LONDON: Manchester City travel to Aston Villa tomorrow with a mission to get back to winning ways as Chelsea have the chance to soar to the top of the Premier League, albeit temporarily.
Leaders Liverpool face Tottenham, while Manchester United hunt for a second consecutive league win for the first time this season.
Last December, Man City lost 1-0 at the hands of Villa but it was their last defeat before coming back to win their fourth consecutive Premier League title.
The defeat came after Pep Guardiola’s squad drew three games in a row – a decision considered bad by City standards.
This time they visited Birmingham with a more unfortunate performance, eight defeats from 11 matches in all competitions.
City’s chances of winning the league title for the fifth time in a row also faded after a series of bad decisions.
Guardiola took responsibility for the 2-1 defeat at Manchester United, accusing him of not being good enough.
City are fifth, nine points behind Liverpool who have played one game less, having lost five of their seven Premier League games.
Villa in seventh, were also inconsistent but injury-hit City looked to be slipping away from winning ground.
Arne Slot has proven he is Jurgen Klopp’s best successor as Liverpool manager and is on the right track to winning the league this season.
But they will probably start action against Tottenham on Sunday behind Chelsea, who are chasing a sixth consecutive league win at Goodison Park against Everton.
Chelsea is now Liverpool’s main challenger in the league even though its manager, Enzo Maresca, feels that his young squad is not worthy of winning the title.
English Premier League Matches
Tomorrow
Aston Villa vs Manchester City
Brentford vs Nottingham Forest
Ipswich v Newcastle
West Ham v Brighton
Crystal Palace v Arsenal
Sunday
Everton v Chelsea
Fulham v Southampton
Leicester v Wolves
Manchester United vs Bournemouth
Tottenham v Liverpool