Sports

Premier League fixtures: Man City face Arsenal as West Ham host Chelsea

Manchester City will face Arsenal in a showdown between the Premier League title favourites on Sunday, while West Ham will host Chelsea at the London Stadium on Saturday.

Liverpool are also looking to bounce back from a shock home defeat to Nottingham Forest when Bournemouth visit Anfield and Manchester United seek revenge with a trip to Crystal Palace.

A battle between the top two pits the unstoppable force in City’s in-form striker Erling Haaland against the immovable object in Arsenal’s obdurate defence.

Haaland has struck a Premier League record nine times in the opening four games of the season.

However, Arsenal have only conceded once, when down to 10 men against Brighton, and kept clean sheets already away at Aston Villa and Tottenham.

The top two in each of the past two seasons already occupy those positions once more.

City manager Pep Guardiola said: “It’s another unbelievable team that defend really well. They don’t concede chances, they don’t concede goals. In many aspects they control everything.

Guardiola: I feel weaker against Arteta

“Was the biggest challenge for the title the last two seasons, they are there and will be there for many years because they created a depth of squad and a young team.”

City are the only side with a perfect 12 points so far, but a depleted Arsenal made sure they are only two points behind by grinding out a 1-0 victory over Spurs in last weekend’s north London derby.

The Gunners are set to be missing captain Martin Odegaard once more due to an ankle injury but can welcome back Declan Rice from suspension.

City are also set to be without their creative hub as Kevin De Bruyne limped out of Wednesday’s 0-0 Champions League draw against Inter Milan.

Postecoglou under pressure

Arsenal’s third consecutive away derby win at Tottenham ramped up the scrutiny on Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou.

Spurs have taken only four points from their opening four Premier League games of the season and their form has been trending downward for some time.

After a blistering start under the former Australia manager, Tottenham have won just 13 of their last 32 league games, including seven defeats in the last 11.

Postecoglou has insisted he will deliver silverware in his second season in charge but narrowly avoided a League Cup exit to second-tier Coventry in midweek.

Arsenal defeat Tottenham in North London derby

With trips to Manchester United and Brighton to come, Spurs need to steady the ship against a Brentford side that troubled City last weekend in a 2-1 defeat, AFP reported.

Below are Premier League fixtures slated for the weekend:

Saturday

West Ham v Chelsea

Aston Villa v Wolves

Fulham v Newcastle

Leicester v Everton

Liverpool v Bournemouth

Southampton v Ipswich

Tottenham v Brentford

Crystal Palace v Man United

Sunday

Brighton v Nottingham Forest