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Gameweek 28 of the 2017-18 Premier League season could prove pivotal come the end of the campaign as Manchester United host Chelsea after a Saturday packed with relegation battles.
A repeat of last season's 2-0 victory for United at Old Trafford, coupled with Tottenham beating Crystal Palace earlier on Sunday, could see the reigning champions end the gameweek outside the top four for the first time since October.
The weekend begins at the King Power Stadium as Stoke City held Leicester on a day where the relegation battle took centre stage as every team bar Crystal Palace from Burnley in seventh down were in action.
Here's the lay of the land ahead of gameweek 28...
EPL Table | Premier League 2017-18 season standings
Pos Team P W D L GD Pts 1 Man City 27 23 3 1 59 72 2 Liverpool 28 16 9 3 33 57 3 Man United 27 17 5 5 32 56 4 Chelsea 27 16 5 6 26 53 5 Tottenham 27 15 7 5 28 52 6 Arsenal 27 13 6 8 15 45 7 Burnley 28 9 10 9 -3 37 8 Leicester 28 9 10 9 -1 36 9 Everton 28 9 7 12 -15 34 10 Watford 28 9 6 13 -9 33 11 Bournemouth 28 8 8 12 -10 32 12 Brighton 28 7 10 11 -10 30 13 West Ham 28 7 9 12 -15 30 14 Huddersfield 28 8 6 14 -23 30 15 Newcastle 28 7 8 12 -11 29 16 Southampton 28 5 12 11 -12 27 17 Crystal Palace 27 6 9 12 -17 27 18 Swansea 28 7 6 15 -20 27 19 Stoke 28 6 8 14 -26 26 20 West Brom 28 3 11 14 -20 20
Gameweek 28 fixtures
Saturday, February 24 Kickoff Coverage TV Leicester City 1 Stoke City 1 12:30pm Sky Sports Bournemouth 2 Newcastle 2 3pm Brighton 4 Swansea City 1 3pm Burnley 1 Southampton 1 3pm Liverpool 4 West Ham 1 3pm LIVE West Brom 1 Huddersfield 2 3pm Watford vs Everton 5.30pm BT Sport Sunday, February 25 Crystal Palace vs Tottenham 12pm LIVE Sky Sports Man United vs Chelsea 2.05pm LIVE Sky Sports Thursday, March 1 Arsenal vs Man City 7.45pm LIVE Sky Sports
Gameweek 27 results
Saturday, February 10 Kickoff Coverage TV Tottenham 1 Arsenal 0 12:30pm Report Everton 3 Crystal Palace 1 3pm Report Stoke 1 Brighton 1 3pm Swansea 1 Burnley 0 3pm West Ham 2 Watford 0 3pm Report Man City 5 Leicester 1 5:30pm Report BT Sport Sunday, February 11 Huddersfield vs Bournemouth 12pm Newcastle 1 Man United 0 2:15pm Report Sky Sports Southampton 0 Liverpool 2 4:30pm Report Sky Sports Monday, February 12 Chelsea 3 West Brom 0 8pm Report Sky Sports
Top scorers
Chelsea Manager, Antonio Conte, has identified 21-year-old Andreas Christensen as future Blues’ captain.
The defender has enjoyed a sensational season for Chelsea, breaking into the side in August and subsequently replacing David Luiz as Conte’s first-choice centre-back.
However, the young center-back was criticised by a number of pundits this week after his mistake cost Chelsea in their Champions League clash with Barcelona.
The Italian manager said he has already put the mistake to the back of his mind, however, and sees a ‘wonderful’ Christensen as an obvious future Chelsea captain.
“Personally I forgot this mistake. When you are a player, you can make a lot of mistakes in your career.
Antonio Conte heaped praises on the Danish defender on Friday, saying, “If I had to talk about all the mistakes I made in my career, we’d have to be here for one day.
“It doesn’t matter. Christensen is having a fantastic season and showing great maturity. For me, apart from the mistake, his performance was great, was wonderful.
“I have a lot of trust in Christensen. This player is a player for the present for Chelsea, and for Chelsea’s future for 10 or 12 years. He can also become the captain of this team in the future.”
Christensen, who joined Chelsea’s academy at the age of 15, will hope to bounce back when the Blues travel to Old Trafford on Sunday.
Manchester United have stepped up their efforts to sign Nice midfielder, Jean Michael Seri, as Paul Pogba has fallen out with manager Jose Mouirnho.
The Mirror reports thats Seri’s box-to-box style is “the type of which Mourinho spoke at length recently when discussing Pogba and what traits the modern-day midfielder must embody.”
Pogba has started from the substitutes’ bench twice in United’s past four matches, as his relationship with Mourinho becomes increasingly strained.
It is understood that if the pair cannot resolve their differences this summer, the 24-year-old could leave Old Trafford for the second time in his career.
Seri, a 26-year-old Ivory Coast international, has a £35million buyout clause and United sent scouts to monitor his play in a Europa League match earlier this month.
Mohamed Salah scored for the sixth straight game as Liverpool took advantage of being the only Premier League top six side in action on Saturday to move into second with a 4-1 thrashing of West Ham at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp’s men still trail runaway league leaders Manchester City by 15 points, but strengthened their case to finish in the top four and make the Champions League next season as Emre Can, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane were also on target.
Liverpool edge a point ahead of bitter rivals Manchester United, who host fourth-placed Chelsea on Sunday.
Salah also drew level with Harry Kane on 23 Premier League goals in an outstanding debut season at Liverpool in the battle for the golden boot.
The Egyptian was inches away from opening the scoring inside three minutes when he struck the post, but did have a hand when Can’s bullet header from Salah’s corner broke the deadlock on 29 minutes for Liverpool’s 100th goal of the season in all competitions.
Salah doubled Liverpool’s lead when he steered a shot into the far corner on his favoured left foot after the break from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s through ball.
Moments later it was Firmino who beat West Ham goalkeeper Adrian to Can’s pass before slotting into an empty net.
Substitute Michail Antonio pulled a goal back for the Hammers just a minute after coming on, but Mane ensured all of Liverpool’s prolific front three were on target when he converted Andrew Robertson’s cross 13 minutes from time.
At the other end of the table, promoted Huddersfield and Brighton moved clear of the bottom three.
West Brom remain rooted to the foot of the table as Huddersfield struck twice in eight minutes at the start of the second period through Rajiv Van la Parra and Steve Mounie to win 2-1 at the Hawthorns.
Brighton moved up to 11th thanks to Glenn Murray’s double and late goals from Anthony Knockaert and Jurgen Locadia to end Swansea’s 10-match unbeaten run in a 4-1 thrashing.
Dwight Gayle also scored twice, but Newcastle failed to back up their stunning win over Manchester United as they blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Bournemouth. Adam Smith and Dan Gosling struck for the hosts in the final 10 minutes.
Southampton also salvaged a point late on to edge out the drop zone on goal difference.
Manolo Gabbiadini came off the bench to level in stoppage time and salvage a 1-1 draw at Burnley, whose wait since December 12 for a Premier League win continues.
AFP
