Football News: Premier League Match Preview 24 February 2019

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Arsenal v Southampton

With Chelsea otherwise occupied in the Carabao Cup final today and Manchester United meeting Liverpool, Arsenal will view today as a chance to possibly climb back into the top four of the Premier League by beating Southampton.

The Gunners are unbeaten in 23 home league meetings with the Saints, and are looking to avoid losing both league meetings with them in the same season for the first time since 1987-88 by extending that unbeaten record today. A certain 17-year-old Alan Shearer scored a hat-trick for Southampton in his first league start that season.

It's hard to see Southampton having the same inspiration from a single player in this match as they did back then, with this Arsenal side unbeaten in 12 home league games, winning 10 and drawing two since defeat to Man City on the opening day.

Meanwhile, Ralph Hasenhuttl's side have only won two of their last 10 matches home and away in all competitions, and had a poor home defeat to Cardiff last time out. But they are unbeaten in four league games away from home, last going five away games without a loss back in November 2015.

But a word of warning for the Saints would be that not only have they lost a league-high 17 points from leading positions in the Premier League this season, they face an Arsenal side that have gained 12 points from losing positions - the league's second best such record behind Leicester City (13). The visitors simply cannot rest on their laurels at any stage of this match if they are to pick up a point or more, which would be so important with them currently in the relegation zone.

Key players:

Alexandre Lacazette - Of his 10 Premier League goals this season, eight have been winning ones, which shows how important the forward is to this side. He will be massively important in this match too as Arsenal look to earn an important three points.

Charlie Austin - He's scored in all five of his Premier League appearances against Arsenal - only Raheem Sterling v Bournemouth (6/6) has a better 100% scoring ratio against a particular opponent in the competition - which makes him an absolute must pick for this clash today.

Manchester United v Liverpool

Arguably the biggest rivalry in English football will have an extra edge to it today. With Man City facing Chelsea in today's Carabao Cup final, this match is, in effect, Liverpool's game in hand over the blue half of Manchester, and they need a point or more to end the day top of the table.

But there is absolutely no chance of this rejuvenated Manchester United side letting their bitter rivals climb to the top without a fight, and with top four ambitions of their own, this is a game that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side will be fighting tooth and nail to win.

Liverpool have massively struggled when visiting Old Trafford in recent memory. Of their last 17 visits in all competitions, they've won just twice and lost 13, keeping only one clean sheet - in a 3-0 win against David Moyes' Red Devils in March 2014. It is a venue that Liverpool have dreaded visiting for so often, and that makes it a hugely important game as far as their title ambitions are concerned.

Add to that the fact that Man Utd have won 11 of their 13 matches under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in all competitions, and it makes the task facing Liverpool even greater.

But Man Utd did lose their last home match 0-2 to French club PSG in the Champions League - they haven't lost back-to-back home matches across all competitions since January 2014 when David Moyes was in charge.

As for Liverpool, they will have to be much more clinical than they were against Bayern in midweek, when they missed a host of chances in their goalless draw. The Reds have drawn three of their last four games in all competitions, and whilst a draw would be enough to take them top of the table after this match, they know they need to start winning games in order to take Manchester City's title from them.

Indeed, the Reds have won just one of their last four matches away from home, losing two of those, so they have not been travelling as well as Jurgen Klopp would like recently. Not ideal going into a game at Old Trafford, where they have struggled for positive results over the years.

Key players:

Paul Pogba - He's been the main man since Solskjaer took over, and whilst he was absent for the reverse meeting between these two sides at Anfield, there's no doubt he will feature heavily today, having score eight and assisted five goals in his last nine league appearances.

Mohamed Salah - One goal short of his 50th for Liverpool in the Premier League, this would be the perfect stage for him to get that landmark. Manchester United are the only current Premier League side the Egyptian hasn't scored against for the Reds in the competition, so how he would love to make it 19/19 today.

Written by Reid the Red February 24 2019 07:33:29