W2W4: Can Poch finally win at United?
John Brewin previews the weekend's Premier League action and highlights five key storylines in W2W4.
The best of the rest?
If Manchester City are the outstanding team in England at the moment, Saturday stages a battle to be their main challengers. And though Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur might also be trailed as a clash of English football's top two strikers, there are serious doubts about Harry Kane facing up against Romelu Lukaku.
"We'll see, we'll see," said Mauricio Pochettino on Wednesday after Kane sat out West Ham's 3-2 Carabao Cup victory at Wembley. Kane suffered a hamstring problem late in last Sunday's 4-1 destruction of Liverpool, and to travel to Old Trafford without their talisman would present a big problem for Pochettino, yet to savour victory at United's home, and needing victory to clamber over United and reach second in the table.
Spurs have not even scored at Old Trafford since Pochettino took over in the summer of 2014, following in a not so proud tradition at the self-appointed "Theatre of Dreams" where Tottenham have won just twice in 25 Premier League visits.
Jose Mourinho meanwhile is seeking to recover the momentum lost when drawing 0-0 at Liverpool was followed by last week's loss at Huddersfield. Losing 2-1 in West Yorkshire has given rise to recriminations, with reports suggesting Mourinho had foretold defeat after a poor week on the training ground.
Having been publicly rebuked by Mourinho for admitting United's attitude had been unsatisfactory -- words that actually echoed the manager's own post-match verdict -- Ander Herrera felt moved this week to reassert the "fantastic" relationship the pair still enjoy.
With City five points clear and at struggling West Brom on Saturday, neither can afford to slip up, especially with Mourinho revving up for next week's trip to face Chelsea, and Antonio Conte. The pair have been sparring for a while now through the media.
Mourinho's relationship with Pochettino is warmer, though nowhere near fantastic. Suffering a first home defeat to the Argentine at the 10th time of asking would darken surely the disposition.
The sack race intensifies
Have the sackings come early? By this point in 2016-17, only Francesco Guidolin, axed by Swansea, had been removed from his position, but already in 2017-18, three bosses have been binned.
That's the same level as two seasons ago, when the departures of Dick Advocaat from Sunderland, Brendan Rodgers from Liverpool and Tim Sherwood from Tottenham made it three by this point in October. That 2015-16 season ended with nine managerial changes, compared to six last year.
Leicester vs. Everton on Sunday brings together the two clubs who have most recently sacked managers. Claude Puel was appointed on Wednesday to replace Craig Shakespeare, with the Frenchman described as a "perfect fit" by Leicester vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, a description that will have raised eyebrows among fans of Southampton, where Puel arrived a stranger and also left as one.
David Unsworth took temporary charge of Everton against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup. Photo by Tony McArdle - Everton FC/Everton FC via Getty Images
Meanwhile, after Ronald Koeman's sacking, David Unsworth is in the caretaker's role at Everton, the club he served with distinction as a defender and later as youth coach. He has not hidden that he wants the job full-time, and a win at the King Power would be a significant fillip to the audition he is undertaking.
Bilic's powers of recovery
Just when it seems Slaven Bilic's time at West Ham is done, his team finds a way to rescue him. The roller-coaster ride the Hammers have been on since they moved to the London Stadium last summer suggests that few managers can conjure the motivational qualities of Bilic when in a tight spot.
Last Friday, after a dreadful display in losing 3-0 at home to Brighton, Bilic left his future in the hands of the owners and it was decreed he had two games to save himself. Two goals down at Wembley on Wednesday looked like his cards being printed but his players then punched back at Spurs, scoring three times in the second half and saving Bilic for now.
Crystal Palace, whose 1-0 loss at Newcastle last week undid the good work of the previous week's win at Chelsea, are the second half of Slaven's salvation. Though if that is negotiated, another slump cannot be ruled out.
Old pals act at Anfield
There will be toothy grins, designer spectacles and banter aplenty along the Anfield sidelines on Saturday, when Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool take on David Wagner's Huddersfield Town.
Nigel Roddis/Getty Images
They have been confidantes since meeting as Mainz players in 1991, and worked at close quarters at Borussia Dortmund when Wagner was managing the reserve team during Klopp's glory years at the Westfalenstadion.
Should Wagner's team repeat the success that their "Terrier mentality" brought them in last week's defeat of Manchester United, then he will be looking down on Klopp in the table. Huddersfield are just a single point and two places behind ninth-placed Liverpool and another shock victory would only increase the growing doubts over the former senior partner's regime.
Arsenal's golden triangle
Last weekend's 5-2 win over Everton at Goodison Park marked the first time Arsene Wenger was able to field his star trio of Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Alexis Sanchez together, and a deluge of goals resulted.
Everton may have been in the death throes of a failed managerial regime, but Arsenal at once possessed serious firepower. Swansea on Saturday might be the next victims.
Source: espn.co.uk
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