Haaland’s return in focus as EPL leaders Manchester City face rejuvenated Villa challenge

English Premier League (EPL) leader Manchester City look to continue their perfect start to the season on Saturday when Enzo Maresca’s side visits an improving Aston Villa, while second-placed Arsenal hosts Everton in this weekend’s round of matches. Erling Haaland could return after sitting out his side’s 5-1 Champions League win at home to AEK Athens in midweek. However, Mateo Kovacic, Nico O’Reilly and Antoine Semenyo remain sidelined, with Semenyo expected to be out for around eight weeks with a knee injury. Manchester City are aiming to become only the third team to win their first eight games of a Premier League season.

Aston Villa have improved in recent weeks, recording four wins and a draw in their last five games in all competitions as Unai Emery’s side begin to find their form following several changes over the summer.

Marc Guehi wants to see City back EPL title: City are unbeaten in the ongoing season, having won all of their seven matches and sit on top of the table but have a long way to go. Speaking ahead of the team’s eighth match in Aston Villa, the English centre-back Marc Guehi stated that City’s goal remains his personal goal and that he wants the club to win the title after missing in the last two editions.

“No goals personally, but any goal for Manchester City is my goal, and that’s always to challenge and win trophies. We’ll definitely be trying to do that,” Guehi said, as quoted by JioStar.

“We have got off to a great start in the league, and we are unbeaten as well, so we want to keep the streak going as long as we can, and the goal is to lift the Premier League trophy at the end. We lost out to Arsenal last season, but this season we will be back, and this season will be ours. The name of Manchester City will return to the Premier League Summit soon,” he added.

Bukayo Saka will miss Arsenal’s home game against Everton after the England winger suffered a sharp pain in his quadriceps and was forced off after just 10 minutes of his side’s 2-2 draw away to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

Eberechi Eze replaced Saka on Wednesday and could start in his place again on Saturday, while Viktor Gyokeres, Mikel Merino, Max Dowman and Myles Lewis-Skelly give Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta further options to rotate his side, reports Xinhua.

Coventry City hosts Fulham in an intriguing encounter. Fulham claimed their first win of the season against Hull City last weekend, while Coventry was beaten 3-1 by Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Tottenham will look to build on that victory when they visit Stamford Bridge to face a Chelsea side that have climbed to fourth place after consecutive wins since the international break. Sunday features several important matches, including Liverpool’s home game against Brighton, which travel to Anfield in third place. The match will test Fabian Hurzeler’s side and a Liverpool defence that has looked vulnerable at times.

Manchester United’s 4-1 defeat away to Como in the Champions League on Wednesday night has increased the pressure on coach Michael Carrick. Apparent criticism from captain Bruno Fernandes has added to the scrutiny, and another disappointing result at home to Bournemouth could intensify calls for a change of manager.

Crystal Palace coach Pierre Sage is also under pressure as his side take on Newcastle United, which travel to London after consecutive defeats.

Hull City host Brentford on Sunday, with the home side boosted by the expected return of forward Mohamed-Ali Cho. Roberto Vaz could also be available. Brentford will be without suspended midfielders Vitaly Janelt and Yegor Yarmolyuk after both were sent off in last weekend’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool.

Indo-Asian News Service