By Kehinde Okeowo
The English Premier League (EPL) resumes with ten consequential encounters.
After the mid-week European club games, hostilities in the EPL resumes today and TheNiche is bringing English football fans what to look out for in the games.
Friday’s EPL game is between Arsenal and Aston Villa at the Emirate Stadium by 8 pm, the game will be officiated by Graig Pawson. A win for either side will take them above each other, while Arsenal will stay above Villa if it’s a draw.
Saturday’s early kick-off is by 2.30 pm at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea host Norwich City in a game between the teams at the top and bottom of the log respectively, it will be officiated by Andrew Madley.
The first of the five simultaneous matches on Saturday is the fixture between Crystal Palace and Newcastle at Selhurst Park, kick-off is 3 pm, and the match referee is Darren England. Palace are 14th on the league table while Newcastle are 19th.
Everton and Watford play at the same time at Goodison Park with Graham Scott as the officiating referee. With Everton on 14 points and Watford on 7, the London side cannot go above Everton even if they win.
Another of these five games is between Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Elland Road, the match will be officiated by Robert Jones. Leads are currently 17th with 6 points, so they are in danger of falling into the relegation zone.
Southampton host Burnley at St Mary’s Stadium in the last of the games to kick-off at 3 pm on Saturday, with Chris Kavanagh in charge.
Southampton will stay ahead of Burnley, no matter the outcome of this game, but the visitors could leave the relegation dogfight and cut the point deficit between them to a point if they win.
The last game on Saturday starts at 5.30 pm and it’s between overachieving Brighton & Hove Albion and the defending champion, Manchester City.
The match will be played at The American Express Community Stadium with Kelvin Friend as the center referee, Brighton will go above the champion if they win the game.
Kelechi Iheanacho’s Leicester City visit Brentford in one of the two games on Sunday that will kick off at 2 pm, the match will be played at the Brentford Community Stadium with Simon Hooper in charge.
Brentford are one of the surprise teams of this season, they currently sit above Leicester but a loss to the visitors could see Leicester go above them.
West Ham and Tottenham Hotspot start at the London Stadium at 2 pm too, the match will be officiated by Paul Tierney and West Ham who are 7th could go above Spurs in 5th if they win.
Man United and Liverpool will cap off an intriguing and action-packed weekend with a super Sunday derby at Old Trafford. Anthony Taylor is the match referee and kicks off at 4.30 pm.
