This may be start of the year and the second half of the league season, however, this game could potentially have the biggest impact on the Premier League title race. Manchester City were expected to run away with the Premier League title again this seasons but the Cityzens have seen how difficult a task it is to retain the Premier League crown and they come into this game 7 points off Liverpool. A win for Manchester City would end Liverpool’s unbeaten start to the season and also close the points gap to 4 points. Although Liverpool would still lead the Premier League table they would have halted the Reds’ momentum. A defeat for the hosts would mean that Liverpool now has a 10 points gap on them at the top of the Premier League table. Manchester City come into this game with 3 losses from their last 5 league games including a home defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace. Liverpool have dropped just six points in the Premier League this season and they come into this game on the back of 9 consecutive league wins including a 5-1 demolishing against Arsenal in their last league game. The Reds have however, dropped points against the top six having failed to win at Chelsea and Arsenal, they would be keen on winning here to keep their momentum going.

Southampton survived relegation from the Premier League by some stroke of luck last season and they were expected to be even more competitive this time around, but they started very poorly and that cost Mark Hughes his job. The Saints have named Austrian Ralph Hassenhuttl as their manager and the former RB Leipzig boss has begun his reign in an outstanding fashion. They became the first team to beat Arsenal in 23 games and also defeated Huddersfield Town 3-1 in their very next game. However, they were beaten 2-1 at home by West Ham in their last league game and they need to perform another giant killing act here to get a good result. Manchester City were expected to run away with the Premier League title this season after they totaled 100 points to claim the crown the last time out. However, the Cityzens have encountered a rough patch recently and come into this game 7 points off the top as well as well as on a run of two straight losses. They would be looking to get back to their early season form that saw them go 15 matches unbeaten. They have won all their 4 games against Southampton under Pep Guardiola.

Burnley have becoming one of the mainstay of the Premier League over the past few seasons despite having one of the smallest budgets. They surprised everyone when they finished 7th in the league last season and qualified for the Europa League. However, their participation in Europe’s second biggest competition has affected their form and they are yet to recover it. They come into this game firmly in the relegation battle on the 18th position and their fans would be keen for their team to avoid the 5-1 mauling the suffered at the hands of Everton in their last game here. West Ham hired a former Premier League winner as their manager as they look to become one of the contenders for a European place in the Premier League, and Manuel Pellegrini has begun helping the Hammers get closer to achieving that goal. They have won 5 of their last 6 Premier League games and come into this game in the 9th position on the league table. It seems like only a matter of time before they break inside the top 7.

Crystal Palace remain one of the most unpredictable teams in the Premier League at the moment, but they also have the reputation of being a team that knows just how to cause an upset at just about any time. The Eagles would have been hoping to be far away from the relegation zone at this stage of the season, however, their inconsistent form means they come into this game on the 14th position on the league table. They beat Manchester City at the Etihad last weekend and several people expected them to build on that but they failed to do so and were held to a draw in their last game at home by Cardiff City. Despite their last result and the lack of a prolific goal scorer, the Eagles can still shock the Blues like they always do when they play against the top teams. Chelsea had a solid start to the season and remained unbeaten in all competition in a long time. However, they have since begun to lose games and were beaten recently at home by Leicester City. They recovered from that 1-0 loss to the Foxes to beat Watford 2-1 in their last league game. Their fans would be hoping for more of the same in this game.