1) Will Gunners end wait for Anfield win?
Anfield can get to Mikel Arteta, as demonstrated by his bizarre preparations for last season’s 4-0 defeat in the All or Nothing documentary. It can also get to Arsenal, who have not won at Liverpool for more than 10 years and have conceded 37 goals, suffering two 5-1 defeats, two 4-0 defeats plus three 3-1 defeats in that time. There really is no better place for Arteta and his team to reinforce their transformation into title contenders. Or a better time. While Jürgen Klopp refuses to give up on Champions League qualification Liverpool’s prospects are fading along with their form. Klopp could not have made it clearer that his patience with an under-achieving squad is also evaporating than through the changes he made for Tuesday’s drab goalless draw at Chelsea. Liverpool are in desperate need of a spark and, after six months out with a knee injury sustained against Arsenal, Luis Díaz might be the man to provide it. Andy Hunter
Liverpool v Arsenal, Sunday 4.30pm (all times BST)
2) Fourth would be progress for Ten Hag
With 10 Premier League matches remaining Manchester United’s task is clear: win enough points to secure the Champions League berth Erik Ten Hag says is a must. Fourth position is hardly a gilded one for the 20-times title-winners but it may prove to be an apt staging post in Ten Hag’s long-term attempt to lead United to a 21st crown. Everton’s visit is the last game Casemiro will have to sit out because of a four-match ban and, with Christian Eriksen in contention again after an injury-enforced absence since January, United can feel upbeat about the final push. On Wednesday, beating Brentford took Ten Hag’s side to 53 points, three clear of Tottenham in fifth with a game in hand, so they are in control of their destiny. Jamie Jackson
Manchester United v Everton, Saturday 12.30pm
3) Chelsea pining for peak Costa
It must be quite unsettling, not knowing who your manager will be from game to game, but one thing counted on at Chelsea is that goals will be hard to come by. They have scored 29 in as many games, explaining why they find themselves in 11th and asking Frank Lampard to become a third manager of the season. What the Blues would love is to have prime Diego Costa available. Instead, he will be on the Wolves bench, having not scored since arriving in September. Present-day Chelsea have Kai Havertz up top, who drew a blank against Liverpool in midweek. He did have a goal chalked off but the ball went in off his arm after his first effort rebounded when he should have scored first time. Few now believe Havertz will be a prolific marksman in blue. The German could do with picking his predecessor’s brains on goal-scoring ruthlessness, in the hope of emulating Costa at Stamford Bridge. Will Unwin
Wolves v Chelsea, Saturday 3pm
4) Ferguson’s talent appears limitless
The first game of Frank Lampard’s first spell as Chelsea manager, back in the summer of 2019, was a friendly against Bohemians in Dublin. He wasn’t the only debutant: in the second half Bohemians brought on a 14-year-old called Evan Ferguson to play up front. This wasn’t a PR gesture; he was ready, as he showed with some deft touches and the smart dummy that enabled Eric Molloy to equalise. Ferguson’s career has been a story of extraordinary precocity, and he demonstrates a remarkable physical and especially psychological maturity for an 18-year-old. Teenagers aren’t meant to be experts, except maybe in self-absorption. But Ferguson finishes like a 28-year-old and his clever flick against Bournemouth on Tuesday was the latest addition to a portfolio of goals with an abnormal variety and serenity for a kid playing in the world’s best league. Usually with emerging young players there is a catch, or at least a concern; with Ferguson it’s hard to see one. He seems immune to hype, the biggest danger for any young talent, and can already play as both a classical and a false 9. When Brighton go to Spurs, it will be fascinating to compare him with one of the great modern No 9s: Harry Kane. Rob Smyth
Tottenham v Brighton, Saturday 3pm
5) Saints need to plot way forward
Southampton know a lot about Manchester City. They hired their head of recruitment from the Premier League champions last summer. Joe Shields proceeded to bring with him four graduates from City’s academy. Gavin Bazunu and Romeo Lavia have shown they are Premier League quality, while Samuel Edozie and Juan Larios have enjoyed few minutes on the pitch in recent times. It was smart to look to the long term with those acquisitions but equally, the Southampton spine needed more experience to help guide through younger players. Shields has already departed for Chelsea, leaving Southampton searching for a replacement. The search is being led by the director Rasmus Ankersen and the incoming director of football, Jason Wilcox. They will need to find someone with the right balance when it comes to mixing youth and experience, while knowledge of the Championship looks a likely requirement. Will Unwin
• Southampton v Manchester City, Saturday 5.30pm
6) Europe a realistic target for Villa
