EPL Preview! Time for Chelsea to Bounce Back and a Huge Test for Liverpool

Chelsea will be eager to put a stop to their run of games without a win for the past three matches. Chelsea will host Watford at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and are still without key man, Kante. After enduring a frustrating game against United, Liverpool will have to test their luck against in-form Tottenham Hotspur. Manchester United will play Huddersfield can only hope City drop points against stubborn Burnley.
All the weekend Premier League preview matches below:

Chelsea vs Watford (Stamford Bridge – Sat, 21st Oct, 2017 @ 12:30pm)
Chelsea will be facing an in-form and strong Watford team. Watford are currently above Chelsea in the league table and it does not promise to be an easy game for the defending champions.
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– Watford are this season’s surprise package and currently occupy 4th place, having lost only 1 game so far this term against an in-form Manchester City side (6-0). Watford are 2 points above defending champions Chelsea after 8 games (W4, D3, L1).
– Chelsea have not lost to Watford at home since 1986, since the turn of the century they have remained unbeaten (W9, D3) scoring 32 goals across these 12 fixtures.
– In the 4 PL meetings since Watford’s most recent promotion in 2015 there has been an average of 5.75 yellow cards, but only 1 red card has been shown.
– This is the 1st ever meeting between Antonio Conte and Marco Silva. Both teams like to leave it late; from 75 minutes onwards, Chelsea have scored 4 and conceded 1 (Batshuayi own goal) so far. Watford are similarly strong late in games, 5 scored and 2 conceded (both away at Manchester City).
– Chelsea have lost 2 league games in a row, the first time this has happened under Antonio Conte. It is only the 2nd time that they have gone 2 games in a row without a win.
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Huddersfield vs Manchester United (Kirkless Stadium – Sat, 21st Oct, 2017 @ 3:00pm)
Manchester United might have a good chance of closing down the gap on City this weekend if everything goes as planned for them. Still without Pogba and Fellaini, Man United are likely to be without Rashford who picked up an injury in Champions League match against Benfica on Wednesday.
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– This will be the first meeting between these 2 sides since Huddersfield were last in the top flight in the 1971/72 season, with Man Utd winning both games that year.
– Huddersfield have won only 1 of their first 4 home games in the Premier League (PL) this season, which was a 1-0 victory against Newcastle on the opening day.
– Man Utd are unbeaten in their last 10 league matches against Huddersfield, winning 7 and drawing 3, since a 3-2 away defeat in March 1952.
– Man Utd have kept 9 clean sheets in their last 10 PL matches and could become the first team to keep 8 clean sheets in their first 9 games of a season.
– Jose Mourinho has lost just 2 of his previous 39 PL matches against newly-promoted sides, winning 33 and drawing 4.
– Romelu Lukaku, who is the current top goalscorer in the PL with 7 goals in 8 games, has failed to score in 17 of his last 24 matches against newly-promoted teams.

Manchester City vs Burnley (Etihad Stadium – Sat, 21st Oct, 2017 @ 3:00pm)
Presently the most potent attacking team in Europe at the moment. Manchester City have stepped up their goal scoring ability under Guardiola this season and this form is not only peculiar to their domestic outings, they have performed well in Europe so far this season. Burnley are tasked with a huge responsibility to stop rampant City who recently whipped Stoke City 7-2. However, Burnley are not doing bad as well at the moment, with 13 points in 8 games, this is their best start to a season.
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– Manchester City come into this game on the back of European success over Napoli on Tuesday night (2-1). Burnley will be no pushovers as they remain unbeaten away from home this season (W2, D2), a stark contrast to the Burnley of last season.
– City are in fine scoring form, and have won their last 3 consecutive PL games by a 5 goal margin. The Citizens look to make it 4 in a row for the 1st time since Everton achieved it in 1931.
– City can possibly match yet another scoring record in this fixture, having scored 5+ goals in 6 league matches this calendar year, 1 more game would match Chelsea’s record of 7 in 2010.
– Underestimate Burnley at your own risk, as their impressive away form has not come against just your average PL teams, they have picked up 5 points away from home to 3 of last season’s top 4 already this year (Draw at Liverpool, Draw at Spurs, Win at Chelsea).
– City have never kept a clean sheet vs Burnley in a top flight game, there have been 6 such occasions.
– Burnley keeper Nick Pope has the best save percentage in the entire league, conceding just 2 goals in 414 minutes of football this season.
– This is Burnleys best-ever start to a PL campaign with 13 points from 8 games. Only goal difference separates them from the European spots at this stage.

Everton vs Arsenal (Goodison Park – Sat, 21st Oct, 2017 @ 3:00pm)
Things have not been all rosy for Everton this season. With the departure of fire power in Lukaku and losing Barkley to a long term injury, Everton have failed to produce the fear they usually imposed on visiting clubs. Arsenal on the other hand, are having a mixed kind of form this season and its beginning to look like they will excel in Europa League than make top four this season. Giroud will hope to take his good form into this match and it doesn’t promise to be an easy one for the Gunners.
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– Everton are hoping to secure a second consecutive home win over Arsenal for the first time in 10 years – Everton’s last consecutive home wins against – Arsenal were back in January ‘06 and March ‘07.
– Everton’s longest unbeaten run against Arsenal in the Premier League (PL) era is (jointly) just 3 matches. This was 3 draws between Feb ’94 and Jan ’95, and again between Nov ‘12 and Dec ‘13.
– Going back to January ’97, Arsenal have won 60% of all their UK-televised matches against Everton. Everton’s record against Arsenal in those games is W5, D3 and L12. The aggregate score is Everton 18-39 Arsenal.
– In 25 editions of the PL, Arsenal have won 11 times at Goodison Park, which is the best record against any team within the Premier League. On 3 of those occasions they have scored 4+ goals.
– Arsene Wenger has been in charge of Arsenal since Oct ’96 and has an outstanding record against Everton since then, with 30 Wins, 9 Draws and just 6 Losses.
– If Arsenal’s main striker Alexandre Lacazette scores today without reply, then he will have scored more goals than the entire Everton team put together.
– On the last 7 occasions that a team has won this fixture, they have had to do so by scoring 2+ goals.

Tottenham vs Liverpool (Wembley – Sat, 21st Oct, 2017 @ 6:15pm)
It is believed that this match would be the most talked about by the end of the day. Both teams play good attacking football, but Tottenham look more balanced in defence. Liverpool have always had the upper hand in this fixture but it will be too early for Tottenham to slip up. Coming back from encouraging midweek performance in the Champions League, it promises to be an exciting match, but many would be disappointed if it yield no result.
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– The standout Premier League (PL) game of the weekend sees 3rd placed Tottenham take on 8th placed Liverpool in a game neither can really afford to lose.
– Tottenham are still finding life tough at their temporary Wembley home and were fairly unconvincing in their 1st home win of the season last week against Bournemouth (1-0). They do, however, come into this game off the back of an excellent point away to Real Madrid in the Champions League (CL).
– With 4 draws, Liverpool are this season’s PL draw specialists (along with Burnley). The last 2 games between the 2 sides at Tottenham have both been draws.
– Despite drawing a blank in his last 2 games, Harry Kane (Tottenham) has 43 goals to his name in 2017 for club and country at an average of 1.10 goals a game.
– With both teams travelling away in the CL on Tuesday, there could be some tired legs come the end of the game on the big Wembley pitch.
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