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An excuse to have an early weekend start at the pub, that’s what game week ten brings us friends. Friday night football means we meet up earlier than usual here; hope everyone remembered the early deadline and got all rosters sorted in time. An early start to the week can be like an early red card in a match, ruining all the promise of the build up.
Time to focus on those who have prepared, and are ready to focus on the action. Special commiseration to those who will be waiting for this week’s version of Pep roulette. I know I will be a little nervous waiting to see Raheem Sterling in the starting eleven.
Let’s go beyond my problems and look at a few of the talking points of the game week.
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Anfield Battle
After draws in games they were expected to win last week, Liverpool and Tottenham meet at Anfield hoping to get three points and start winning again. They both had great results in Europe midweek: Liverpool scored four in Mo Salah’s return, and Spurs did one better by putting five past Crvena Zvezda.
With the gap on Manchester City a little tighter, Jurgen Klopp will try to do better against this big six opponent than he managed at Old Trafford. As for Mauricio Pochettino, he must decide whether to stick with Heung-Min Son and Erik Lamela who were brilliant in midweek or rotate those who sat on the bench.
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Same, better, or worse?
Brighton meets Everton meet on Saturday as the 15th and 16th teams on the table. Together in the table, the question would be: Is this where we expected them to be?
The Seagulls have a manager who is in the Premier League for the first time, so he would be seen by a few to be doing better than expected because he is not in the bottom three. In the other dugout, it would be interesting to check with your local betting shop to find the odds on Marco Silva being the next manager to be fired. Let’s hope he took notice of what Brighton did in their previous home game with Tottenham. A similar result may see him out the door.
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Some quick hits to also keep an eye on this week:
Can Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain claim a starting position in the Liverpool midfield?
Will Kieran Tierney finally be given a starting role in the league after getting Europa League minutes?
Leandro Trossard is fit again. Keep an eye on him because he looked really good at the start of the season.
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Fixtures
Friday
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Saturday
- Manchester City v. Aston Villa
- Brighton v. Everton
- Watford v. Bournemouth
- West Ham v. Sheffield United
- Burnley v. Chelsea
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Sunday
- Newcastle v. Wolverhampton
- Arsenal v. Crystal Palace
- Liverpool v. Spurs
- Norwich v. Manchester United
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In closing friends, I would like to leave you with a quick suggestion: I will be attending a wedding at 11am on Saturday, at which time the likes of Callum Wilson and Tammy Abraham will be playing and hopefully scoring me lots of points. Make use of international breaks friends, so that fantasy addicts like myself are not constantly checking the phone as you say I do. Yes I’m selfish, so I will work on being a better person. In the meantime, please keep the Saturday scores updated in the comments; I’ll be depending on you!
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