City host Man United in Manchester derby
london — Premier League leaders Manchester City can ensure Manchester United’s recent revival is short-lived by opening up a 12-point gap on their local rivals on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a series of tributes are planned as Leicester return to the King Power Stadium for the first time since club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four other people were tragically killed in a helicopter crash.
Here, AFP Sport looks at three things to watch out for in the Premier League this weekend:
The champions hold just a twopoint lead over Chelsea and Liverpool at the top of the table, but have looked relentless in recent weeks and shown no sign of a slip in standards from their recordbreaking 100-point Premier League campaign of last season, scoring 12 times in their last two outings alone.
One of precious few blemishes from last term, though, was blowing the chance to claim the title by beating United at the Etihad as City threw away a 2-0 half-time lead to lose 3-2.
That result only marginally stemmed the tide in the power shift across Manchester towards City since Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.
United have failed to finish above City in the league since, and are already nine points behind the leaders.
However, Jose Mourinho’s men were also buoyed by their best result of the season by a distance in winning at Juventus in dramatic fashion on Wednesday to back up victories over Everton and Bournemouth.
Defensive concerns remain for Mourinho, though, with United keeping just one clean sheet in their last 10 matches. Stopping a City side averaging four goals a game at the Etihad in the Premier League this season is a monumental task.
Two weeks after Vichai’s helicopter crashed in the car park of the King Power shortly after Leicester’s last home match against West Ham, the Foxes will again pay tribute to the man who helped produce one of the greatest upsets in sporting history as a team labelled a 5,000-1 shot won the Premier League in 2016.
Leicester players, staff and fans united for an emotional victory at Cardiff last weekend before the players flew to Thailand to pay their respects at Vichai’s funeral. — Saturday
Cardiff City v Brighton & Hove Albion (4:30pm) Huddersfield Town v West Ham United (7pm) Leicester City v Burnley (7pm) Newcastle United v AFC Bournemouth (7pm) Southampton v Watford (7pm) Crystal Palace v Tottenham Hotspur (9:30pm) Sunday
Liverpool v Fulham (4pm) Chelsea v Everton (6:15pm) Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers (8:30pm) Manchester City v Manchester United (8:30pm)
Saturday
Real Valladolid v Eibar (4pm) Getafe v Valencia (7:15pm) Atletico Madrid v Athletic Club (9:30pm) Girona v Leganés (11:45pm) Sunday
Deportivo Alaves v Huesca (3pm) Barcelona v Real Betis (7:15pm) Rayo Vallecano v Villarreal (9:30pm) Sevilla v Espanyol (9:30pm) Celta de Vigo v Real Madrid (11:45pm)
Saturday
Hoffenheim v Augsburg (6:30pm) Werder Bremen v Borussia M’gladbach (6:30pm) Freiburg v Mainz 05 (6:30pm) Fortuna Dusseldorf v Hertha BSC (6:30pm) Nurnberg v Stuttgart (6:30pm) Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munchen (9:30pm)
Sunday
