Manchester United’s trip to Anfield to face Liverpool is the first game on the agenda. Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford are in red hot form at the moment and come up against a Liverpool team who are far from their usual selves this season, supported by the hard-working Wout Weghorst in attack. The directions of the two clubs seems to have almost switched this season with Jurgen Klopp’s side going backwards, while Erik ten Hag’s side have arguably gone forward with people even suggesting they could win the quadruple. In a similar sense, United’s two main full-backs have looked the part this season in Diogo Dalot and Luke Shaw compared with Liverpool’s two main full-backs, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson, who look like almost different players from last season. Liverpool have also had problems in midfield, highlighted by their reliance on 18-year-old Stefan Bajcetic. However, the one positive for last year’s Premier League runners-up has to be Mohamed Salah, who’s form has almost gone unnoticed, especially as he is on the brink of breaking some scoring records at Liverpool. There is also a combined XI for this big match.
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The next game up for discussion is Manchester City vs Newcastle. Newcastle have only won once in the Premier League in 2023 and come into this game after losing the Carabao Cup Final to Manchester United and the question is how much of a set back was that game and how can they bounce back? Loris Karius was Newcastle’s best performing player in that final, but is he worthy of a start here, even with Nick Pope back available? For City, Pep Guardiola has some selection dilemmas to contend with ahead of this match, with his side still competing on three fronts, with Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland arguably playing better together and Phil Foden, last weekend’s Player of the Week, potentially displacing Riyad Mahrez in the team for this upcoming match. There is also a combined XI for this match.
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The final match of the gameweek sees Fulham make the very short trip to Brentford on Monday night. Fulham boast one of the Premier League’s top strikers in Aleksandar Mitrovic, who has proved that his goalscoring abilities in the Championship last season could be replicated in the Premier League. However, Joao Palhinha one of Fulham’s most important players this season, will be missing from this game due to suspension, and the question is, how much of an effect will it be for the Cottagers. Both of these teams who were most recently promoted in 2021 and 2022 respectively have gone from strength to strength this season and could even find themselves in a European place by the end of the season.
Edge of the Box wouldn’t be the same without the just-a-minute section and that’s included with quickfire previews for some of the remaining fixtures to end the show.
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