Last season's top-scoring duo face off having scored
just one goal from 41 shots combined this term, while Chelsea take on
Newcastle and Arsenal face unbeaten Leicester City
After a brief midweek sojourn for the League Cup, the Premier League resumes this weekend with all of the division’s biggest clubs in action on what promises to be a stellar Saturday of football boasting plenty of potential upsets.
The league's chasing pack could find themselves even further behind should Manchester City continue their fine record at White Hart Lane in the early kick-off, while north-east strugglers Sunderland and Newcastle will be itching to pick up first wins of the new season against Manchester United and Chelsea, respectively.
Here is Goal's guide to all the action in week seven...
Brendan Rodgers's position at Liverpool has never felt quite as precarious as it does now. The Merseysiders have struggled to fill the massive void left after the disbandment of the SAS; Luis Suarez to Barcelona, Daniel Sturridge to the treatment table and, more recently, Raheem Sterling to Manchester City. The goals have dried up and the mood at Anfield has darkened.
Two seasons ago, the Reds hit three figures for goals scored – just two shy of the record set by Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea. Now they have hit three figures for days since they last scored more than once in a game (against a relegated QPR in May), have been outscored by, among others, Sunderland, Aston Villa and Watford, and the spectre of the out-of-work Ancelotti is looming large.
It is not the first time that Rodgers has felt the breath of another manager creeping up his neck. Ahead of last season's FA Cup semi-final, speculation swirled that Fenway Sport Group were already eyeing Jurgen Klopp, who had dramatically decided to leave Borussia Dortmund. Rodgers and Liverpool were beaten by Aston Villa at Wembley and his job security has been fragile ever since.
Now he takes on that same opponent, though Tim Sherwood's side have themselves struggled in the aftermath of losing their own talisman (to Liverpool, ironically), and still FSG are thought to be mulling over a replacement, this time Ancelotti. Unlike Klopp and his disastrous final season at BVB, though, the Italian's stock is still high and he brings the expertise and gravitas the American owners have always wanted.
After so many poor showings and having almost been embarrassed by League Two's Carlisle in the League Cup, Rodgers is fast running out of credit. He needs points, he needs goals, and he needs them fast.
Forty-one shots. One goal. It is fair to say that last season's standout strikers, Sergio Aguero and Harry Kane, are struggling to find their feet in the new campaign. Both had gruelling summers with which to contend, both returned to pre-season late on, both have spurned numerous clear-cut chances. On Saturday at White Hart Lane, though, one will surely end their barren run.
It is likely to be Aguero, who has scored 10 goals in seven games against the north Londoners. There is no team in England against whom he has a better record, no team against whom he enjoys playing more. And his current malaise, if we are to call it that, is not for the want of trying. He is playing in the league's most vicious attack and, as such, no player has had more 'big' chances. But no player has missed more, either.
Saturday's match would, historically, offer a perfect chance to rediscover his scoring touch, yet Spurs have shown signs of increasing resolve. With Eric Dier protecting the defence and Toby Alderweireld bringing a new level of serenity to the back line, Spurs now boast the second-best defensive record in the division, behind only Manchester City themselves.
Kane, meanwhile, like Aguero, has yet to deliver. He has netted in an England shirt, an expert lob followed by a precision finish, but has been denied in all manner of ways when playing for Tottenham (he has hit the woodwork, had goals disallowed and shots cleared off the line). If he is to finally open his account, doing so against the league leaders would be a fine time.
Only one side remain unbeaten in the Premier League this season: Claudio Ranieri's Leicester City. The Foxes, the division's joint-top scorers alongside West Ham, have maintained their impressive form from the tail-end of last season and have played with a pulsating, frenetic tempo. But can their stunning start continue? With Arsenal visiting the King Power Stadium, perhaps not.
Leicester's problem is that they are just as likely to concede as they are to score. Only three teams have conceded more goals and they have gone behind first in four of their six matches. It's thrilling to watch but it is incredibly difficult to constantly have to rally from a goal down – or two, as was the case after a poor first hour against Aston Villa.
If there is one side to whom you cannot surrender an early lead, it is Arsenal. The Gunners have statistically far outperformed their results - they may have only scored around a third as many goals as Saturday's opponents but they have created twice as many big chances as Leicester and their total tally of 94 chances is beaten only by Manchester City.
If it finally clicks for Arsenal and they start taking their chances – Alexis Sanchez, for example, has had more shots (31) than any other player without scoring – then Leicester ought to easily be swept aside. Should they be defeated and their unbeaten run ended, the 2015-16 Premier League campaign would have produced the joint-worst unbeaten start to a new season at just six games long.
He is the name on everybody's lips, even Sir Alex Ferguson's! Anthony Martial has made an astonishing start to his Manchester United career, scoring four goals in three matches. It is a record that only Robin van Persie has matched for the Red Devils, though a goal at the weekend would outstrip even the prolific Dutchman's exploits.
Given that Saturday's opponents are Sunderland, who are winless, bottom of the league and possess the worst defensive record in the division, Martial's chances of adding to his tally are high indeed.
Of course, he was not treated with quite so much awe when rumours of United's last-minute approach began trickling through. At £36 million, a fee that could rise to £59m, the move was initially labelled desperate. Other targets, not least Thomas Muller, has escaped the Red Devils and so they were seemingly forced to panic-buy.
Fast-forward just a couple of weeks and now Martial looks a guaranteed star of the future. Nerveless, with quick feet and ferociously fast, a genuine heir to Thierry Henry. And so the launch of Sir Alex's new book was briefly sidetracked by this young upstart and his transfer fee. "Ridiculous? Not at the moment it's not!" retorted the Scot. If he keeps this up, he could be a bigger bargain than any Fergie ever found.
Newcastle may be winless and already on the precipice of crisis this season but there is no team whom Jose Mourinho would less like to visit. St James's Park is one of just two Premier League stadiums at which the self-proclaimed 'Special One' has never won, the other being the Emirates Stadium (though he did pick up a 2-0 victory at Highbury in Arsenal's final season at the ground).
Even when the Magpies have been in appalling form, still he has struggled. In his five visits, Newcastle have won on three occasions and he has seen his usually resolute side concede three times as many goals as they have scored. Even last season, when the unbeaten Blues were rampant, having picked up 36 points from a possible 42, still they came unstuck in the north east.
"There are a few stadiums in this country where, clearly, when they see the Chelsea shirts, they play the game of their lives," said Mourinho of his bogey team last season. "When they play against other teams they look like they're playing friendlies."
But Mourinho can afford no more slips-up and especially not against a side who were knocked out of the League Cup by Sheffield Wednesday. If results go their way, they could be a mere five points behind leaders Manchester City and back in a title race that was prematurely written off. It may seem like an innocuous enough fixture, a giant against a minnow, but shaking this particular monkey off their backs could be decisive in Chelsea's season.
Mourinho can at least take some solace too from the curse of the 'P's having been lifted at last. Up until this month, all of the Portuguese's last six league defeats had come from managers whose surnames began with said letter, though that run was ended by Roberto Martinez and Everton. Next up, another 'M': Steve McClaren. Could a new hoodoo emerge?
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