RB Leipzig v Bayer Leverkusen (6:30pm) Eintracht Frankfurt v Schalke 04 (9pm)
Saturday
Torino v Parma (6pm) SPAL v Cagliari (9pm) Genoa v Napoli (11:30pm) Sunday
Atalanta v Internazionale (3:30pm) Chievo v Bologna (6pm) Empoli v Udinese (6pm) Roma v Sampdoria (6pm) Sassuolo v Lazio (9pm) Milan v Juventus (11:30pm)
Saturday
Guingamp v Olympique Lyonnais (8pm) Angers SCO v Montpellier (11pm) Names v Nice (11pm) SaintEtienne v Reims (11pm) Toulouse v Amiens SC (11pm)
Sunday
Bordeaux v Caen (6pm) Olympique Marseille v Dijon (8pm) Rennes v Nantes (8pm) Monaco v PSG (0000)
10
Matches and only one clean sheet for Manchester United
Saturday
Boca Juniors v River Plate (0000)
Saturday
Persepolis v Kashima Antlers (7pm)
StaNDINGS
Man City Chelsea Liverpool Tottenham Arsenal Bournemouth Man Utd Watford Everton Leicester Wolves Brighton West Ham Palace Burnley Southampton Newcastle Huddersfield Cardiff Fulham
Barcelona Espanyol Sevilla Atletico Alaves Real Levante Getafe Valladolid Girona Celta Vigo Eibar Sociedad Real Betis Valencia Villarreal Bilbao Leganes Vallecano Huesca
Dortmund M’gladbach Bayern Leipzig Frankfurt Bremen Hoffenheim Hertha Augsburg Freiburg Wolfsburg Mainz Leverkusen Schalke 04 Nuremberg Hanover Dusseldorf Stuttgart
Juventus Inter Milan Napoli AC Milan Lazio Sassuolo Torino Fiorentina Roma Atalanta Sampdoria Parma Genoa Cagliari SPAL Udinese Bologna Empoli Frosinone Chievo 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 9 8 8 8 7 6 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1
7 6 6 5 6 5 5 4 4 4 3 4 3 3 1 2 1 2 1 1
7 6 6 5 5 5 5 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 1 1
10 8 8 6 7 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 2 2 1 1 0 2 3 3 0 2 2 2 1 3 1 3 2 2 2 2 4 3 3 2 2
3 3 2 5 2 2 2 4 4 4 5 2 4 4 8 4 7 3 3 3
3 2 2 4 2 2 1 4 4 4 3 3 2 1 4 3 2 2
1 1 1 3 0 3 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 4 0 3 3 3 3 2
Paris SG 12 12 0 Montpellier 12 7 4 Lille 12 8 1 Lyon 12 6 3 Saint-Etienne 12 5 5 Marseille 12 6 1 Strasbourg 12 4 5 Reims 12 4 5 Nice 12 5 2 Nantes 12 4 3 Bordeaux 12 4 3 Rennes 12 4 3 Nimes 12 3 5 Toulouse 12 3 5 Angers 12 3 3 Caen 12 2 5 Dijon 12 3 2 Amiens 12 3 1 Monaco 12 1 4 Guingamp 12 1 4 0 33 4 29 0 27 8 27 0 21 5 27 3 19 10 24 2 25 14 23 3 20 14 20 3 19 18 20 4 16 13 19 3 19 15 18 5 17 16 16 4 11 12 15 5 12 16 14 6 13 17 11 7 8 16 8 7 12 25 8 6 7 20 7 7 7 14 6 7 4 21 6 8 9 24 5 8 11 29 5
1 31 14 24 2 15 8 21 3 22 13 20 1 13 6 20 3 15 11 20 4 16 14 17 4 17 16 17 3 11 9 16 3 9 9 16 3 13 14 16 3 20 16 14 5 12 18 14 4 12 13 13 4 8 12 13 2 7 9 11 5 9 11 10 3 11 16 10 6 9 16 9 7 12 23 6 7 9 23 6
0 30 10 24 2 23 12 20 2 18 11 20 1 19 9 19 3 23 13 17 3 18 16 17 4 22 14 16 2 15 13 16 3 18 16 13 3 14 16 13 4 14 15 12 4 7 11 12 5 16 21 11 6 8 12 10 4 11 22 10 6 12 21 6 7 6 24 5 7 6 24 5
0 24 8 31 2 21 6 25 2 24 12 25 2 21 14 21 4 17 13 21 3 19 16 18 2 16 13 17 3 17 9 16 3 18 14 16 4 19 13 15 4 15 11 15 5 10 14 14 5 16 24 14 4 10 14 13 7 9 17 12 6 10 16 9 6 9 16 9 7 10 20 6 7 9 24 6 9 8 28 -1
0 41 7 36 1 20 7 25 3 21 10 25 3 19 14 21 2 17 17 20 5 22 21 19 3 20 16 17 3 8 10 17 5 9 14 17 5 19 17 15 5 14 15 15 5 15 18 15 4 18 19 14 4 11 20 14 6 16 19 12 5 11 16 11 7 12 21 11 8 12 21 10 7 12 18 7 7 7 24 7