In this week’s edition of the 5iver, Desh looks at Darwin Nunez’s misfiring in front of goal, Kaaldeen Suleman’s progress under a new manager and club, and more from the Premier League!
Does anything in the Premier League go according to plan? The previous round of action was one for upsets. Unai Emery’s side got off to a flyer against his previous employers, breaking the deadlock after 5 minutes into their bout with Arsenal.
Arteta’s men ended up on the right side of that 6 goal thriller at Villa Park, snapping their (3 game) winless run in the English topflight. Newly promoted clubs Bournemouth and Fulham recorded 1 nil victories respectively, however, the most eye-catching result of the weekend was at City ground where Nottingham Forest earned a point against the reigning champions Manchester City. Chris Wood opened his account for the Garibaldi with their only shot on target of the 90 to maintain their unbeaten streak on home soil – now 8 league fixtures long.
Looking ahead to this weekend, Klopp will expect nothing less than a 3rd straight league win and I back the Reds to get out of the blocks sooner rather than later in this one, especially after their 5-2 humbling midweek. Sunday sees a Premier League derby between fourth placed Tottenham host tenth placed Chelsea.
Interestingly enough, the home side will look to earn their first 3 pointer against Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – losing on all previous occasions.
Nketiah needs to convert more
Eddie Nketiah could find the back of the net this weekend. The Gunners hitman has been faltering of late, failing to provide an attacking return across his previous 5 appearances (across all competitions). He comes into this one having attempted 10 shots across his previous 3 league fixtures, missing 4 big chances and hitting the woodwork once during that period. Arsenal’s gap at the top of the table has been slashed and I expect them to come out all guns blazing against a Foxes defence that have shipped 41 goals – only Bournemouth (44) have conceded more from all top flight clubs.
Nketiah shoulda scored in one of this positions 😪pic.twitter.com/gpVU7WoZx8
— S👻 (@scrapytweets) February 16, 2023
Stage is set for new Saints man
January signing Kamaldeen Suleman could announce himself to the Premier League this weekend. Across his 3 league appearances for the Saints this term, he has attempted 8 shots, missing one big chance. Furthermore, he attempted 30 ground duels during that period, proving to be a handful at the business end of the pitch. Confidence in the relegation threatened club will be high, following their 1 nil victory at Stamford Bridge last time out. Indeed, Southampton have earned two thirds (12/18) of their points on their travels this season.
A new chapter and a new beginning for Kamaldeen Suleman in the English premier league ✍✍👏👏 pic.twitter.com/eCB31HjJTS
— Moses Lord (@moseslord0242) February 1, 2023
Grealish is pumped
Jack Grealish is my pick of the Citizens to steady their title defence. The Englishman has attempted 5 shots across his previous 3 league outings, returning 1 goal. Furthermore, he did create 7 chances (delivering 1 assist) during that period so keep an eye out for him. Guardiola would have been left fuming following that result, considering City hadn’t dropped points against a newly promoted topflight outfit in their preceding 9 occasions.
Jack Grealish is a player 𝗿𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗻 since the World Cup 🔵🔥 pic.twitter.com/aZ9A3WwaaB
— LiveScore (@livescore) February 22, 2023
Misfiring Nunez needs change in fortunes
Darwin Nunez has delivered attacking returns in each of his previous 3 appearances for Liverpool, across all competitions – his longest ever stretch at the Merseyside club. The Uruguayan forward has been desperately unlucky this season, hitting the Premier League woodwork on 5 occasions this season. Despite making just 17 topflight appearances this season, he has attempted 68 shots, of which 30 were on target – putting him in the top 5 for both metrics (from all topflight players).
Darwin Nunez in the Champions League : 🔥
— Zayn (@pant_peak) February 21, 2023
Appearance - 17 (Benfica+Liv'pool)
Goals - 10 ⚽ (6 + 4)
1 goal every 95.8 minutes pic.twitter.com/ZAgIu7ByOK
Son to deliver once more
Son just may steal the show at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend. Last season’s Premier League golden boot winner has been a shadow of his former self, netting just 5 times across his 22 league appearances this campaign. With that being said, 4 of those strikes have come on home soil where Spurs are statistically stronger (8 of their 13 league wins have come at home) . Indeed, Tottenham have won 6 of their previous 7 home league London derbies and I back the South Korean talisman to deliver the 3 points in front of the Spurs ultras.
Super-sub Son > pic.twitter.com/t0PfO6GU1d
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 19, 2023
