CHAPMAN: There’s Premier League intrigue at both ends of the table


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The international breaks are out of the way, and now it’s a full-on sprint to the finish of the Premier League season on May 22.

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Here are the storylines you need to keep an eye on:

After being 14 points clear in January, leaders Manchester City have seen two draws, a loss, and some games in hand bring Liverpool to within a point.

Next weekend is the massive one. On April 10, Liverpool go to City, and that result will go a long way to deciding who ultimately will win the title. First, though, there’s this weekend to get through. While Liverpool facing Watford at home and City going to Burnley would seem to be a fait accompli, they aren’t slam dunks.

Watford have a Liverpool scalp in the recent past, beating them 3-0 two seasons ago, and the early kickoff on a Saturday after an international break is often subject to a surprise or two. Watford aren’t exactly inundated with internationals and Liverpool have had players all over the world coming back on short notice. That, plus early starts, generally mute the Anfield crowd that are such a factor in making the atmosphere so intimidating.

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As for City, well, Burnley, at Turf Moor, are never an easy proposition. Physical, direct, dogged, they make you work for it, and make no mistake, Burnley are desperate as they currently sit in the relegation zone. Having said that, City probably will win 6-0.

Speaking of Burnley, the relegation race the next few weeks is going to be fascinating, and mostly because of the disparity of games played due to earlier COVID postponements.

Norwich are toast, rock bottom and eight points from safety with no games in hand. After that? Well there’s Burnley who are second bottom but are four points behind Everton in 17th, and while they’re eight points back of 16th-place Leeds, they have three games in hand on them. So if West Ham beat Everton on Sunday, even if Burnley get tonked by City, next Wednesday’s game that sees Everton goes to Burnley can make the run in that much more fascinating.

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The race for fourth. It may be awful, but the riches and profile of making the Champions League are massive, so that fourth spot is huge in terms of which players you can buy, which players will come, even which manager is in charge.

You have an in-form Arsenal sitting in fourth, three points up on bitter rivals Spurs and with a game in hand.

Manchester United sit in sixth, four points back and have played one more game than Arsenal. They will be courting a new manager and new players with massive names such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani all potentially leaving if there’s no Champions League football next season. That extra game they have played makes the margin of error for United exceptionally slim. They don’t have an easy weekend, either, with Leicester coming to Old Trafford.

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Two teams offering the feel-good stories of clubs gunning to break up the Champions League monopoly, Wolves and West Ham, appear to be running out of steam, similar to Leicester the previous two seasons.

West Ham are six points out of fourth, Wolves eight back, but both have played two games more than Arsenal, which means they need an Arsenal, and probably Tottenham, collapse to even think about getting into that spot.

SATURDAY: Liverpool v. Watford; Brighton v. Norwich; Burnley v. Manchester City; Chelsea vs. Brentford; Leedsv. Southampton; Wolves v. Aston Villa; Manchester United vs. Leicester.
SUNDAY: West Ham vs. Everton; Tottenham vs. Newcastle.
MONDAY: Crystal Palace vs. Arsenal.
WEDNESDAY: Burnley v. Everton.

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ITALIAN SERIES A

The last couple of years, AC Milan have looked like the team to beat before fading away at the end. With their strategy of employing older players, that made sense. They currently sit first by three points with Napoli in second and defending champions Inter Milan in third six points back.

This weekend could be decisive. Napoli don’t have it easy going to Atalanta, even though the hosts have crashed the last two months. Two of the most entertaining teams in Serie A, at the very least you’ll see a great game. Milan have Bologna on tap, and you would think it should be a fairly routine win.

The key game this weekend will feature Inter taking on charging Juventus, who sit eight points clear of Atalanta for the last Champions League spot, but just one point back of Inter in third. Even though Inter have the one game in hand, if they lose to Juve you have to think their defense will be over.

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SATURDAY: Spezia v. Venice; Latium v. Sassuolo; Salernitana v. Turin.
SUNDAY: Fiorentina v. Empolis; Atalanta v. Naples; Udinese vs. Cagliari; Sampdoria v. Rome; Juventus vs. InterMilan.
MONDAY: Hellas Verona v. Genoa; A.C. Milan v. Bologna.

SPANISH THE LEAGUE

While the thumping of Real Madrid by Barcelona is still echoing around La Liga, Madrid have too big a lead to entertain any thoughts of a real title tussle.

But the Xavi revolution at Barca will get another test this weekend facing second-place Sevilla. Barca and Atletico Madrid are tied in the last Champions League place with Betis four points back. But it’s more about the rejuvenation of Barca and the buy-in to Xavi’s culture since he was brought in as manager last autumn. The teenage pair of prospects, Pedri and Gavi, are leading the way.

And even though Barca remain wedged under massive financial debt, they are talking about throwing their weight around in the transfer window again with names such as Mo Salah and Erling Haaland being talked about as realistic targets this summer.

SATURDAY: Getafe v. Majorca; lift vs. Villarreal; Celtic Vigo v. Real Madrid; Atletico Madrid vs. Alaves.
SUNDAY: Athletic Bilbao vs. Elche; Real Betis vs. osasuna; Grenada vs. Vallecano Ray; Valencia vs. Cadiz; Barcelona vs. Seville.
MONDAY: Real Sociedad v. Spanish.

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