Tottenham monitors the summit… and Arsenal to break its knot with City and remove it from the top spot
Tottenham is set to take the lead, albeit temporarily, if it wins over its humble host Luton Town today (Saturday), while all eyes will be on champion Manchester City and its host Arsenal (Sunday) in the most prominent matches of the eighth stage of the English Premier League.
While Manchester United searches for a brake on its rapid fall into the pit of bad results, with an easy match at home against Brentford, Liverpool, fourth and angry at the unfair refereeing decisions, defeats Brighton, sixth, in a strong match.
After being close to winning its first league title in two decades, Manchester City destroyed Arsenal’s dreams in the last breath of last season.
City imposed its contract on Arsenal with two wins last season (3-1 and 4-1), as part of a clean series of 7 matches against the London team in the league since the end of 2020.
During his coaching period at Arsenal, Spaniard Mikel Arteta trailed behind his former “teacher” and compatriot Guardiola with an embarrassing total of 3-19 goals, despite winning the honorary Community Shield match at the beginning of the season on penalties.
After defeating Newcastle United in the League Cup, City lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers, reducing the gap separating Guardiola’s team from its closest pursuers at the top to one point, which increases the heat of the match against Arsenal. But the 3-1 victory in the Champions League over Leipzig in Germany restored City’s confidence, and Guardiola commented that his team had the mental strength to return quickly, and said: “Maybe we did not perform the best (against Newcastle and Wolverhampton), but it was not easy when 10 players defended in an area.” The penalty. But despite that, if you think I’m going to doubt the players or doubt what we want to do this season then you’re wrong. I rely on these guys unconditionally, whether they win or not, because I know the mentality they have and they prove it. Now we will go to Arsenal and we will play our way.” Arsenal is one of only two teams that have not lost in the league so far, along with second-placed Tottenham Hotspur.
But the Gunners may play the match without their first star, Bukayo Saka, who came out injured from the match that Arsenal lost to French club Lens midweek in the Champions League.
While Brazilian winger Martinelli missed Arsenal’s last 5 matches, the biggest concern is top scorer Saka. Because his absence will lead to Arsenal’s lack of strength on the flanks.
Saka has participated in every league match since May 2021, which is approximately 90 consecutive matches.
Arteta faced criticism for not giving the 22-year-old player a rest, but the Spanish coach said that he had no regrets about playing him against Lens, stressing that he was technically and physically fit to play.
On the other hand, City, the European, League and Cup champion last season, will miss its Spanish defensive midfielder Rodri, to complete his three-match suspension, while Belgian Kevin De Bruyne is still absent due to injury, but 23-year-old Julian Alvarez has become the main playmaker. The Argentine player, who won the 2022 World Cup, participated in every match this season.
Tottenham will play an easy match on paper at the opening of the round when it meets Luton Town, which may make them jump to the top spot, even temporarily. Australian coach Ange Postecoglou does not want his Tottenham team to be affected by the controversy surrounding their benefit from a wrong decision by the video assistant referee in the 2-1 win over Liverpool in the previous round. Postecoglou said: “I said that I have never been a supporter of (VAR) since its use began. “Nothing but because I think it complicates aspects of the game that I previously thought were very obvious, but at the same time I see why the intervention of technology is inevitable. We have to deal with that because we are dealing with human beings.”
Guardiola is looking to impose his advantage over Arteta, his former assistant (AFP)cut out
On the other hand, Luton is looking to build on its first win in the English Premier League last week to get out of the relegation zone, but getting 3 points against the brilliant Tottenham will not be an easy task. While Manchester United was waiting for this period of the season to reap one win after another, it faced one crisis after another after its results deteriorated, both locally and in Europe.
United will look to put their worst start to a season in the English Premier League behind them when they face Brentford at Old Trafford, after Dutch coach Eric Ten Hag’s team was defeated 3 times out of the last 4 matches in all competitions, leaving the team 7 points away from the final fourth qualifying place. For the Champions League. Brentford only once beat United since 1938, but it came last season with a crushing score of 4-0. After an encouraging season, Ten Hag did not expect this deterioration in results, in light of successive injuries, mistakes by his new Cameroonian goalkeeper Andre Onana, and the fast of striker Marcus Rashford, who scored. 30 goals last season.
Liverpool travels to the south coast of England (Sunday) to meet Brighton, and is angry about the video assistant referee’s error that cost it a goal against Tottenham and thus its first loss this season 1-2.
Liverpool’s German coach, Jurgen Klopp, called for a replay of the match, but the chances of this happening are slim, if not impossible. On the other hand, Brighton achieved great results by defeating the likes of Manchester United and Newcastle 3-1, but suffered a tumultuous defeat to Aston Villa 1-6 in the last round, before a 2-2 draw with French side Marseille in the latter’s stronghold in the European League on Thursday.
Brighton coach Roberto De Zerbe acknowledged that his team is playing a “different sport” this season, in light of the injuries plaguing his team and the busy schedule resulting from its first European season.
The Italian coach said: “I am not talking about the results, but we have to face the challenge of all the difficult circumstances until the end of the season.”
West Ham will host Newcastle (Sunday), and both of them are happy with the good results they achieved in Europe, the first with their victory over German Freiburg 2-1 in the European League, and the second with their landslide victory over French Saint-Germain 4-1 in the Champions League.
Foden confirmed that City is ready to secure a win from Arsenal’s stronghold (AFP)cut out
West Ham United coach David Moyes expressed his pride in his team, which extended its unbeaten European campaign to 17 matches, a record at the English club level. West Ham won the European Conference League title last season, sharing with Leeds United and Tottenham Hotspur the record for the longest undefeated European run at the English club level, before seizing the record after its victory on Thursday in Germany.
Moyes said: “I hope we continue with the same approach and this record gives us a boost against Newcastle. We believe we will see a great competitive match.”
On the other hand, Newcastle coach Eddie Howe urged his players to be humble after the landslide victory over Saint-Germain in the second round of the Champions League, and to stop celebrations to focus on facing West Ham.
2023-10-07 12:32:09
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