10 Premier League talking points including Liverpool's 6 stars & Arsenal memory
After what has seemed to be the longest international break since international breaks began, top-flight action returns on Saturday when Manchester City and Liverpool kick off the Premier League season's race to the finish line.
There will be no stopping from here to the end of May, and with title, relegation and European qualification issues abound at promises to be an eventful ride.
This weekend alone sees 10 tantalising matches, all of which are dripping with potential storylines.
Here are the biggest talking points ahead of the action.
1. Luis Diaz gives Jurgen Klopp six appeal
Manchester City vs Liverpool, Saturday 12.30pm
Marcel Sabitzer completes Man Utd transfer after last-minute deadline day dash
Luis Diaz has returned to Liverpool training ahead of the final weeks of the season (AFP via Getty Images)In November 2020, at the height of lockdown when fake crowd noise was all the rage, the physical Liverpool supporters were all talking about one thing.
The Reds had just been to Atalanta in the Champions League and won 5-0, and while there were customary goals for Sadio Mane and Mo Salah, it was the hat-trick from newcomer Diogo Jota which was on everyone's lips.
Jota had started instead of Roberto Firmino in Italy, thereby breaking up The Liverpool Front Three - that all-singing, all-dancing Champions League and Premier League winning unit - for what seemed to be the first time in a tangible sense, and so debate raged about what Jurgen Klopp would do for the following weekend's trip to Manchester City. Would he stick with Jota as the man in form, or would Firmino come back in to complete the usual trio who had started pretty much every big game together in the past three years?
In the end he picked both.
Klopp started with a front four at the Etihad Stadium, and it largely worked. The peculiarities of behind closed doors football have to be taken into consideration of course, but the Reds impressed as they took the lead through a Salah penalty, before conceding an equaliser to Gabriel Jesus and both sides deciding to settle for a point.
Two-and-a-half years on there is no Mane, but Salah, Firmino and Jota are still around. As is Darwin Nunez. And Cody Gakpo. And Luis Diaz.
The Colombian's long-awaited return to fitness means it is possible, if he's willing to risk him, that Klopp has all six of his senior forwards available for the first time this season, making the chance that he starts with four of them all the more likely.
He did that at Real Madrid of course, while Liverpool are also in a position where trust in many of their midfielders has completely eroded. and so picking fewer of them makes sense.
The Reds have less on the line going to the Etihad than they usually do, and might just go there all guns blazing.
2. Arsenal face a satisfying hurdle they've already passed
Arsenal vs Leeds, Saturday 3pm
Man Utd deadline day live updates as Sabitzer completes loan move
Bukayo Saka scored the winner when the teams met at Elland Road in October (Getty Images)One of the first signs that this season's Arsenal were built of sterner stuff than previous vintages came at Elland Road in October.
Bukayo Saka scored in the first half, but the Gunners then faced a Leeds onslaught in the second as Patrick Bamford had a goal ruled out and then missed a penalty, before Gabriel was sent off for kicking out at Bamford in stoppage time and another penalty awarded, only for both decisions to be overturned after referee Chris Kavanagh consulted VAR.
Lucky? Yes. But you make your own, and with the win moving Arsenal four points clear with nine victories from 10 games this was a sign of what was to come.
Much has changed at Leeds since then of course, but Saka is still making crucial interventions for the Gunners, and after his superb England goal last weekend - the type of strike that makes quadrupling his wages deserved - he'll be bouncing into another fixture where he can be the difference.
3. Cherries can challenge contrite Cottagers
Bournemouth vs Fulham, Saturday 3pm
Aleksandar Mitrovic is facing a lengthy ban (Getty Images)Everyone is likely to be on their best behaviour at the rather genteel settings of the Vitality Stadium, where Fulham are going to be without Marco Silva, Willian and Aleksandar Mitrovic for disciplinary reasons which range from the minor to the headline-grabbing.
The lengthy bans that await their manager and star striker might just mean that Fulham, who have had a brilliant season, begin to settle for the mid-table comfort they currently have, opening up a chance to Bournemouth to take some crucial points.
Their home win over Liverpool earlier this month shook up the relegation picture once more, and if Fulham are playing too nicely then they could strike again here.
4. El Analytico anyone?
Brighton vs Brentford, Saturday 3pm
Ivan Toney scored twice in Brentford's 2-0 win over Brighton in October, including a superb backheel (Getty Images)Along with Fulham, Brighton and Brentford have shown how clubs of this size can operate in a Premier League awash with cash, and the victor here would go above Liverpool if the Reds don't win at the Etihad Stadium.
Both sides are of course known for their love of a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/ivan-toney-betting-charges-ban-29338326" rel="Follow" target="_self">isn't playing like a man encumbered with any potential ban that could be on the horizon.
5. Out with the old...
Crystal Palace vs Leicester, Saturday 3pm
Roy Hodgson has returned to football again (PA)So here comes the 75-year-old Roy Hodgson to ride to the rescue.
