Matchday 7

Matchday 7 of the English Premier League will kick off Saturday morning with the second to last international break of 2017 looming at the end of the weekend, giving national teams one final chance to wrap up automatic qualification for next summer’s World Cup in Russia, including the USA who face two massive final qualifiers at home against Panama and on the road at Trinidad and Tobago where results are a must if they hope to punch their ticket.  Stay tuned as we will be adding a new feature to our weekly previews after the break and until then enjoy the weekend action with every game available live on the NBC family of networks or online at NBC Live Extra.

Saturday (all times eastern)

10am – Crystal Palace @ Manchester United – Old Trafford, NBC Sports Network

After coasting through the opening month of the season and taking an early position near the top of the table, Manchester United solidified their place as a legitimate title contender when they gutted out a hard fought 1-0 victory on the road at Southampton.  It was the type of game that United would have drawn or dropped last season and has put the rest of the league on notice of the Red devils intent this year ahead of a visit from the lowly Crystal Palace to Old Trafford, with the Eagles’ misery only growing after they were completely steam rolled by Manchester City 5-0.

The loss gave Palace the dubious distinction of becoming the first team in English Football League history to start a season with six defeats and no goals, and the only team in Europe's big five divisions yet to score a league goal this season, neither an encouraging sign heading to Old Trafford where they will face a United side that have never lost to Palace in their sixteen all time Premier League meetings (W13 D3), have won the last ten between the two at the Theater of Dreams, and that holds the joint best defensive record (2GA) in the league and have yet to concede a goal at home this season.

12:30pm – Manchester City @ Chelsea – Stamford Bridge, NBC

Another massive early season showdown will wrap up the Saturday slate when Manchester City, fresh off the demolition of Palace and now the first team to score at least five goals in three consecutive Premier League matches, bring their high-flying attack to Stamford Bridge for a potential six pointer against Chelsea, with the Blues prepping for the title tilt by getting a first Premier League hat trick from summer signing Alvaro Morata in a 4-0 victory over Stoke City and then stunning Atletico Madrid with an injury time winner to stay perfect through two games in their midweek Champions League group clash.

The Spaniard has proven to be a more than capable replacement for the exiled Diego Costa, who is officially off the clubs books with his transfer back to Atleti confirmed this week, and should test a Manchester City back line that holds the joint best defensive record through six games with United but will be without center back and captain Vincent Kompany as well as left back Benjamin Mendy through injury against the defending champions that pulled the double over the Citizens last season and that have lost only one of their last seven to the current league leaders at Stamford Bridge (W4 D2).

Sunday (all times eastern)

11:30am – Liverpool @ Newcastle United – St. James’ Park, NBC Sports Network

The weekend action will wind down and lead you right into the Ravens kickoff when Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool head to St. James’ Park to take on former Reds manager Rafa Benitez and Newcastle United, who saw their three-game winning streak and jaunt up the table come to a screeching halt when they fell to the newly promoted Brighton and Hove Albion 1-0, while the German and the Reds will look to get the better of the Magpies after climbing up to fifth in the table when they held on for a 3-2 victory over Leicester City in a game that had more than a few nervy second half moments for the visitors.

A matchup that has rarely disappointed over the years, with a scoreless draw yet to occur in their forty-four all-time top flight meetings and a ridiculous 3.14 goals per game average, Klopp and Liverpool should be able to deploy the attacking quartet of Phillippe Coutinho, Roberto Firminio, Sadio Mane and Muhammad Salah for the first time in the league which should help to offset a leaky defense that sits in the bottom five of goals allowed and that have dropped their last two trips to St. James’ Park, winning just one of the last four meetings overall between the two (L2 D1).