. Aston Villa occupy the final top-four spot, behind Arsenal only by goal difference.
The Gunners kick off this week's action when they travel north to take on Newcastle United at St James' Park in Saturday's early game that kicks off at 4.30pm (UAE). Man City's clash with Bournemouth on England's south coast is one of five games starting at 7pm, alongside Ipswich Town versus Leicester City at Portman Road, Liverpool against Brighton on Merseyside, Nottingham Forest's clash with West Ham United at the City Ground and Southampton's home match with Everton. Wolves take on Crystal Palace at Molineux in the late game at 9.30pm.
Sunday sees Tottenham Hotspur tackle Aston Villa in North London (6pm) and Manchester United entertaining Chelsea at Old Trafford (8.30pm). On Monday, Fulham play host to London rivals Brentford at Craven Cottage. We pick out the main talking points going into this weekend's fixture list.
Can Arsenal get title bid back on track?
Arsenal's attempt to end Manchester City's four-season grip on the Premier League trophy has hit a couple of bumps in the road over the last two matches.
First, Mikel Arteta's side saw their unbeaten record come to an end at Bournemouth and then last week, the Gunners twice took the lead at home to Liverpool only to end up having to settle for a 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium.
Arteta was left “disappointed and frustrated” by what he felt was a lack of courage from his team in not securing all three points, despite being left with a makeshift defence that was already missing the suspended William Saliba, after losing Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber to injuries in the second half.
The Spaniard was much happier with his team midweek as they coasted into the League Cup quarter-finals after brushing aside second-tier Preston 3-0 thanks to goals from Gabriel Jesus, Ethan Nwaneri and substitute Kai Havertz. “We talked about playing with enthusiasm in this game, playing with the right attitude and commitment and they certainly showed that,” he said.
They will need more of that attitude for their tricky run of fixtures that sees them take on Newcastle, Inter Milan and Chelsea in the space of eight days.
Could injury crisis cost Man City?
Manchester City, meanwhile, are facing challenges of their own as they attempt to navigate their way through an injury crisis which manager Guardiola ranks as the worst he has experienced in nine years at the club.
City were already without six first-team players for the League Cup defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday but then lost defender Manuel Akanji in the warm-up, saw centre-half Ruben Dias come off at half time due to injury, while winger Savinho was carried off on a stretcher in the second half.
Key midfielder and Ballon d'Or winner Rodri has already been ruled out for the rest of the season after rupturing his anterior cruciate knee ligament, Oscar Bobb is still recovering from the broken leg he picked up in August while Guardiola said on Tuesday that he is unsure when Kevin de Bruyne will return from his thigh problem.
Guardiola has also been without Kyle Walker, Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish for recent games. “If these guys don’t come back as quickly as possible, we’ll struggle, because we cannot sustain with just 14, 15 players for the season,” he said before the League Cup game at Spurs – which saw City lose for the first time this season. “We need the players to come back.”
Worryingly for City, that situation worsened on Wednesday. “We are in real difficulty,” he admitted after the match.
Will Salah overtake Fowler in scoring chart?
Mohamed Salah will reach yet another milestone in his remarkable Liverpool career if he finds the target against Brighton at Anfield this weekend.
Last week, Salah followed up his goal against Chelsea by scoring the late leveller at Arsenal, taking his tally for the season to six. It also moved him up to joint eighth in the all-time Premier League scoring chart, level with former Liverpool hero Robbie Fowler on 163 goals.
Next on the list for Salah, who is in the final year of his Liverpool contract, is Thierry Henry (175) and Frank Lampard (177) with the 32-year-old Egyptian more than capable of eclipsing both before the end of the season.
“Mohamed Salah’s contribution is not limited to scoring,” said Reds manager Arne Slot after the Arsenal game. “He is always available for us. I think that’s one of the qualities of the best players: they always show up in important matches.
“You need players of this quality because without them, it’s difficult to achieve results. These players can make the difference, and today Mo did just that.”
Can Spurs find consistency?
It has been a rollercoaster run of results for Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham of late. The Australian coach has seen his side throw away a two-goal lead during their defeat at Brighton – described by the manager as “as bad as it gets” – then smash four goals past London rivals West Ham.
Last weekend, they managed to lose against a previously winless Crystal Palace but then proceeded to knock Manchester City out of the League Cup three days later.
Finding some sort of consistency will be crucial if Postecoglou wants to challenge for a top-four spot or end Spurs' 17-year wait to win a trophy – the last of which came when they lifted the League Cup under Juande Ramos in 2008.
They face a big test this weekend up against a Villa side currently fourth in the table and enjoying a memorable Uefa Champions League campaign that has seen them win three out of three so far.
“It's an ever-evolving process, this team is growing all the time, but when you have growth you are going to stumble,” said Postecoglou after beating City. “I don't believe in big moments or catastrophic moments – we are the same team that we were three days ago. Hopefully, we have more good days ahead of us.”
What will happen to Van Nistelrooy?
Manchester United started life after Erik ten Hag in positive fashion when they thrashed Leicester City 5-2 in the League Cup on Wednesday.
With interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy a bundle of energy from the sidelines, United suddenly rediscovered the scoring touch that has been desperately missing from their season so far.
Only 17th-placed Crystal Palace and bottom club Southampton have scored less than United's eight in the Premier League, so a brace apiece from Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes, plus one from Alejandro Garnacho, were a welcome sight at Old Trafford.
Van Nistelrooy, whose 150 goals for United make him the club's ninth highest all-time scorer, is set to be in the dugout again for Sunday's clash with Chelsea – and potentially two more games after that.
With United close to completing a deal to bring in Sporting coach Ruben Amorim, what happens to the Dutchman after his interim period ends is unclear.
“I am still very motivated to go back to my assistant contract that I have here for this season and next, I'm very motivated to stay here and help the club move forward, that's my absolute goal,” said Van Nistelrooy on Thursday. “When the new manager is signing and conversations take place, we have to see how things develop.”
