Ninety matches in 45 days: Premier League returns with Amorim's bow

What impact will news of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City contract extension have on Tottenham’s trip to the Etihad Stadium? Sky Sports’ football writers analyse the main talking points as the Premier League gets set to return this weekend…

The Amorim era begins at Man Utd

Here we go again, Manchester United. Ruben Amorim takes charge of his first game against Ipswich in the Premier League on Sunday, and you can watch it live on Sky Sports.

Amorim is the sixth person to fill the role vacated by Sir Alex Ferguson 11 years ago, although he is the first to do so under the title of head coach. The hope is that the new structure around him will give him a better chance of success than his predecessors.

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Kick off 4:30pm

For now, he must make do with the squad he has, which is a group of players assembled under four different regimes, lacking any consistent vision or style of play. He has the added complication of wanting to bring in a new formation unfamiliar to most of the squad.

Most of his players have been away on international duty, giving him just two training sessions with a full complement ahead of the trip to Ipswich. They face a side full of confidence after claiming their first league win of the season at Tottenham.

As ever with a new head coach, optimism is in the air, but that can quickly disappear if performances and results do not improve. Amorim is tasked with getting more from a group of players who have so often struggled for consistency and confidence at United.

No one is realistically expecting Amorim to make United genuine challengers in the short term – it will likely be his promise to create an identity that will be the measure of success in his first season. Erik ten Hag could not manage it in two-and-a-half years.

Results will give him more time to do this and, thanks in part to Ruud van Nistelrooy steadying the ship as interim boss, qualifying for the Champions League no longer feels out of reach. Just four points separate United and fourth-placed Arsenal.

As evidenced with the previous manager, cup competitions will only get Amorim so far. The expectation in the long term is to make United a force in the league once again. No one has done that since Sir Alex. No pressure, Ruben.
Zinny Boswell

Arsenal meet Forest in battle of the best defences

Arsenal cannot afford any more slip-ups now. Nine points behind leaders Liverpool, any further increase in the gap will not only have Mikel Arteta’s side real outsiders for the title – but have them looking over their shoulders towards a top-four fight.

Amid talk about a lack of cutting edge and creativity at the top end of the pitch, with the usual striker-January transfer window debates coming around, what the Gunners will not appreciate is taking on one of the league’s best defences in Nottingham Forest this Saturday.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side run a tight ship at the back – only Arne Slot’s leaders have conceded fewer goals than them. Liverpool even found out about that backline efficiency when Forest won at Anfield in September.

The reason for that efficiency? Forest give away very little. Their non-penalty xG per shot is the lowest in the league, meaning teams average the lowest-quality chances per shot against Nuno’s Forest.

There are two good bits of good news for Arsenal. The first is they are second on that xG per shot list to Forest, highlighting how they give very little away themselves.

The second is that Martin Odegaard is not only back after his impressive return at Chelsea, but well rested having been cleared to miss the international break with Norway.

And how do you unlock one of the best defences in the division? Put one of the most creative players in the division out on the pitch.
Sam Blitz

Reds begin season-defining run at St Mary’s

Liverpool head to bottom-of-the-table Southampton on Super Sunday to begin what could be a season-defining run of Premier League matches for the league leaders.

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Kick off 2:00pm

Slot’s side went into the international break holding a five-point lead over Man City and, after the trip to St Mary’s, the champions visit Anfield on December 1 in another game you can see live on Sky Sports, before fixtures at Newcastle United and city rivals Everton round off a challenging week for the Reds.

The Dutchman is already sweating on the fitness of captain Virgil van Dijk for the trip to the south coast after the centre-back returned early from the Netherlands camp with an unspecified injury, while this game looks like coming too soon for Alisson Becker, Harvey Elliott, Diogo Jota, Federico Chiesa and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

So, yes, Liverpool will be big favourites to maintain their unbeaten top-flight away run so far this season under Slot, but the Reds head coach will also be aware his team will come up against a Saints side who won their last home match, and that was against opposition from Merseyside as well.
Richard Morgan

Will Dr Tottenham strike again to cure sickly Man City?

Dr Tottenham will see you now, Manchester City.

The term Dr Tottenham is the idea that teams lacking in confidence, form and points will suddenly be healed with a positive result against Spurs.

The Tottenham surgery has already remedied Crystal Palace and Ipswich this season, gifting them their first league wins of the campaign.

And now Man City will hope for a cure from Dr Tottenham to end their four-game losing run on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.

The irony is that Ange Postecoglou’s side hurt City last month by beating them 2-1 in the Carabao Cup fourth round to start their malaise.

That defeat has seen City boss Pep Guardiola suffer the longest losing run in his managerial career.

Tottenham have long been a bogey side for the Spaniard too. Under Guardiola, City have lost more Premier League games (6) and conceded more Premier League goals (22) against Spurs than they have against any other opponent.

But even with the stats in Spurs’ favour, a timely rehabilitation for City would be in keeping with this Dr Tottenham season. Especially with City likely to be buoyed by the news of Guardiola’s contract extension.