For most of the teams outside the elite, this peculiar Premier League season has been a dizzying game of Snakes and Ladders. Aston Villa are one of the exceptions. Since Unai Emery took over with the club in 16th place, they have been looking and travelling in only one direction. They had to wait patiently in 11th for a while, but back-to-back away wins at Chelsea and Leicester have taken them to seventh – their highest position in the second half of a season since 2009-10. It’s a quietly brilliant achievement, for which Emery hasn’t received enough credit, though when does he? Only the top two have picked up more points than Villa – 32 in 16 games – since he took over. There’s nothing for them to fear in the run-in and on current form they can realistically aspire to a European place. Which is an even more exciting prospect than usual when you are managed by Emery, who has won the Europa League four times. RS
Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 3pm
7) Leicester must fear rule of three
When the year ends in three, there’s often a shock relegation from the English top flight: Manchester City in 1983, Nottingham Forest in 1993 and West Ham in 2003 were all supposed to be too good to go down, and the same has been said of Leicester this year. (Let’s not dwell on 2013, because no matter how hard we try, we can’t make Wigan, Reading or QPR fit this narrative.) For most of the season it has been unthinkable that a team who finished fifth, fifth and eighth in the last three seasons would be relegated. When they put eight goals past Villa and Spurs in early February, it felt like the start of a late-season surge to the top half of the table. But since then they have taken one point from seven games and their situation is becoming more alarming by the day. Leicester haven’t kept a clean sheet since the World Cup and have now started conceding late winners, a uniquely morale-sapping experience. Given that Leicester’s next game, Manchester City away, is almost certainly a write-off, Saturday’s game against Bournemouth takes on even greater importance. It isn’t necessarily a must-win, but it’s surely a mustn’t-lose. RS
• Leicester v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pm
8) Moyes needs Fulham slump to continue
If the FA has its way and extends his ban then Fulham will be unable to field Aleksandar Mitrovic until next season. Both Marco Silva and the owner, Shahid Khan, have noted that key to the striker’s successes of the last two seasons has been keeping him physically lean, so added time off is unhelpful. For West Ham, coming quickly off a 5-1 pounding from Newcastle, Fulham are probably ideal opposition, on a four-game losing streak and, in 10th, perhaps as “on the beach” as any of the 20 Premier League clubs. And without their main goalscorer. The Hammers teeter above the drop zone, David Moyes favourite to become the season’s 13th managerial casualty. A repeat of the farce that presented Newcastle with their third, fourth and fifth goals and the end will surely be close, even at a club where the co-owner David Sullivan is known for his reluctance to push the button until almost all is lost. John Brewin
• Fulham v West Ham, Saturday 3pm
9) Newcastle hitting well-timed top form
Eddie Howe has located Newcastle’s second wind just when it appeared they had run out of puff. Last Sunday’s destruction of Manchester United was followed by crushing West Ham, sequencing together the team’s two best performances of a season that has already far exceeded expectations. While defence is the bedrock of success, a cussed backline not previously associated with a Howe team, the goals are now coming. Alexander Isak was a flagship signing but Callum Wilson continues to look a striker who can be valuable to a club with such high ambitions. Where West Ham were hapless, Newcastle were ruthless, while Brentford’s concurrent loss to Manchester United kept plenty of juice in the race for third. As Thomas Frank remarked at Old Trafford, his team’s disappointment showed how far Brentford have come. That was previously a Newcastle mantra during their post-World Cup slump but now anything less than top four would be a letdown. JB
Brentford v Newcastle, Saturday 3pm
10) Flexible Gracia delivering for Leeds
Beat Crystal Palace and Javi Gracia can bid farewell to any semblance of the anonymity with which he was once able to wander around Doha, when he managed Al Sadd. Gracia is also in the process of persuading the Leeds board to wave goodbye to the fixation with pressing tactics that explained Jesse Marsch’s appointment as Marcelo Bielsa’s successor. In contrast to the American, Gracia is a tactical pragmatist happy to mix up front-foot possession with contain and counter tactics. This hybrid, and sensibly flexible, approach is serving Leeds well. So well that Gracia’s knack of replacing chaos with control could keep a 52-year-old in West Yorkshire longer than envisaged. It will not have gone unnoticed in the corridors of power that several players, perhaps most notably the left-back Junior Firpo, have improved almost beyond recognition. Louise Taylor
Leeds v Crystal Palace, Sunday 2pm
