Fascinating duel on card as Man City battle Tottenham

Manchester City midfielder Bernao Silva/XINHUA

Man City V Tottenham

Tottenham’s attacking midfield of Matheus Kudus, Pape Matar Sarr and Brennan Johnson will be very strong. Frank has been working on set pieces and his trademark long throws to test the middle City pair, the impressive Tijani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez. Incoming Reijnders caught the eye in his opening game last weekend. He has settled into life at the Etihad quickly.

Up front, City’s Jeremy Doku, Bernado Silva and Oscar Bobb did well enough to keep their places but with Matheus Nunes, Omar Marmoush and striker Rayan Cherki all available, Pep Guardiola has plenty of options.

Erling Haaland will test the Tottenham defence and Frank could revert to a back three, in which case he could bring in Kevin Danso, who played well against PSG alongside Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven.

The Tottenham coach knows this match is a real test of where the team is. I am hearing that new signing Joao Palhinha could come in for Lucas Bergvall, bringing quality and experience in tackling and moving the ball to the attackers. He offers protection for the backline, given City’s strength going forward. City start as favourites but this could be a tough battle.

West Ham V Chelsea

West Ham United head coach Graham Potter is already under pressure from supporters after one game. New signing goalkeeper Mads Hermansen was frail against Sunderland and it is difficult to see how he will match up to the strength of Liam Delap.

West Ham defenders, too, will be under pressure. Max Kilman has yet to get into his stride but he is a capable defender and Nayef Aguerd and Jean-Clair Tobido cannot be all bad, given their combined transfer total of £100m. But against Sunderland, the trio almost disintegrated.

It is worth a mention that in midfield, James Ward-Prowse and his substitute, Callum Wilson, could not get into their respective Nottingham Forest and Newcastle teams last season and here they are battling with Enzo Fernandes, Moises Caicedo, Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro and the super quick Jamie Gittens with the ever-pushing and strong tackling of Delap, who is likely to be given more minutes than last weekend.

Despite a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace, Chelsea will be looking to win this London derby with goals to spare.

At Chelsea’s Cobham training ground this week, head coach Enzo Maresca spent time with his two strikers. He believes he can turn Delap into a world-class performer and Pedro is already a crowd favourite. Alongside Palmer, who was quiet in the opening game, they will severely test the Hammers’ backline.

Newcastle V Liverpool

Liverpool have hit the ground running. Newcastle have not. To be fair, the Reds’ 4-2 win against Bournemouth was an easier challenge than Newcastle’s 0-0 draw at Villa Park.

Newcastle have new signing, Anthony Elanga and Jacob Ramsey has arrived from Aston Villa this week for £43m and will wear their favourite No 41 shirt.

Alexander Isak proved difficult to retain and head coach Eddie Howe had no alternative but to drop him from the squad, which sent the recruitment team to Paris to discuss striker Goncalo Ramos as a replacement.

Newcastle have strength in their midfield where Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali have gelled well and will pose threats to Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister. Striker Hugo Ekitike has started his Anfield career impressively and Mo Salah is back in form. Everyone is expecting big things from Florian Wirtz. He and Salah could hold the key to this game.

At left-back, ex-Bournemouth tiger-like defender Milos Kerkez will give Newcastle’s No. 10 Anthony Gordon a challenging afternoon. At right-back, new signing Jeremie Frimpong should take on Harvey Barnes. Head coach Arne Slot will play his 4-2-3-1 formation against Howe’s 4-3-3.

Arsenal V Leeds

Everyone from Everton came to watch Jack Grealish last Monday evening at Leeds United but it was the home team’s Ao Tanaka who impressed, running the attacking midfield behind Joel Piroe. Leeds’ coach Daniel Farke was delighted with his team’s performance, even if they did win with a controversial 84th-minute penalty.

This weekend, Viktor Gyokeres comes up against Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk in Leeds’ defence and will have to do better than he did against Manchester United.

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice and Spanish international Martin Zubimendi have already formed themselves into a midfield attacking force and can penetrate the best defences. Bukayo Saka has yet to shake off the holiday blues and was quiet against Manchester United but Riccardo Calafiori has already done enough to cement his place in the side at left-back. David Raya is also proving why he is Mikel Arteta’s No. 1 between the posts.

Leeds will find it tough playing any club in London, particularly at Arsenal, where Mikel Arteta has prepared his team well, except Gyokeres, but it is early days, as the coach pointed out.