January 24, London With their closest rivals playing difficult away games on Saturday, Liverpool has the opportunity to increase the pressure at the top of the Premier League rankings. Among other games, Chelsea will play Manchester City, the reigning champions; Arsenal will play Wolverhampton Wanderers; and Manchester United will play Fulham in an attempt to earn all three points.

After losing to Manchester City 6-0 at home last weekend, Arne Slot’s team will be chastened when they visit Anfield to face Ipswich Town. For the first thirty minutes of that loss, Ipswich played some excellent offensive football. However, their expansive style of play has been punished by strong opponents, and visiting coach Kieran McKenna may need to adopt a more cautious strategy against a team with many goal-scoring alternatives.

Nottingham Forest and Arsenal both play at the same time as Liverpool on Saturday afternoon. Forest has a challenging trip to in-form Bournemouth, while Arsenal travels to face Wolverhampton Wanderers. After Vitor Pereira’s new manager bounce seems to have worn off, Wolves have dropped to 17th place in the league and are now tied with Ipswich on points. The future of striker Matheus Cunha, who is a January target for both Arsenal and Forest, seems to be a contributing factor in Wolves’ issues.

Wolves’ recent comeback was largely due to Cunha’s ten goals, but he seems to have lost concentration in three straight losses, and Saturday’s match may virtually be seen as an Arsenal job interview. With Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka out and Mikel Arteta’s team still lacking a consistent center striker, Cunha may be the key to reviving their championship hopes—that is, if he doesn’t ruin them on Saturday.

With their thrilling 4-1 victory against Newcastle last weekend, Bournemouth’s winning streak now stands at nine games. Andoni Iraola’s team is playing unstoppable offensive football. Their matchup with Nottingham Forest, who have won seven of their past eight league games and drawn one, might be the weekend’s high point, especially because it pits two teams that no one predicted would be in this position.

Fifth place In what promises to be an exciting match, Manchester City hosts Chelsea, who are currently in fourth place. After leading 2-0 on the road against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, City seemed to be rebounding from a slump in play before crashing to a 4-2 loss. The immediate concerns will be how to thwart a Chelsea assault spearheaded by Nicolas Jackson and former City youngster Cole Palmer, but Pep Guardiola’s team must defeat Club Brugge the next week in order to advance to the Champions League play-off round.

Last weekend, Bournemouth destroyed Newcastle’s aspirations of winning ten straight games, but Saturday’s trip to Southampton, a team that has given up 50 goals this season, should have Alexander Isak and company rubbing their hands in anticipation of getting back on the scoreboard. Danny Welbeck is back for Brighton against Everton, who have more offensive bite since David Moyes took over as coach, while Crystal Palace, who are always getting better, play Brentford in a south London derby on Sunday.

Ruud van Nistelrooy is under pressure at Leicester after seven straight league losses before of Sunday’s trip to Tottenham, where Ange Postecoglou also needs a victory. Spurs’ erratic defense has earned them the moniker “Dr. Tottenham” since it aids in the recovery of troubled teams, but this one is difficult to predict given Leicester’s recent seven-game losing streak and Spurs’ four-game losing streak in the league.

Striker Jhon Duran will be hoping to make an impression against West Ham, who were said to be interested in signing him this month, when Aston Villa hosts them. Lack of firepower is one of West Ham’s several issues since replacing Julen Lopetegui, and the team will be missing Jarrod Bowen, Mickael Antonio, and Niclas Fullkrug.

In another meeting involving Portuguese managers, Fulham will put Manchester United to the test on Sunday night as Marco Silva’s well-organized team hosts a rival that doesn’t seem at ease with Ruben Amorim’s wing-back scheme.