Man City out for revenge against Tottenham
Liverpool travels to Southampton • Arsenal hosts Burnley • Chelsea faces Leicester • United visits Wolves
Tottenham Hotspur ended Manchester City’s European ambitions last season and will be looking to dent Pep Guardiola’s side’s hopes of winning a third successive Premier League title when they meet at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
A rare setback in a near impeccable season from City came in April with a dramatic exit to Spurs in the Champions League quarterfinal.
City won the second-leg 4-3, but went out on away goals after a late goal from Raheem Sterling, which would have sent City through, was dramatically ruled out for offside following a VAR video review.
Just three days later the pair met again in the league as Guardiola’s side kept its title run on track with a 1-0 victory.
Both teams began their Premier League campaigns in winning fashion, with City sweeping aside West Ham United with a 5-0 win at London Stadium while Spurs struggled before emerging as 3-1 victors at home to promoted Aston Villa.
City will be relieved that Spurs’ South Korean winger Son Heung-min will miss the game while he serves a three-game suspension.
Son scored the only goal of the Champions League first leg and struck twice in the second-leg, but Harry Kane, who missed the last two meetings, has begun the season in form with a double against Villa.
Liverpool will need to recover quickly from its penalty shootout win over Chelsea in the Super Cup in Istanbul on Wednesday as it faces a trip to Southampton on Saturday.
Jurgen Klopp’s side began the season well with a 4-1 win over Norwich City, but is without first-choice ’keeper Alisson Becker, who picked up a calf injury in that opener.
Frank Lampard’s Chelsea suffered a 4-0 loss at Manchester United in its first outing, but showed plenty of promise in Istanbul and has an extra day to recover before taking on Leicester City at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Manchester United has a tricky trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday, returning to the venue where it was beaten 2-1 in the FA Cup quarterfinal in March.
Arsenal will look to follow-up its win at Newcastle United with another three points against Sean Dyche’s Burnley at the Emirates on Saturday.
The Gunners rested a number of new signings at St. James’ Park but could unleash their new strike trio of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and new arrival, winger, Nicolas Pepe.
Arsenal is unbeaten in 17 of its last 18 home matches. Burnley has lost the last 10 matches against Arsenal and has not beaten the Gunners since December 2008.
Van Dijk, Messi and Ronaldo vie for UEFA Player of the Year
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil Van Dijk have been shortlisted for the UEFA Player of the Year award, the European governing body said on Thursday.
While Ronaldo, a three-time winner, has been ever-present in the final three since the award was created in 2011, center-back Van Dijk makes his first appearance after helping Liverpool win the Champions League title last season.
Van Dijk was voted both the Premier League Player of the Season and the Players’ Player of the Year, and was instrumental in the Merseyside club’s sixth European Cup triumph.
Two-time award winner Messi was the leading scorer in both La Liga (36 goals) and the Champions League (12 goals) last season, but his Barcelona side fell in the semifinal stage to Liverpool, which overcame a three-goal deficit in the second leg to advance.
Ronaldo, who has won five Champions League titles, did not fare too well in Europe in his debut season with Juventus, the Italian side losing in the quarterfinals to Ajax Amsterdam.
However, he helped Juve seal its eighth successive league title with 21 goals and was voted the Serie A’s most valuable player.
For the women, treble-winner Olympique Lyonnais made it a clean sweep with striker Ada Hegerberg, right-back Lucy Bronze and midfielder Amandine Henry shortlisted.
The awards will be presented during the Champions League group stage draw ceremony in Monaco on August 29. (Reuters)
On TV: Premier League Round 2: Saturday: Arsenal vs Burnley (live on Sport 1 at 2:30 p.m.); Brighton & Hove Albion vs West Ham United (live on Sport 1 at 5 p.m.); Southampton vs Liverpool (live on Sport 2 at 5 p.m.); Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur (live on Sport 1 at 7:30 p.m.). Sunday: Sheffield United vs Crystal Palace (live on Sport 1 at 4 p.m.); Chelsea vs Leicester City (live on Sport 1 at 6:30 p.m.).
Monday: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Manchester United (live on Sport 1 at 10 p.m.).