Postecoglou must shut down the Spurs surgery at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Declan Olley

Everton face defining run of games

Most Evertonians by now have accepted this has been a marriage of convenience with manager Sean Dyche. Handed a very favourable set of opening 11 fixtures – statistically the easiest of any side in the division – Everton have won just twice. They lost in the league and cup to Southampton – and now winter is coming.

Giving others a head start has become de rigueur under Dyche, puncturing any hope of aspiring to something better than the annual slog for survival.

The former Burnley boss has always been streaky at Everton, but his approach – not to mention his press conferences – has always sounded the same. At times, it has felt like a turn in results can hinge on one refereeing decision. Even a throw-in. That isn’t really a way to run a football club.

When you look across the dug-out and see what Thomas Frank has built at Brentford, it is the polar opposite to Everton, where a series of short-term measures have been sought to effectively get the club to Bramley-Moore Dock as a Premier League outfit.

The fixtures are about to turn with Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City on the horizon. A dark December is imminent, and fans have rightly targeted upcoming encounters with Brentford and Wolves as must-win games.

The brand-new shiny stadium rises closer into view, the prospect of new owners looms large, but the walls will close in on Dyche if a minimum of four points aren’t taken.
Ben Grounds

Is this Wolves’ chance to move clear of the drop zone?

Has the tide turned for Gary O’Neil and Wolves, who head to high-flying Fulham on Saturday afternoon hoping to build on their recent three-game unbeaten run in the Premier League and with a favourable-looking run of fixtures on the horizon?

That mini run, culminating with the 2-0 win over fellow strugglers Southampton at Molineux before the international break – their first league victory of the season – moved Wolves off the foot of the table and to within just two points of Ipswich Town in 17th place.

O’Neil had been telling anyone who would care to listen his team was actually playing well, just without any luck, as seen in their last-gasp loss to Man City on October 20, but the rub of the green has been with his side of late.

However, O’Neil now needs his Wolves players to hit the ground running as the top flight returns, starting at a Fulham side riding high in seventh and having lost just once at Craven Cottage all season as their following five league matches against Bournemouth (h), Everton (a), West Ham (a), Ipswich (h) and Leicester (a) all look winnable.

So much so that by the time O’Neil takes Wolves to Man Utd on Boxing Day, they could be well clear of trouble and looking up, not down.
Richard Morgan

Maresca back to Leicester

Enzo Maresca returns to the King Power Stadium for the first time since guiding the Foxes back to the Premier League last season, when his Chelsea side travel to the East Midlands on Saturday.

His successor, Steve Cooper, is experienced in the top flight but comes into this fixture under an increasing amount of pressure.

While Leicester do have a three-point gap separating them and the relegation zone, their record of just two wins across the opening 11 games is worrying.

Chelsea’s last outing before the international break saw them draw 1-1 with Arsenal, a team which came close to slipping up against Leicester back in September if it was not for two late injury-time goals to secure all three points.

Cooper’s side have shown they can threaten top teams in the division – as Tottenham also discovered – and the early kick-off is renowned for shock upsets.

Maresca’s men will need to put fixtures like this to bed with ease if they are to mount a serious claim for the top four this season, while their opponents will be equally as desperate to secure a vital three points in their bid to avoid the drop.
Patrick Rowe

Unpredictable Isak looks back to his best

A slow start to the season for Alexander Isak has spiralled up quickly.

Just one goal in his first five league games, followed by a broken toe injury, created an unrecognisable figure at the top of the Newcastle attack, compared to the striker who scored 21 goals the season before.

But Isak’s strike against Chelsea at the end of October has opened the floodgates. The Swedish striker has four goals in his last four matches in all competitions for the Magpies, who now have back-to-back Premier League wins and a Carabao Cup quarter-final to look forward to.

Isak looks back to his unpredictable best. His ability to operate as a focal point, No 10 but also drift out wide makes him dangerous – but like all strikers, confidence is key.

With a much-improved shooting accuracy and generating as many xG chances in the last three games as he did in the opening six shows Isak has the bit between his teeth again.

Newcastle’s form goes hand in hand with their striker’s goal output and they are targeting the European spots before Christmas.
Sam Blitz

Villa can get back on track against wounded Palace

A 2-0 reverse against Liverpool before the international break condemned Aston Villa to a fourth consecutive defeat for the first time under Unai Emery. Fortunately for him, their next fixture, at home to Crystal Palace, looks like an ideal opportunity to correct their form.

Oliver Glasner’s side have been decimated by injuries this season, with Eddie Nketiah the latest player to succumb, pulling his hamstring earlier this month to join an absentee list which includes Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton, among others. Daichi Kamada, meanwhile, is suspended following his red card against Fulham.

According to data from Premier Injuries, Palace have suffered 11 separate injuries causing players to miss at least one game this season, the fourth-most among Premier League clubs, while only Brighton and Ipswich Town have lost more days to injury.

Glasner will hope to have some of his walking wounded back in shape at Villa Park. But Emery and his players should see Palace as being there for the taking. At home, on the back of news of a new contract for one of their best players in Morgan Rogers, they can get back on track.
Nick Wright