After another dull international break, The Premier League is back and there are a few golden games sprinkled amongst the mundane. The battle for the top 4 continues with Arsenal entertaining Liverpool in a mouth-watering encounter to start the Easter weekend. On Sunday, arguably the fiercest rivals in the country face off in the Tyne- wear derby as Sunderland host Newcastle.

Arsenal v Liverpool

Brendan Rodgers will gamble on the fitness of star striker Daniel Sturridge for this crucial top 4 showdown at the Emirates. Without Sturridge, Liverpool struggle to recreate that beautiful, free flowing football that we have seen over the last two seasons.  One man who will be feeling the pressure to perform is Raheem Sterling. The 20 year old turned down a staggering £100k a week contract but still claimed he isn’t interested in money. He seems arrogant and is in danger of thinking he has already made it before he has even start to put in the hard work that saw players like Ronaldo & Bale rise to the top. The Reds will find it hard on Saturday given they have own just one of their last 18 away games against Arsenal. However, they are currently on a club record equalling run of 6 consecutive clean sheets away from home. Whether they can continue that or not with defensive leader Skrtel is another story.

My gut says they won’t. Arsenal just have far too much fire power and have one of ‘thee’ in-form players in the league right now in Olivier Giroud, who has six goals in his last five games. After a flurry of fantastic performances following his return from injury, Mesut Ozil hasn’t been quite as sharp recently but one man that is, is former FPL favourite Aaron Ramsey.  He has two goals for club and country in his three games since return from injury but it is his performances that have been particularly good. He is enjoying his football again and could go on another scoring spree like we saw last season.

Prediction: 1-1

Everton v Southampton

Everton have won just eight of their Premier League games this season, half the number that they had won at this stage last season. What’s happened? They have pretty much the same team but they have just been defensively woeful this season.  However, they have won their last two games, however Southampton will provide a tougher test than Newcastle & QPR did. The league’s best defence shouldn’t be too worried as they face an Everton attack that has failed to score in three of their last four Premier League games against the Saints. However, one of the key men to their defensive achievements this season has been Fraser Forster and he has been ruled out for the rest of the season, leaving veteran Goalkeeper a possible bargain for FPL managers at just 4.4m. It was just typical that Graziano Pelle would score against England having gone 13 games without a goal at club level.  The Italian scored 6 goals in his first 8 games in England, perhaps that international goal is the confidence booster he needs to go on that sort of run again.

Prediction: 1-1

Leicester City v West Ham

A late winner at Sunderland stopped West Ham’s rotten run and now find themselves in a 3 way mini league with Swansea & Stoke, all battling for 8^th place. The Hammers have not won any of their last seven away matches and have kept just one clean sheet in their last 20 on the road. They will have no better chance to improve that record against bottom club Leicester who have scored just three goals in their last nine Premier League games at the King Power stadium.

Prediction: 1-1

Man Utd v Aston Villa

Last week’s win over bitter rivals Liverpool will have been a huge confidence boost to United and they could have done with not having the international break as it may have disrupted their rhythm. After so much criticism this season, United are now only two points away from second and boast the third best defence in the league.

Wayne Rooney will be very much looking forward to this game as he has scored more goals against Aston Villa (joint with Newcastle) than any other team and has scored four braces in his last six games against the Villains. Lethal. The Red Devils have won 12 of their last 14 Premier League matches at Old Trafford and this should continue on Saturday. It will be interesting to see whether record signing Di Maria is recalled to the starting 11, given the form of Mata & Fellaini. Mata scored twice against Liverpool, picking up the man of the match award and Fellaini scored for United the other week before adding 3 goals in 2 games for Belgium this last week.  After back to back wins, Villa slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Swansea last time out and with one eye on the Fa Cup; I think they will lose to nil this weekend.

Prediction: 2-0

Swansea v Hull

Hull City are really struggling right now, hovering just three points above the drop zone. They have won just one of their last 14 Premier League away games. In the eight games that Jelavic has missed this season, Hull have won none, scoring only five goals. Swansea are another team that struggle to score more than one goal a game but they find themselves in 8^th place due to their impressive defence. Only 6 players that are currently at the club have scored for Swansea this season.

Prediction: 1-0

WBA v QPR

WBA have kept six clean sheets in seven games in all competitions at the Hawthorns this season under Tony Pulis. The defensive mastermind’s first change was to push centre back Dawson out to right back, however he was sent off last week and this should see the return of Andre Wisdom back at right back. QPR have lost 17 of their 19 Premier League games this season and even a win wouldn’t get them out the drop zone. I expect them to fight hard to supply Matthew Phillips & Charlie Austin but it won’t be enough to break down the organised unit of Pulis’ men.

Prediction: 1-0

Chelsea v Stoke

Chelsea are the only team in the four division of English not to have lost at home this season and that shouldn’t change on Saturday evening given their opponents have failed to score in six of the last seven meetings between the sides. The Blues have conceded just eight goals in their last 22 Premier League games. Diego Costa has scored in his last 2 games making it 19 overall for the season. Fabregas was back among the assists last time out but he also now has 9 bookings for the season, making him 1 yellow card away from a two match ban.

Prediction: 2 -0

Burnley v Tottenham

It took Harry Kane just 80 seconds to begin his international goalscoring record after he sneaked around to the back post to head easily home. Seven of his 25 goals this season have now been headers, which is bad news for Burnley who have conceded a league-high 17 headed goals this season.

Scoring hasn’t been a problem for Spurs this season; however they have kept just one clean sheet in their last 13 premier league games this season. This could pave the way for Danny Ings or George Boyd to get themselves on the scoresheet.

Prediction: 1-1

Sunderland v Newcastle

This game could be the highlight of Newcastle’s season should they finally beat their local rivals having not won in the last six Tyne Wear derbies, losing the last four. Newcastle were much better in the second half against Arsenal than they have been for a long time. They didn’t allow Arsenal a sniff and created some decent openings but without Cisse they don’t have a natural goalscoring. A man that is going to score those toe pokes and filthy rebounds. At times Moussa Sissoko has been carrying his teammates with little help from the likes of wing wizard Remy Cabella & fatigued Spanish youngster Ayoze Perez.

The Black Cats will have Lee Cattermole back after his two game ban and his presence will be massive in a game of this magnitude. If little Vurnon Anita plays for Newcastle in the middle then they are big trouble as he will not be able to cope with the physicality of Cattermole and co. Newcastle have huge defensive worries and it likely that regular right back Daryl Janmaat will once again deputise in central defence with a couple of midfielders filling in at full backs. Adam Johnson has caused nightmares for Newcastle in recent meetings, having scored three goals and provided 1 assist in those four recent wins over Newcastle. If he does get the nod from new boss Dick Advocaat then he will be in for one very tough time from the Newcastle fans. They will taunt him all game about the recent rape allegations made against him. If he can find the net again then I’m sure he will once again raise his lip to his mouth to “shush” the magpie’s faithful.

Prediction: 1-2

Crystal Palace v Man City

Alan Pardew has steered Palace to 3 wins in their last 4 games, lifting them above his old employers Newcastle. However, there is one very similar trait between his old side and his new side; they are both dismal defensively. Palace have managed to only prevent bottom club Leicester scoring against them in 2015 and have failed to keep a clean sheet at home in 11 games.  Their opposition are the top scorers in the league and after a goalscoring return for his country in midweek, perhaps Sergio Aguero is back to his sharpest and ready to cause havoc on Monday night.  Davis Silva continues to score, making it 11 for the season and 4 in his last 6 games.