Premier League Preview: Week 8

The return to Premier League action this weekend gets off with a bang as Manchester City entertain Tottenham Hotspur in this round’s first fixture, while inauspicious league starts could again haunt Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton.

Chelsea, on the other hand are scything through opponents game in and game out, and given their lowly opposition this weekend, Crystal Palace, they are poised to continue their run of positive results.

While last season’s top six teams either aim to replicate the previous campaign’s form, or banish memories of it altogether, Newcastle United are hoping to gain a foothold this term as it is  only goal difference keeping them off the foot of the table.

Everton are not much better off and are one of only four teams in the English top tier who’ve played more matches than they have points on the board.

Meanwhile fellow Merseysiders, Liverpool, will be out to prove that victory over West Brom last time out was no fluke when they travel to bottom side Queens Park Rangers on Sunday afternoon.

Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur

Like many of the teams around them, and most of this season’s European hopefuls, Spurs’ bid for a place in Europe so far makes for dismal reading with only three wins from their 7 matches played. Nacer Chadli has performed well as the team’s top scorer with four goals from midfield so far, but the Spurs faithful will want to see more from strikers Harry Kane, Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado.

No such problems for Manchester City, it has to be said, as Sergio Aguero and Eden Dzeko have scored seven league goals between them this season already, while the addition of Frank Lampard (albeit temporary) has been a revelation. City boast a team of goal scorers, from defense, through their midfield, and their strikers hardly need a mention – but it’s the link-up play between these different components that’s most impressive.

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