KAMPALA: Three time Premier League top net buster Mohamed Salah is pushing for a starting slot in Sunday’s monumental Premier League clash with champions Manchester City. Salah came off the bench to plunder a six minute hat trick in Liverpool’s 7-1 Champions League annihilation of Glasgow Rangers. Until that goals deluge, Jurgen Klopp’s Carabao Cup and FA Cup holders had been off colour all season, winning only twice in eight Premier League outings to plunge to mid-table obscurity.
The division’s leading marksman, Erling Braut Haaland, returns to Pep Guardiola’s starting line up after being rested in City’s drab goalless stalemate at FC Copenhagen. The confrontation between Liverpool’s talismanic defender Virgil van Dijk and Haaland is certain to be an interesting sideshow at Anfield. Liverpool’s revival under Klopp coincided with the Netherlands captain’s arrival at Anfield but he’s been out of sorts in recent weeks. Haaland is meanwhile operating at a hitherto unseen stratosphere, bludgeoning a cool 15 goals in just 9 EPL outings.
Injured full backs Trent Alexander Arnold and Andrew Robertson, for so long a steady source of assists, are to be sorely missed as Klopp tries to mastermind a result against the unbeaten champions. Naby Keita, Joel Matip, Luis Diaz and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain also remain sidelined for the Kop who already trail City by a whooping 13 points, and consider anything other than victory a knock out blow to their title aspirations.
Premier League action resumes on Friday night with Thomas Frank’s Brentford up against Roberto de Zerbi’s Brighton Hove. Saturday’s action witnesses Tottenham Hotspur defend third place at home to Frank Lampard’s Everton less than 72 hours after Antonio Conte’s Londoners outlasted Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2 in a Champions League rubber.
No more excuses are to be tolerated from Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers when his struggling Foxes host Crystal Palace at the King Power Stadium in Saturday’s early kick off whereas Bournemouth’s caretaker manager Gary O’Neil will be keen to show his four-match unbeaten record is no flash in the pan when he takes his Cherries to fellow newcomers Fulham.
Super Sunday sees leaders Arsenal, who are widely recognised as the most improved side in the division, defend a slender one point advantage atop the standings away to Leeds United. In other games, Graham Potter’s Chelsea face a tricky visit to Aston Villa, Manchester United host Newcastle United in a clash of moneybags and Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Southampton welcome David Moyes’ West Ham United.
FRIDAY
Brentford v Brighton Hove
SATURDAY
Leicester City v Crystal Palace,
Fulham v Bournemouth,
Wolves v Nottingham Forest,
Tottenham Hotspur v Everton
SUNDAY
Aston Villa v Chelsea,
Leeds United v Arsenal,
Manchester United v Newcastle United,
Southampton v West Ham
Liverpool v Manchester City