Premier league run in: Key battles ahead of a busy weekend

Liverpool will be without Trent Alexander Arnold for the weekend but Jurgen Klopp insists he's not too far away. (Photo credit: Premierleague.com)

The English Premier League is back this weekend. With just eight rounds left, we look at a pulsating title race between Manchester City and Liverpool, an exciting top-four race, and the uncertainties at the bottom of the league table.

At this stage in four of the last five seasons, we were already apparent on many things. Manchester City and Liverpool had convinced the rest to give up on the league title chase, and at least one team already accepted the indignation of relegation; it’s not so this time.

Manchester City and Liverpool will battle it till the very last minute, and as it stands, their fixture coming up in a fortnight will be one of enormous significance. You can place your money on a stalemate, and then either side would rely on banana peels for the other; this is why we love the premier league.

Liverpool is at home to Watford, Mohammed Salah has a rich history of high performance against the Hornets, and he will relish this game; City is away to Burnley, a potential banana peel. As Sean Dyche confirmed that Ben Mee would not be available for this fixture, you can hand the leaders the points.

Manchester United will hope Arsenal drops points, but they must beat Leicester City at Old Trafford to make any sense of their desires to see Arsenal lose. The Gunners don’t play until Monday; they could be down to fifth by that time, depending on what Tottenham does at home to Newcastle.

United are four points behind Arsenal and has played a game more; they would have played two more than the Gunners before Mikel Arteta’s side visited Selhurst; they wouldn’t want to worsen a bad situation by dropping points against the Foxes.

Tottenham has the chance to catch up with Arsenal when they face Newcastle on Sunday, they are currently three points and two goals behind Arsenal, a win over Eddie Howe’s side will do their top-four aspirations a world of good.

There should be a case for Westham; the Hammers are flying in Europe and might want to focus on that glory, one that would get them automatic champions’ league qualification, something they will sing to at the London Stadium.

Westham will host Everton, and that is quite tricky. On paper, one would think the Hammers should roll over the Toffees, considering how poor Frank Lampard’s side has been of late, but we all know the guys at the foot of the log are the most dangerous to play at a time like this, be careful David Moyes.

A thought for the relegation battlers. Watford has no hope of picking anything at Anfield; Liverpool wants to win the league, and they can’t afford to pass on this opportunity, they will beat Watford, and we shouldn’t second-guess this.

Burnley plays twice in this game week with their rescheduled game against Everton billed to round off the game week. The Clarets play Manchester City on Saturday and they can’t expect much from that, their fans would only hope they don’t get a real hammering, they would need a positive goal difference if it comes down to the wire.

The signs are quite ominous for Norwich but 8points in eight-game weeks can be won, it starts with their visit to Brighton and Hove, can they win there and heap pressure on surrounding teams? Jesse Marsch is already getting Leeds out of the doldrums and it will now be down to Everton, Watford, and Burnley.