Matchday 9

Matchday 9 of the English Premier League will move us past the quarter pole of the season when it kicks off later today and it may be time to ask the question, can anyone catch either of the Manchester sides? With both having yet to lose while leading the league in goals scored and goals allowed, they are threatening to make it a two-horse race and leave the rest of the league in their wake.  Tune in to catch both this weekend and all the action live on the NBC family of networks and online at NBC Live Extra.

Saturday (all times eastern)

7:30am – Watford @ Chelsea – Stamford Bridge, NBC Sports Network

Chelsea were dealt the shock of the weekend, with Crystal Palace scoring their first league goal in five months to end a scoreless drought of 731 minutes and improbably pick up their first three points of the campaign against the defending league champions and move the holders nine points behind current leaders Manchester City.  Needing to right the ship after back to back losses, they will welcome Watford to Stamford Bridge to open the weekend, with the Hornets jumping the Blues in the table when they overturned a first half deficit with an injury time winner getting them past Arsenal 2-1.

After they were dismantled by the above-mentioned City only weeks ago, the win was a statement game for Watford as Marco Silva has the fourth-place Hornets looking like the surprise side of the year.  They will be put to the test again early Saturday morning against Chelsea who, after losing only five games in the whole of last season, have dropped three in just eight this year but have lost just one of their eight all time Premier League meetings with the Hornets, winning five of the last seven (D2) and six of their last seven at Stamford Bridge (D1).

Sunday (all times eastern)

8:30am – Arsenal @ Everton – Goodison Park, NBC Sports Network

While Arsenal were ultimately doomed by an injury time strike at Watford, it was Everton who used the games dying seconds to their advantage with a 90^th minute penalty from Wayne Rooney rescuing a point against Premier League new boys Brighton and Hove Albion in a 1-1 draw.  The result, which dropped the Toffees down to 16^th in the table, is likely to do little to ease the growing pressure on manager Ronald Koeman’s sputtering side still searching for some sort of continuity in the final third when they return home to Goodison Park and welcome the Gunners to kick off the Sunday slate.

It will be tough to expect any sort of reprieve against the Gunners this weekend in front of their home faithful, who are likely to grow restless and turn on the Dutchmen at the first sign of setback following anther defeat in the Europa League yesterday and where, despite holding their own at Goodison Park as of late and walking away empty handed in only one of their last five meetings in the league (W2 D2) after failing to win any of the previous six, they have lost four of the last five with Arsenal and managed to take all three points in only two of their last twenty meetings in the league (L12 D6).

11am – Liverpool @ Tottenham - Wembley Stadium, NBC Sports Network

Tottenham won for the third week in a row to remain unbeaten in the league since their Matchday 2 defeat to Chelsea and consolidated their hold on third place in the table just below the Manchester sides, with Christian Eriksen’s strike early in the second half enough to see them past Bournemouth 1-0.  The win was their first in the Premier League at their temporary home for the season and they will look to make it two in a row when they welcome Liverpool to Wembley Stadium in the penultimate matchup of the weekend, after the Reds drew with Manchester United in a goalless affair.

The draw was the third in their last four games as they were unable to find a way past a United defense that “parked the bus” in classic Jose Mourinho style and that I missed.  Liverpool are unbeaten in their last ten meetings with Tottenham across all competitions, taking all three points in seven of those encounters and, after dropping their previous six visits to London, have not lost in their last four trips to the capital (W2 D2), with a similar result on Sunday allowing them to narrow the gap in the table with Spurs to only a single point and moving them back within sight of both Manchester sides.