Man City primed for another surge
Liverpool are top of the Premier League but the champions seem as if they’re finding the kind of stride that nobody has been able to live with over recent seasons.
It’s why most would still back Pep Guardiola to deliver a fourth successive title, even if the emotion of the last few months of Jurgen Klopp’s reign may add another layer of resolve to Anfield’s charge.
Kevin De Bruyne has been slowly reintroduced to first-team matters after a lengthy injury layoff, and recovery, and Burnley at home should be an ideal opportunity for the Belgian playmaker to get 90 minutes under his belt.
Oh, and Guardiola has confirmed that Erling Haaland is also available for selection having been out of action since 6 December due to a fracture in his foot.
It was on that date that City were made to look their most vulnerable for some time, Aston Villa overpowering and completely outplaying them in a 1-0 win.
Since returning from being crowned FIFA Club World Cup winners after Christmas, City have come from behind to beat Everton and also come out on the right side of a thrilling 3-2 clash against Newcastle United at St James’ Park.
Burnley are second bottom, six points from safety, and while two of their three wins have come away from home this season Vincent Kompany’s side should be easily brushed aside by a team approaching their ominous best.
Drawing conclusions from Liverpool-Chelsea
One of the great displays of spite from Jose Mourinho during his second spell in charge of Chelsea came when Liverpool appeared destined to end their 24-year wait for the league title.
It’s now approaching a decade since that April afternoon in 2014, when ultimate domestic success was within reach.
Then Steven Gerrard slipped, Demba Ba pounced, and Mourinho’s men produced a performance of such obfuscation that Anfield went into a collective meltdown that seemed to require the arrival of Klopp to revive its sense of hope.
We’re not quite at such a stage of the season now and Stamford Bridge’s current main man, Maurico Pochettino, doesn’t strike you as the type to go all-out Mourinho to stink out the place for a result.
Curiously, the last seven meetings between the sides in all competitions have ended in a draw. As referenced by the BBC, “it is the longest run of consecutive draws between two top-flight clubs in English football history.”
If that becomes eight it will not only halt Liverpool’s momentum, it will also give Chelsea added hope ahead of their League Cup final at Wembley next month.
Liverpool made no mistake against Championship side Norwich City on Sunday, but if they stutter here it won’t take long for murmurs to begin about Klopp’s decision to announce his departure at the end of this season.
A familiar sense of woe with a different outlook
All of a sudden Spurs find themselves in a very familiar position.
Fulham already ended Spurs’ League Cup hopes before the turn of the year while Manchester City struck late to knock them out of the FA Cup last weekend.
As a result, silverware now looks to be beyond them this season – unless they go on the unlikeliest of title charges and those more experienced rivals above them in the table capitulate.
Champions League qualification will certainly appease the club’s hierarchy.
Three points is simply a must against Brentford tonight, and not just to keep West Ham United at bay in sixth place.
The cup exits have taken just some of the shine of what has been an impressive first year in charge for manager Ange Postecogolou.
As it stands, they are still only three points off going level with City, although the champions have a game in hand and a far superior goal difference.
Postecoglou can welcome back influential midfielder Pape Matar Sarr this weekend after Senegal were knocked out of the African Cup of Nations, but they will remain without captain Son Heung-min for at least another week after South Korea reached Friday’s quarter-final of the Asian Cup with Australia.
James Maddison’s in line to start for the first time since 6 November and Postecogolou will be hoping he settles back into the starting XI just as sharply as he did in the first half of the season.
The sadness of Marcus Rashford
The last week has only served to highlight some of the issues that remain within the dressing room at Manchester United.
No amount of PR can spin it.
Marcus Rashford will be available for selection away to Wolverhampton Wanderers tomorrow after “accepting responsibility” for his actions in Belfast prior to Sunday’s FA Cup tie with Newport County.
United released a statement confirming the matter has been dealt with internally and is now closed.
If only.
There is a sadness to the whole situation. Rashford is an academy graduate. Last season he scored 30 goals. He has 127 in 385 appearances for United and, had he built on a stellar campaign in 2022/23, the conversation would have soon started about whether he would maintain the consistency to reach the summit and overtake Wayne Rooney on 253 goals.
What a feat that might have been, yet the talk now is of someone who doesn’t appear to have developed the maturity required to operate consistently at the highest level.
Rashford is 26 and an experienced figure with a five-year-deal that makes him one of the club’s highest earners until 2028.
At the moment it looks like one of the last acts of madness by the Glazer regime.
United’s talent line has since thrown up midfielder Kobbie Mainoo and his emergence has provided hope while Rasmus Hojlund has gotten a sense of the weight of expectation that Rashford has been living with at Old Trafford.
All three could still be key components of United’s future, but you wouldn’t bet on it.
