Game Week 23 gets underway on Saturday night when what’s left of Mourinho’s Spurs attempt to ground the high-flying Hornets.
Unfortunately, we are forced to wait until Monday morning (AEDT) for the match of the round as Manchester United looks to achieve what no other side has done since April 2017 – win at Anfield.
Find my tips and Preview for those two matches, alongside every other fixture during GW23 of the EPL below.
Tottenham is winless across its last three fixtures following a one-nil defeat to Liverpool in GW22.
Jose deployed Lucas Moura as a false nine against the Reds in the absence of the Spurs only striker Harry Kane, and this strategical move proved to be fruitless as the Brazilian failed to stretch Klopp’s defence.
Watford has astonishingly lifted themselves out of the relegation zone following a five-game unbeaten run, claiming victory across their last three fixtures.
Nigel Pearson has galvanised his sides defensive structure and intent, with the Hornets only conceding on two occasions since GW18.
Watford has already claimed a point away from home against the Spurs earlier this season, and in their current form they’d be pushing for all three this time around.
Aston Villa limp into this contest with their tails between their legs following a 6-1 humbling at the hands of Man City.
The Villans are without an established striker, with Welsey set to miss the rest of the campaign with a ruptured ACL.
A lack of big-bodied target men at the top of the park makes it extremely difficult for the away side to find an out ball, not to mention most of Villa’s attacking moments have come from give-and-goes off the big man.
The Seagulls played well in defeat to the Toffees last time out where Graham Potter’s side controlled the speed of the contest during large spells of the match but were ultimately undone by an inspiring performance from Jordan Pickford between the sticks.
I can’t see Villa troubling Mat Ryan with their lack of genuine forwards, so I’m tipping Brighton to clinch all three points in a low scoring affair.
Crystal Palace’s last three league matches have all finished as one-all draws, and you can bet Roy Hodgson would sell his second kidney to achieve the same result at Manchester this weekend.
The Eagles are currently sitting in the top half of the table thanks to their resolute defence, last conceding multiple goals in the same match way back in GW13 against the Reds.
City storm into this clash off the back of a 6-1 dismantling of the sorry Villans.
Sergio Aguero scored his 12th Premier League treble, and in doing so surpassed Thierry Henry (175) as the top-scoring foreign player in Premier League history with 177 goals in 255 appearances.
With the title all but in Liverpool’s hands, City is playing without pressure which spells trouble for their opponents this weekend!
Both West Ham and Everton have produced much-improved performances since the arrival of their new managers.
Everton has tasted defeat only once in their last seven league appearances, claiming a hard-fought one-nil victory against Brighton last time out.
Ancelotti has settled on a forward pairing of Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin, with the two young stars accounting for every Toffee goal (5) across their last four matches.
West Ham was unlucky to go down to Sheffield United last week when their last gasp equaliser was overturned thanks to VAR spotting a handball in the leadup.
Unlike Ancelotti, Moyes is yet to fall upon his best starting XI. Everton is building toward a strong finish this season and should take home the chocolates here.
With the arrival of Mikel Arteta, the Gunners have been able to talk the majority of their senior players out of jumping ship. Then again, unfortunately, their senior players are for the lack of a better word, trash.
The Gunners will be without their Captain and currently their only player worth writing home about in Aubameyang – with the striker seeing red following a reckless challenge on Max Meyer last week.
Aubameyang had started in every league match up until this point and represents half of his sides total goal tally – an out which will prove difficult to overcome for the home side.
Following consecutive losses against City and the Reds, the Blades bounced back to winning ways with a one-nil victory over the Hammers.
Sheffield claimed victory against the Gunners back in GW9 and will be motivated to clean sweep the Londoners for the first time in Premier League history.
Chris Wilder’s team have only lost twice on the road this season and represent huge value in the head-to-head market @ $4.33.
Are you suffering from long-term chronic insomnia? Then try switching over to Norwich v Bournemouth, if you’re still conscious following the first 15 minutes, that is.
In the last ten Game Weeks, Bournemouth has plummeted from 7th to 19th on the Premier League table, failing to register a goal in six of their last eight games.
A win for Norwich here will catapult them up to within three points of the Cherries in second last place!
The Canaries are having their own issues going forward, only scoring multiple goals on one occasion in their past eight fixtures.
The spoils were shared between these two sides earlier in the season in an enthralling 0-0 draw, so I’m expecting something similar this time around.
Southampton officially completed their season turnaround last week when they overcame Leicester 2-1 – the same side that unceremoniously buried nine goals past them in GW10.
The Saints have claimed 19 points from their last nine matches, Liverpool (27 points) the only side to claim more during that same period.
Alternatively, the Wolves have seen a dip in form coming into the New Year, and are winless across their last three fixtures, including outings against Watford and Newcastle.
Nuno’s side will need to contend a midweek FA Cup fixture at Old Trafford, with fatigue surely to play into Southampton’s favour.
The Saints are on a tear at the moment and it would be foolish to tip against them, especially at home.
The Toons will be looking to break a four-game winless streak when they welcome the Blues to St. James’ Park on Sunday morning (AEDT).
Steve Bruce will welcome back a handful of players from injury, although they will need to hit the ground running if the Toons intend to take the contest to an in-form Chelsea side.
The Blues will be hoping to extend their league unbeaten run to four games while consolidating their position inside the top four.
Lampard’s young squad has faired well on the road this season, with seven of their 12 victories coming away from the Bridge.
Chelsea has won their last three outings against Newcastle and I’m expecting them to extend this run to four.
Burnley is currently playing with the self-confidence of an overweight teenager at a school swimming carnival.
The once lethal one-two combo of Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood is now about as dangerous as a left-right from Choc Mundine.
The Clarets have lost four games on the trot, scoring just once across that trip.
It’s not all sunshine and Red Bulls over in Leicester either, with the Foxes dropping 11 points in their last five games.
The congested festive period proved too much of an obstacle for Brendan Rodger’s side to maintain their pressure on league leaders Liverpool, with their lack of squad depth exposed.
Saying that, Leicester have been provided with the perfect fixture to bounce back to winning ways and should do so without breaking a sweat.
Prep your sick leave excuses, match of the round arrives in the early hours of Monday morning (AUDT).
For the first time in a long time, the neutrals will be cheering on Man United, as the fallen giants attempt to trigger the collapse of Liverpool’s record-breaking season.
The highlight of Man U’s season came back in October last year when they managed to swindle a point away from the Champs elec. Since then their season has been full of highs and lows though, as speculation on Ole’s job and transfer links to half of Leicester’s starting XI.
One shining light has been the development of homegrown talent Marcus Rashford, who has accumulated 14 goals and 4 assists in the league.
Liverpool will be out to extend the unbeaten record at Anfield to 1000-odd games this weekend.
After keeping just two clean sheets across the opening 15 Game Weeks, the Reds have gone their last six matches without conceding!
United have taken points away from all the sides currently residing inside the top four, yet any result at Anfield seems a world away from the once Champions.