What a fixture to kick off the weekend, the Manchester derby at 12:30, the obvious City defensive points are available, but with Carrick replacing Amorim, will we see a more classic 442 formation give City a bigger headache? Or will Haaland and now potentially Semenyo, who has started his City career on fire, reign goals in the theatre of dreams!
Rosenior has a list of fixes at Chelsea as long as his arms apparently, lets hope one of those includes a way to protect their defence against a fully furing Thiago and a Brentford who are up to 4th! and unbeaten in their last 6. Fantasy League managers, surely have to start thinking about Brentford defenders now?
Leeds take on a firing Fulham, Jedi, the leagues highest scoring assist provider last season, will they prove too much for Leeds?
Liverpool take on Burnley, with Salah, Isak etc still out, will Frimpong revert to fullback? Sunderland take on a poor Palace, looking at a nil-nil here? Both teams struggling for goals. Clean sheet bonus points!?
Next comes another London derby, with miss-firing Spurs and West Ham. This could be an end to end attacking classic, however, looking at their last 12 games combined, there is only one win! Will Gallagher make a creative difference for Spurs? Will Paqueta still be at West Ham come the weekend?
We end Saturday with Forest entertaining the league leaders, Arsenal. I don’t see this as anything other than a comfortable Arsenal win, although with Aina back for Forest, they might soon begin to pull together a defensive platform to build from.
Will Wolves FA Cup 6-1 win mean that Newcastle face a tougher game? Or was Strand-Larsen just trying to promote himself for a January transfer move?!
Villa and Everton battle it out at Villa Park, Malen has gone, but with Watkins and Rogers firing, I don’t think there will be much of a surprise here.
Monday night football. Brighton take on Bournemouth, a South Coast battle. Evanilson v Wellbeck?
Manual Assists awarded
Chelsea v Brentford 17th January 2026 – Delap felled by Brentford keeper for pen, which Palmer converts.
Everton v Villa 18th January 2026 – McNeil shot saved my Martinez, scored by Barry.
Brighton v Bournemouth 19th January – Adli fell over for penalty, which Tavernier scored.
Not awarded:
Sunderland v Crystal Palace 17th January 2026 – No assist for cross for Palace goal, goalkeeper punches ball away. Also no assist for Sunderland winner, Thiago’s ball is deflected into the path of Brobbey.
