Manchester City hosts Arsenal in a showdown between the Premier League title favorites on Sunday, while Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou badly needs a win when his side host Brentford.
Liverpool is looking to bounce back from a shock home defeat to Nottingham Forest when Bournemouth visit Anfield and Manchester United seek revenge with a trip to Crystal Palace.
AFP Sport looks at the pick of this weekend’s Premier League action.
Early title tussle
A battle between the top two pits the unstoppable force in City’s in-form striker Erling Haaland against the immovable object in Arsenal’s obturate defense.
Haaland has struck a Premier League record nine times in the opening four games of the season.
But Arsenal has only conceded once, when down to 10 men against Brighton, and kept clean sheets already away at Aston Villa and Tottenham.
The top two in each of the past two seasons already occupy those positions once more.
“It’s another unbelievable team that defends really well,” said City boss Pep Guardiola. “They don’t concede chances, they don’t concede goals. In many aspects they control everything.
“Was the biggest challenge for the title the last two seasons, they are there and will be there for many years because they created a depth of squad and a young team.”
City is the only side with a perfect 12 points so far, but a depleted Arsenal made sure they are only two points behind by grinding out a 1-0 victory over Spurs in last weekend’s north London derby.
The Gunners are set to be missing captain Martin Odegaard once more due to an ankle injury but can welcome back Declan Rice from suspension.
City is also set to be without their creative hub as Kevin De Bruyne limped out of Wednesday’s 0-0 Champions League draw against Inter Milan.
Postecoglou under pressure
Arsenal’s third consecutive away derby win at Tottenham ramped up the scrutiny on Postecoglou.
Spurs has taken only four points from their opening four Premier League games of the season and their form has been trending downwards for some time.
After a blistering start under the former Australia manager, Tottenham has won just 13 of their last 32 league games, including seven defeats in the last 11.
Postecoglou has insisted he will deliver silverware in his second season in charge but narrowly avoided a League Cup exit to second-tier Coventry in midweek.
With trips to Manchester United and Brighton to come, Spurs needs to steady the ship against a Brentford side that troubled City last weekend in a 2-1 defeat.
Man Utd’s momentum
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