But do Crystal Palace really need him?
Yes they had forgotten how to shoot, and by definition score goals, in the final few weeks of Patrick Vieira's tenure, but theirs is a squad that has be good enough for a comfortable spot in mid-table and not looking over their shoulder below.
Palace currently sit 12th, four points above the relegation zone but with eight teams sitting between them and the bottom of the table. Crucially though, they play all of those eight in their remaining 10 matches of the season.
So would they have had a better chance of winning those games had they kept faith with Vieira's expansive although often blunt style? We'll never know, but now they are going with Hodgson's pragmatism they had better hope that the Premier League's oldest, second oldest and third oldest manager ever has still got it in him.
6. No love lost in the Midlands
Nottingham Forest vs Wolves, Saturday 3pm
Nottingham Forest and Wolves players were involved in a brawl after January's Carabao Cup tie (Paul Currie/Colorsport/REX/Shutterstock)It is so tight in the table that every game between two of the sides in the bottom eight is carrying an extra edge, but the clash between Nottingham Forest and Wolves is likely to be more keenly contested than most.
It was only January when Forest's win over Wolves on penalties in the Carabao Cup descended into a brawl after the ex-Wolves man Morgan Gibbs-White celebrated in front of his former fans, with goalkeeper Dean Henderson joining in.
Adama Traore, Matheus Cunha, Toti Gomes and most of the other Wolves players didn't take too kindly to that, and it all kicked off leading to FA charges for both clubs.
Wolves always strike you as having enough to pull away from the danger zone, but they have the maddening capacity to throw in results like the 4-2 defeat to Leeds last time out.
They go into this one just a point ahead of Forest having played a game more, so another loss needs to be avoided, and when you throw in the social media shenanigans that went on between these two earlier in the season, this could be tasty.
7. A real mid-table meeting
Chelsea vs Aston Villa, Saturday 5.30pm
Kepa Arrizabalaga impressed at Villa Park in October (PA)Chelsea are 10th in the table and have 38 points from 27 games. Aston Villa are 11th in the table and have 38 points from 27 games.
Only the line that denotes the top and bottom halves separate them, and while the two clubs retain very different ambitions, the similarities continue when you see two managers who are both desperate to stamp their style onto their teams.
When Chelsea won 2-0 at Villa Park in October - a game notable for a fine performance from Kepa Arrizabalaga, who has always been Graham Potter's No.1 - it was just the former Brighton coach's sixth game in charge, and a fifth straight win.
All manner of trials and tribulations have followed, whereas there have been ups and downs at Villa too, just on a smaller scale.
Unai Emery will look at what Everton did at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago and think his side can hurt their hosts.
8. Not one for the faint-hearted
West Ham vs Southampton, Sunday 2pm
Southampton's Ruben Selles is setting about trying to keep the Saints up (Getty Images)David Moyes has managed 647 times in the Premier League. Ruben Selles has managed eight.
In whose shoes would you rather be ahead of this, the most interesting of the three meetings between sides in the bottom eight this weekend though? It might just be Selles.
The confident 39-year-old has definitely instilled something into his side that was missing under the 'tutelage' of Nathan Jones, and after coming from two down to draw with Tottenham he'll be targeting the three points here.
Get them and Saints would climb over West Ham and potentially out of the relegation zone, a prospect which is sure to make Moyes nervous regardless of his experience.
9. New York state of mind
Newcastle vs Manchester United, Sunday 4.30pm
Marcus Rashford has scored 27 goals for Manchester United this season, and 15 in 51 games for England (Getty Images)
Gareth Southgate was at pains to point out that he was fine, totally fine with Marcus Rashford heading off to New York and not playing for England. And you almost believed him.
In truth if anyone has deserved a little break this season, injury or not, it is the Manchester United talisman, who is likely to have to be on top form as his side go to Newcastle just over a month after beating them in the Carabao Cup final.
Revenge is likely to be on Magpie minds then, but a strong mindset is a Rashford staple these days.
It'll have to be, as defeat would see Newcastle leapfrog their opponents in the table.
10. Cristian Stellini in the spotlight
Everton vs Tottenham, Monday 8pm
Cristian Stellini has stepped into the breach after Antonio Conte departed Tottenham (AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)
And so it is up to Cristian Stellini to clean up the mess his mate Antonio Conte has made. Although it isn't even that much of a mess.
It might seem implausible but Tottenham are still fourth, and if there's a draw at St James' Park then a win at Goodison Park would see them ease into third.
Barring some sort of miscalculation of the league table that is impressive feat, and Everton away feels like exactly the sort of game that will test just where this Spurs side are right now.
Conte was a ranting and raving distraction by the end, but he also served as protection from criticism for much of a squad that can do better.
With his more senior friend out of the picture, can Stellini get *his* side playing with freedom?
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