Sunday’s Capital One Cup final between Chelsea and Tottenham means there will be a reduced Barclays Premier League programme this weekend, with the matches involving the finalists’ scheduled opponents, relegation-haunted Leicester City and QPR, taking place later in the season.
This means Manchester City have the opportunity to close Chelsea’s lead at the top to just two points, should they beat Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday (kick-off 12:00 GMT).
Manuel Pellegrini’s side impressed in their last two domestic fixtures, beating Stoke City 4-1 and Newcastle United 5-0, but Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool have won seven of their last 10 Premier League games. Their last league loss came at Old Trafford in mid-December, when they were comprehensively beaten 3-0. Either way, a key United rival will drop some points.
Liverpool have been more defensively sound of late, but Rodgers believes that his side’s gruelling trip to Turkey on Thursday, where they endured 120 minutes against Besiktas before being dumped out of the Europa League on penalties, gives City a major advantage. “That extra period of 48 hours that City have could be crucial physically, especially as we will have very little preparation time,” he said.
Arsenal, who lie one point ahead of United going into this weekend’s fixtures, host 12th-placed Everton at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday (kick-off 14:05 GMT). A home win is highly anticipated: Arsene Wenger’s side have seven wins from their last 10 Premier League fixtures. Everton have
