Upbeat Liverpool ready for Everton

BOLSTERED by one of their “best nights”, Liverpool will look to pile fresh misery on Merseyside rivals Everton this weekend.

Leaders Arsenal travel to Manchester United aiming to extend the only perfect record in the Premier League this season, while Thomas Tuchel searches for answers to Chelsea’s struggles.

What a difference a week has made for Liverpool. Their three-match winless run ended with the sight of Jurgen Klopp punching the air in front of a jubilant Kop.

When draws against Fulham and Crystal Palace were followed by a defeat at Manchester United, Liverpool boss Klopp faced some difficult questions about his injury-hit side’s struggles.

But over the past seven days Liverpool hammered Bournemouth 9-0 to equal the Premier League’s record win, then stole a 2-1 victory against Newcastle thanks to Fabio Carvalho’s opportunistic strike with virtually the last kick of the game.

Granit Xhaka has urged his Arsenal teammates to show the killer instinct required to maintain their blistering form.

Ahead of tomorrow’s test at Manchester United, Mikel Arteta’s side sit two points clear at the top after five successive wins.

But their last two matches – a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Aston Villa on Wednesday and a gritty success by the same score against Fulham four days earlier – have left Xhaka concerned about Arsenal’s ability to turn territorial dominance into easy wins.

“We have to learn, you can’t always concede and come back like against Fulham or Villa, we have to try to finish and to kill the game before that,” Xhaka said.

Thomas Tuchel insists there are no excuses for Chelsea’s troubled start to the season and called for renewed focus ahead of tomorrow’s London derby against West Ham.

Tuchel’s men suffered their second defeat in five league games as they blew the lead in a 2-1 loss at Southampton on Tuesday.

Asked if the change of ownership from Roman Abramovich to the Todd Boehly-led consortium could still be having a lingering effect, Tuchel said: "Yeah maybe, but we know the line is so thin between excuses and explanations.

“So I better not go down this road, because I don’t want to give anybody any chance, myself, players, staff, any room for excuses.” – AFP

Fixtures

Today (4pm unless stated)

Everton v Liverpool (1.30pm), Brentford v Leeds, Newcastle v Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth, Tottenham v Fulham, Wolves v Southampton, Aston Villa v Manchester City (6.30pm)