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Stumbling giants both need all three points and a midweek double-dip means it's a crucial period in shaping the table.
Published Feb 05, 2026 • 6 minute read
Manchester City's Jeremy Doku dribbles the ball followed by Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai during a game last season.
Manchester City's Jeremy Doku dribbles the ball followed by Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai during a game last season. AP Photo
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For close to a decade Liverpool versus Manchester City has been the marquee matchup in the Premier League.
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In the past four seasons, Arsenal have muscled into the picture, but the Reds taking on Pep Guariola’s Sky Blues still retains a spot in the appointment-watching calendar.
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While both teams have stumbled this season — Liverpool more so than City — they’ve also shown moments of quality where they look capable of beating anyone when they have their act together.
Liverpool have shown that in their last two matches, beating Qarabag 6-0 in Champions League play last week before thrashing Newcastle 4-1 on the weekend.
City blew a 2-0 halftime lead at Tottenham to end up with a draw and have just one win in their last five matches, but still retain an eight-point bulge over Liverpool while Arsenal cruise at the top six ahead of City.
Surely a Liverpool win this weekend, with Arsenal facing Sunderland, would all but end City’s title bid.
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Liverpool are in desperation mode. With Chelsea and Manchester United both bouncing back to life after sacking their managers, the new boys — Michael Carrick at United and Liam Rosenior at Chelsea — have won three in a row.
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The top four make the Champions League with a strong possibility of a fifth spot depending on how well English teams do in this year’s European competitions. With five teams in the knockout rounds already and another one, Newcastle, in the playoffs, it’s a good bet England will get five slots in next year’s competition, which will award up to $200 million just for getting in.
Liverpool sit in sixth, one point back of Chelsea and two back of United. Most likely one of those three is going to miss out so the stakes are high.
A win at home against City on Sunday will certainly sound an alarm bell for the other teams, United are at home against struggling Spurs while Chelsea get last-place Wolves.
There’s a set of midweek fixtures next week and Liverpool again have the toughest task on hand facing eighth-place Sunderland while Chelsea have Leeds and Manchester United have woeful West Ham.
If Liverpool want to hold serve, they’ll need six points out of six in this next week.
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The best news for Liverpool has been the ignition of some of their pricey new buys from last summer. While they’re ravaged by injury, particularly on their back line where they’ve been using midfield piston Dominic Szoboszlai as a makeshift right back, attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz and striker Hugo Ekitike are sparking the club’s offence into life.
Ekitike has 15 goals and looks like the most dangerous new attacker in the league. Wirtz has six goals and six assists in his last 10 games.
And it’s an understanding between the two that has made things work, as they’ve both acclimatized to their new surroundings as friends, and the pair have assisted each other on three goals each — the most potent partnership in the league.
On City’s side, they beat Newcastle 3-1 on Wednesday to move into the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal, but will be buoyed by the goal scoring of others rather than their over-reliance on Erling Haaland.
Omar Marmoush scored twice and Tijjani Reijnders also hit the net. Seeing how vulnerable Liverpool’s defence is, that will be a good sign.
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Virgil van Dijk has had remarkable success defending Haaland over the years, so goal threats coming from Marmoush in particular will be a welcome sight for manager Pep Guardiola.
City’s other game this week is against Fulham and, considering Arsenal have Sunderland and Brentford — not easy but not overly daunting — City absolutely must win to keep pace.
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Manchester United: Such a sharp contrast to the doom and gloom that have enveloped United in recent years. Last week they gave up a goal to Fulham in injury time to blow a lead and see the game draw level at 2-2. They promptly kicked off and went and scored the winner with seconds to spare. The feel-good factor is off the charts and they host Spurs, who are coming off a spirited comeback from 2-0 down at the half to draw with City, but are still a mess at the back. The only teams in the entire league to score more goals than United this season are Arsenal and Manchester City.
Chelsea: New manager Rosenior was getting all sorts of plaudits from his team coming from 2-0 down against West Ham to win 3-2 last week, then he was criticized heavily for meekly setting up defensively in their Carabao Cup semifinal loss to Arsenal. They have a gimme this week versus Wolves and then face Leeds so they could easily stretch their winning run to five games.
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Bournemouth: Other than Chelsea and United, the Cherries are the only other team in the league with two wins in a row. In fact, they’ve won three of their last four with one draw thrown in. Remarkable run for a small squad that saw their best player, Antoine Semenyo, pried away from them when Manchester City hit the release clause in his contract. Up next is Aston Villa.
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Aston Villa: They’ve lost two of their last three and only have one win in their last four. Losing at home to Brentford was a bit of a surprise and with a few injuries hitting, they need to be careful their five-point buffer on Manchester United in fourth isn’t eroded further. With Chelsea and Liverpool behind United, the pressure is on if they fall into a slump.
Newcastle: After winning their first domestic trophy in 74 years by capturing the Carabao Cup last year, it had to sting being beaten 5-1 by Manchester City in the two-leg semifinal this week. That on the heels of being thoroughly spanked 4-1 last weekend by an undermanned Liverpool, who were employing two midfielders on their broken back line. Newcastle have lost two in a row, haven’t won in three and sit in 11th with Brentford and Tottenham to play this week.
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Crisis Club
Crystal Palace: Last May, Crystal Palace won the F.A. Cup, the first trophy in their 120-year existence. Since then, they had a deal to sell their captain, Marc Guehi, done last summer for $65 million only to have their manager throw a tantrum and say he’d quit if it went through. They pulled out of the deal. Then the manager, Oliver Glasner, made it clear last month he’s off to a bigger club next summer after he’d held the club hostage. They then still sold Guehi but for only $37 million. They tried to sell striker Jean-Phillippe Mateta to AC Milan, but the deal fell through due to a medical issue. In the meantime they’d bought Dwight McNeil from Everton and then pulled out of that when the Mateta deal collapsed. McNeil’s wife spoke out on the toll it took on his mental health to be jerked around. Completely bush-league, amateur-hour business tactics by the Palace brass and it shows on the pitch. They haven’t won in their last 10 and sit in 15th place, nine points out of the relegation zone. They go to bitter rivals Brighton on Sunday and then host second-to-last Burnley next Wednesday.
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Read More
[Liverpool's Florian Wirtz (left) celebrates scoring a goal with Hugo Ekitike during the UEFA Champions League football match against Qarabag.
English teams dominate Europe but stutter in Premier League in a tale of two tables](https://torontosun.com/sports/soccer/english-dominate-europe-stumble-epl)
2. [Arsenal's Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus eyes the ball during a English Premier League match against Liverpool.
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This week’s EPL schedule
Friday: Leeds vs Nottingham Forest.
Saturday: Manchester United vs Tottenham; Arsenal vs Sunderland; Bournemouth vs Aston Villa; Burnley vs West Ham; Fulham vs Everton; Wolves vs Chelsea; Newcastle vs Brentford.
Sunday: Brighton vs Crystal Palace; Liverpool vs Manchester City.
Tuesday: Chelsea vs Leeds; Everton vs Bournemouth; Tottenham vs Newcastle. West Ham vs Manchester United.
Wednesday: Aston Villa vs Brighton; Crystal Palace vs Burnley; Manchester City vs Fulham; Nottingham Forest vs Wolves; Sunderland vs Liverpool.
Thursday: Brentford vs Arsenal.
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