Week 5 of the Premier League season is here, and it's likely to be the biggest week until Chelsea and Manchester City meet for a second time in 2015. The two title favorites face off at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, and even the most optimistic of [insert other team here] fans have to admit that these two are currently a class above the rest of the pack.
Premier League preview, Week 5: Manchester City vs. Chelsea, and some other stuff, we guess
The Premier League’s clear top two face off on Sunday. There are nine other games and some of them might be fun, but only one of them *really* matters.
It's also not hyperbolic to say that Chelsea could cement themselves as very clear title favorites in mid-September with a win on Sunday. They'd be eight points ahead of City already, and possibly even further ahead of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, who have to be thought of as fringe contenders at best. The Blues might go all Bayern Munich on the Premier League if City don't at least snatch a point.
But then again, Chelsea just drew Schalke at home, and Schalke stink.
QPR vs. Stoke City
Saturday, 7:45 a.m. ET/13:45 GMT
TV: NBC Sports Network (U.S.), BT Sport 1 (U.K.), Sportsnet regional networks (Canada)
If you live on the west side of the Atlantic Ocean, we’ll forgive you if you don’t wake up early for this one. Hell, we’ll forgive you if you live in Europe. It’s cool, you can sleep in past 1 pm.
It's tough to figure out what to make of Stoke, who pulled off an impressive win over Manchester City before struggling against Leicester next week. Meanwhile, it's quite easy to figure out what to make of QPR -- they're bad. But at home, they might be able to pull off a result due to some lucky breaks and a not abysmal performance, like they did against Sunderland.
Pick: 1-1 draw.
Aston Villa vs. Arsenal
Saturday, 10 a.m. ET/15:00 GMT
TV: NBC Sports Network (U.S.), TSN4 (Canada)
Don't look now, but Aston Villa appear to be a legitimately good team. They're quite dull, yes, but their Brad Guzan and Ron Vlaar-anchored defense is seriously formidable, and there was nothing lucky about their 1-0 win at Anfield last weekend. They were just better than Liverpool.
Arsenal, meanwhile, are the same team they've been for 10 years. They're extremely talented, but thin in defense, can get carved up on the break and Arsene Wenger's still playing lineups that don't make a lick of sense. There's no doubt that they have a much better squad than Villa, but based on Arsenal's last three performances and Villa's win against Liverpool, why would we expect the Gunners to go on a rampage here?
Pick: 1-1 draw.
Burnley vs. Sunderland
Saturday, 10 a.m. ET/15:00 GMT
They might be among the least offensive relegation fodder teams in the division, but Burnley and Sunderland are relegation fodder nonetheless. They’re both winless thus far, they’ll both be a bit afraid to lose this game, and it might be a bit dull. Sunderland have produced a decent number of goals this season, but it’s hard to see lots of them in this fixture.
Pick: 0-0 draw.
Saturday, 10 a.m. ET/15:00 GMT
This could be Alan Pardew’s swan song, and we hope it’s a good one. A home drubbing against Hull City might result in fans running on the pitch to assault the Newcastle boss, and should at the very least result in raucous booing and trash being thrown. Hull’s defense looks a tad shaky, but that’s probably just due to new players coming in; they’ll have it sorted out soon enough. And new signing Abel Hernandez looks like he’s put his awful finishing days behind him. This might be ugly for Pardew.
Pick: 3-1, Hull City.
Saturday, 10 a.m. ET/15:00 GMT
It's a Champions League six-pointer! Southampton and Swansea are sitting 3rd and 4th in the Premier League right now, and one of them might be able to sit in these spots until Christmas or so with a win, putting a right scare into the Tottenham Hotspurs and Manchester Uniteds of the world. If either side finishes ahead of a Sky Six team, that club's fans are going to revolt, and it'll be glorious.
As for this actual fixture, there's a good chance it's the most entertaining one of the round, even if these teams are both destined for mid-table finishes and it won't matter much in the end. Southampton have replaced their departed stars amazingly and Garry Monk appears to be the great young British managerial hope. These teams are fun, but balance attack and defense very well. They're light on huge names, but heavy on impressive goals. They're awesome. Watch this instead of the Arsenal game.
Pick: 2-2 draw.
