It’s big at the top and bottom of the Premier League and huge at the foot of the Football League too…
After a break of what feels like forever – Manchester United have never had a longer scheduled lay-off – the Premier League returns with a full weekend from Friday to Monday.
With Easter in the rear view mirror, it’s just massive everywhere…
Game to watch – Chelsea v Manchester City
This is massive for City, obviously, in the context of the title race, but it’s also impossible to take eyes off Chelsea at the moment too.
The Blues are a confused, confusing mess, with too many leaders, all seemingly assuming the others know what they are doing. In the thick of it is a manager already out of his depth, leading a group of nonplussed players, many of whom are fluttering their eyelashes at other clubs.
Chief among them: vice-captain Enzo Fernandez, who misses the City visit through a suspension imposed by Liam Rosenior in a desperate attempt to claim some authority.
On the face of things, City should have few concerns about going to Stamford Bridge, where they haven’t lost in their last five. But the fear with Chelsea, and the frustration among their supporters, is they can still turn it on if they are feeling that way inclined.
And for City, it’s must-win. Come Sunday, albeit with two games in hand, it is entirely possible that they will be staring up at a 12-point gap between themselves and…
Team to watch – Arsenal
A lot has happened in the near-month since Arsenal last played in the Premier League. That was the 2-0 win over Everton when Max Dowman sparked pandemonium at the Emirates, the boy’s late show serving as a potentially defining moment in the title race.
The four games since have humbled Gooners somewhat. From a Quadruple they now claim never to have considered, Arsenal’s potential trophy haul has been halved after defeats more damaging than simply the scoreline and consequence.
In truth, despite the Champions League being the only positive of their last four weeks, it could half again and Arsenal fans won’t care much as long as the Premier League is their last trophy standing. And they don’t bottle it.
We’ve all had great fun at the Gunners’ expense in the Barclays vacuum but now it’s finally back, against Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime, it is on Arsenal to reassert the authority lost having being out-coached by Pep Guardiola, and out-fought and out-thought by second-tier Southampton.
Manager to watch – Roberto De Zerbi
The man tasked with saving Spurs has been in post for a week and a half and, obviously, the messages being transmitted by the club are very positive. The players have taken to De Zerbi very positively, they are ‘really enjoying’ training, yada yada…
Let’s see how buoyant they are in Sunderland on Sunday. By the time they arrive on Wearside on Saturday, Tottenham will finally have slipped into the bottom three if West Ham have beaten rock-bottom Wolves on Friday night.
That is unlikely to affect De Zerbi’s approach but it will be fascinating to see what wisdom the Italian has been able to impart on his beleaguered bunch in the 11 days since he took over from Igor Tudor.
De Zerbi is a front-footed coach, often to an extreme, who demands a very particular way of playing. His sides patiently tease and tempt opponents into positions they would prefer not to be before attacking at break-neck speed. They press in a similarly frantic fashion too, all of which would make Spurs great to watch if, as De Zerbi would have preferred, the manager had a full pre-season to preach his philosophy.
He’s had a full week. How much will he have to compromise in the short-term to serve Spurs’ immediate needs?
MORE: Top 10 issues De Zerbi and Tottenham must instantly address to try and avoid calamity
Player to watch – Alexander Isak
Look, we can’t ignore Liverpool this weekend. Arguably, there will be more eyes on Mo Salah as he plays at Anfield for the first time since it was announced his farewell procession had officially begun.
There will definitely be more eyes on Arne Slot, very few of them sympathetic to the Liverpool manager’s plight. Slot did not help himself with an ill-advised switch to a back three at PSG – it did not work – but he had reached the sh*t-chucking stage in the hope that something, anything might stick a good while before flying to Paris.
We will all be stunned if it turns out that Slot does have the answers to Liverpool’s many woes after all. Without one of those Anfield nights, which has rarely seemed more unlikely, next week prompting a swift and stunning uptick in performances and results, the Dutchman is on borrowed time.
Before PSG, though, come Fulham at Anfield. Which gives Slot an opportunity to see what shape the Premier League’s most expensive player is in.
Isak was back on the bench in Paris, coming off it for the final 12 minutes to make one pass, one tackle and one turnover as the Reds sought little more than survival.
If Slot has any intention of trusting his £140million striker to help save him, a far longer cameo will be necessary against the Cottagers.
European game to watch – Inter Milan v Como
In truth, there aren’t many games on the continent this weekend to grab you by the balls and squeeze. The leaders in Italy, Spain and Germany all have seven-point leads, as will PSG in France if they win their game in hand over Lens.
Of the big European league pacesetters, Inter have perhaps the toughest test this weekend when, on Sunday night, they host local-ish rivals Como.
We say ‘rivals’ – Como won’t have registered on Inter’s radar until very recently. But in their second season in the top flight following three promotions in six seasons from Serie D, Cesc Fabregas has Como on course to keep going all the way to the Champions League.
They are currently fourth, one point ahead of Juventus. An incredible achievement, though their underdog story requires a little more context…
MORE: Como’s Champions League push under Cesc Fabregas is not the fairytale it seems
EFL game to watch – Newport County v Harrogate Town
There is a very tasty East Anglian derby between promotion-chasing Ipswich and in-form Norwich on Saturday lunchtime, and we could have pointed you towards the all-Hatters affair in the Vertu Trophy final between Luton and Stockport on Sunday.
But you will have to pardon the self-indulgence for a few paragraphs while some of us sh*t ourselves ahead of the crunch League Two clash at Rodney Parade on Saturday afternoon.
Bottom-placed Harrogate Town go to third-from-bottom Newport for a six-pointer to be endured, not enjoyed. It is tighter than two coats of paint at the foot of the Football League, where Town and Tranmere are separated by four places and three points, with Barrow and Newport sandwiched in between, all desperate to avoid dropping out of the 92.
In seasons past, you could generally rely on at least one basket case of a club to take up one of the two relegation spots, but this year no one is going to the National League willingly, even if Tranmere are spiralling having won just once since New Year’s Day.
Harrogate have recovered from a 20-match winless run through the winter to give themselves a fighting chance in spring, while Premier League title winner Christian Fuchs has revived Newport after they spent 22 matchdays so far in the drop zone.
A win on Saturday won’t keep either up but a defeat would make a potentially catastrophic relegation far likelier with three games to go.