Week two
It is time for week two of the Premier League where there are some intriguing matches taking place.
Anfield awaits
The weekend begins with Liverpool hosting Burnley in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off.
Jurgen Klopp’s side will be backed by a full crowd at Anfield for the first time since March 2020 against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, before they were crowned champions of England.
Mohamed Salah scored on the opening day for the fifth successive season as the Reds beat Norwich 3-0 last weekend. He needs just two more goals to reach 100 Premier League goals.
Fabinho will be missing due to a family bereavement but Thiago Alacantara and Jordan Henderson are available.
Burnley squandered a 1-0 lead at home to Brighton in their opening day fixture, losing 2-1 at Turf Moor.
Sean Dyche’s men memorably ended Liverpool’s 68 game unbeaten run last season and have lost just one of their last four games at Anfield.
Lukaku set to feature against under-pressure Arsenal
In the most fascinating fixture of the weekend, Chelsea travel to the Emirates to face Arsenal.
The Gunners, who were missing forwards Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat away at newly-promoted Brentford.
Mikel Arteta’s side are under pressure to respond but they are facing a strong Chelsea side, who will have £97.5 million man Romelu Lukaku in their armoury against a hesitant Arsenal defence.
Chelsea dispatched Crystal Palace 3-0 with ease but will be without Christian Pulisic, who scored the second goal against the Eagles.
Solskjaer’s men travel to the South Coast
Manchester United visit St Mary’s to take on a fragile Southampton side, looking to make it two wins from two.
United thrashed Leeds United 5-1 in a superb performance with Bruno Fernandes scoring a brilliant hat-trick.
New signing Jadon Sancho could make his first start after appearing in a behind closed doors friendly in midweek, while Raphael Varane is likely to be named on the bench.
Southampton fell apart in the second half against Everton last week, losing 3-1 after leading 1-0 at half-time.
Adam Armstrong scored on his debut for the Saints.
There were some good news this week for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men as captain James Ward-Prowse signed a new five-year contract at the club following transfer speculation surrounding the midfielder this summer.
There were two very different clashes involving these two sides last season. United came back from 2-0 down against Southampton to win 3-2 with Edinson Cavani coming off the bench to spark a famous United comeback.
In the return fixture, it was disastrous for Southampton as a first minute red card led to a humiliating, record-equalling 9-0 defeat.
Nuno back to old stomping ground; City host Norwich
Elsewhere, Nuno Espirito Santo will make his first return to Molineux to as Tottenham manager on Sunday.
Spurs suffered an embarrassing 1-0 reverse away to Pacos Ferreira in the Europa Conference League, bringing them back down to earth after their outstanding win at home to Manchester City last week.
Man City will welcome Norwich City in a difficult test for Daniel Farke’s men on Saturday afternoon.