West Ham United vs. Liverpool
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. ET/17:30 GMT
TV: NBC (U.S.), Sky Sports 1 (U.K.), Sportsnet regional networks (Canada)
So Liverpool look pretty out of sorts right now. They almost dropped points at home against Ludogorets in Champions League and Brendan Rodgers got outcoached by Paul Lambert last weekend. But they're still a really good team with a lot of really good players, even if Dejan Lovren isn't worth anywhere near £20m and playing Steven Gerrard as a lone holder is insane.
They’re quite a bit better than West Ham. They can score away to West Ham. We think?
Pick: 2-1, Liverpool.
Leicester City vs. Manchester United
Sunday, 8:30 a.m. ET/13:30 GMT
TV: CNBC (U.S.), Sky Sports 1 (U.K.), TSN2 (Canada)
To the surprise of absolutely no one that watched them last season, Leicester City are holding their own in the Premier League, even with an absolutely brutal schedule to start the season. They got a point against both Everton and Arsenal, gave Chelsea more of a game than their 2-0 loss suggests and won away to Stoke last week. Is there any reason to believe they won’t give Manchester United all they can handle on Sunday?
United thrashed QPR 4-0 last week, but QPR are odds-on to get relegated, and United previously struggled against less than stellar opposition. Their new signings are helping quite a bit, though, and probably make them slight favorites. Even if the only reason Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind help is because they merely resemble a professional defender and defensive midfielder, that does represent a supernova-sized improvement over what United had. Angel Di Maria, on the other hand, is legitimately world class and what he did against QPR is merely what he did in the Champions League and World Cup, previously.
It’s hard to pick against a team with a player like Di Maria, in the form he’s in, but United’s not good enough to blow out Leiciester away. This will be a good match.
Pick: 2-1, United.
Tottenham Hotspur vs. West Bromwich Albion
Sunday, 8:30 a.m. ET/13:30 GMT
Tottenham Hotspur are playing really entertaining football while coming up with silly ways to drop points, so Mauricio Pochettino hasn’t been able to change much of anything at White Hart Lane yet. It’ll probably be a while before Poche gets his team playing the way he wants, but it’s tough to pick against them here. West Brom are winless and Spurs rested most of their starters in Europa League on Thursday.
Pick: 2-0, Tottenham.
Everton vs. Crystal Palace
Sunday, 11:00 p.m. ET/16:00 GMT
TV: NBC Sports Network (U.S.), Sky Sports 1 (U.K.), Sportsnet World (Canada)
Everton's 10 goals conceded look super scary, but they kept a clean sheet on the road last week and won 4-1 in Europa League on Thursday. The only goal for Wolfsburg was an unstoppable, world class free kick in the 94th minute. There's a good chance that Roberto Martinez has things sorted out, at least well enough to beat Palace -- who didn't score against Burnley at Selhurst Park last week -- at home.
Pick: 3-0, Everton.
Manchester City vs. Chelsea
Sunday, 11:00 p.m. ET/16:00 GMT
TV: NBC Sports Network (U.S.), Sky Sports 1 (U.K.), Sportsnet One (Canada)
Jose Mourinho likes his team to keep their shape and counter-attack in big games, and especially in big games on the road. It usually serves them very well. But on the evidence of his team’s performances so far this season, they’re not particularly great at that. They’ve looked absolutely dynamite going forward, but surprisingly shambolic defensively.
For that reason, it would be stunning to see Chelsea stick with the same team they’ve rolled out all season. Giving Cesc Fabregas any defensive responsibility against a team of City’s quality is a recipe for disaster, and Mourinho probably knows better than to roll with a Cesc-Nemanja Matic pivot. A lineup change or new formation is probably on the way.
City, meanwhile, showed mid-week that they're up for games against teams of Chelsea's quality. They lost to Bayern Munich, yes, but put together a very good performance at the Allianz Arena and were a couple minutes from earning a point.
Ultimately, these teams might struggle to make this a cagey affair, even if they try to. Chelsea haven't looked capable of doing that this year, while City will start one of either debutante Eliaquim Mangala or the very Martin Demichelisy Martin Demichelis in defense. Could we get a wide-open thriller?
Pick: 2-2 draw.
Listings via LiveSoccerTV.
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