- Alex Keble (@alexkeble) is a football journalist who specialises in tactical understanding, analysis and predictions of all aspects of the game.
Mac Allister v Rice
- Liverpool vs Arsenal
- Sky Sports: Saturday, 17:30 GMT
- Home 7/5 | Draw 13/5 | Away 7/4
Liverpool’s disappointing 0-0 draw with Manchester United was a long time coming. Performances have weakened over the last few weeks as Jurgen Klopp’s central midfield hits a difficult patch, making the visit of Arsenal this weekend unfortunate timing.
Finally Mikel Arteta’s new-look midfield is beginning to click. Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard are working well as tandem number eights ahead of Declan Rice, who prowls behind them sweeping up loose balls and feeding the more creative pair.
There is a very good chance that Havertz and Odegaard will find gaps in the half-spaces behind Ryan Gravenberch and Dominic Szoboszlai.
Klopp’s best hope is restoring Alexis Mac Allister at the base. From a defensive standpoint he is no match for Rice, but Mac Allister’s ability to play neat progressive passes through on-rushing opposition midfielders can set Liverpool away, keeping them on the front foot and minimising the risks posed by Havertz and Odegaard.
Just as important is Klopp’s selection up front. He should have started Cody Gakpo as a false nine against Man Utd, but instead he went for Darwin Nunez, whose tendency to hover on the last line meant Liverpool’s forwards were disconnected from their midfielders.
If Gakpo drops from here to connect with Mac Allister, effectively forming a diamond in midfield, Liverpool can get a grip.
If not, Rice, Odegaard, and Havertz can take control of the middle third and turn this into an end-to-end game of the sort that will favour the visitors: Gabriel Martinelli, receiving long switches out to the left, should make mincemeat of Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Kudus & Paqueta v Mainoo & Amrabat
- West Ham vs Manchester United
- TNT Sports: Saturday, 12:30 GMT
- Home 6/4 | Draw 13/5 | Away 13/8
Manchester United haven’t scored in any of their last three matches in all competitions and yet Erik ten Hag has been broadly pleased with his team’s performances.
That’s because he re-introduced a conservative, low block, minimal pressing system for games against Bayern Munich and Liverpool. It is surely only a temporary solution. West Ham United will make sure it is.
David Moyes loves to play on the back foot, absorbing pressure from supposedly superior opponents before breaking into space with longer balls into the channels. That means the pattern of Saturday’s game will be Man Utd possession and territory, something Ten Hag’s side haven’t enjoyed of late – because it also means pressing high and hard, and therefore haphazardly.
All season they have suffered when facing strong counter-attacking teams, mainly because their attempts to press after losing possession are so poorly executed. These issues will only be exacerbated when their second-string midfield, Sofian Amrabat and Kobbie Mainoo, are left floundering against the breakaway speed of Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus.
Paqueta and Kudus, starting on either wing, are free to cut inside to get tight to striker Jarrod Bowen, forming a close three-pronged attack that can go straight at the heart of Man Utd’s weakened midfield.
It is a clear mismatch favouring the hosts, whose compact defensive shape should be capable of shutting down tame and slow Man Utd attacks.
Moyes’s side ought to be clear favourites to get the three points and move above Man Utd in the table.
Doucoure v Bissouma-less midfield
- Spurs v Everton
- Saturday, 15:00 GMT
- Home 4/5 | Draw 3/1 | Away 3/1
Bad news keeps coming for Ange Postecoglou and even in victory last weekend they lost Yves Bissouma to suspension, taking out another crucial player from the Tottenham Hotspur midfield.
Bissouma has attempted more tackles (50) and completed more interceptions (20) than any other Spurs player, acting as the fulcrum in this Spurs team. Postecoglou depends on his capacity to stop opponents from counter-attacking freely when the two Tottenham full-backs race ahead of the play. He is irreplaceable.
Sean Dyche’s Everton, who have won five of the last six matches, rely upon long passes up towards Dominic Calvert-Lewin and the expectation that team-mates will be first to the second ball. Normally that man is Abdoulaye Doucoure, but a thigh injury keeps him out of this one and his replacement, James Garner, is less of a physical presence.
Nevertheless, with Spurs lacking physicality in midfield and missing Bissouma, the key battleground will surely be in the areas where those second balls drop.
Reactive Nuno v Iraola’s high press
- Nottingham Forest vs Bournemouth
- Saturday, 15:00 GMT
- Home 7/4 | Draw 12/5 | Away 6/4
Nuno Espirito Santo will be in the dugout this weekend for his first match in charge since replacing Steve Cooper, and it is arguably the perfect opener for fans to get a good look at their new manager.
It is hardly an inspiring appointment. Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was supposedly interested in a front-foot manager but instead he has hired someone who plays football not dissimilar to Jose Mourinho. Forest will be conservative, reactive, and build on counter-attacking from a solid foundation.
We can expect to see rapid counters led by Morgan Gibbs-White, Anthony Elanga, and Callum Hudson-Odoi. It is not a bad method for Forest given the profile of their squad, and it could work well against a Bournemouth team whose high press under Andoni Iraola sometimes leaves them open to more direct counter-attacking teams.
Forest won’t be passing out from the back, somewhat negating Bournemouth’s pressure, while time will be spent during the week re-coaching the Forest defensive shape. They could hold tight, force Iraola’s side to have more possession than they would like, and then hit them on the break.
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