Premier League weekend preview: Manchester United v Liverpool, Arsenal v Newcastle and all the major talking points

Video: The Independent looks ahead to this weekend's Premier League games

Staff
Friday 12 December 2014 11:26 GMT
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(Getty Images)

Each week, The Independent looks ahead to the weekend's action in the Premier League, focusing on the key matches and the major talking points.

This week, Simon Rice and Jack De Menezes focus on one of the Premier League's favourite fixtures, the old rivalry between Manchester United v Liverpool. However, former United defender Gary Neville said this year's game would be "like the Dog and Duck versus The Red Lion". He was critical of United after their unconvincing win against Southampton on Monday.

While United are yet to light up the league after spending big in the summer, they have won four games in a row and are now third in the table. They will be the favourites as Liverpool have imploded this season after finishing second last year. The Reds are ninth in the table and crashed out of the Champions League midweek.

Rice and De Menezes think there could be an upset at the Emirates in the game between Arsenal and Newcastle, with the Gunners struggling slightly in the league after their 3-2 loss against Stoke while Newcastle are revelling in their defeat of Chelsea.

De Menezes is critical of Arsenal fans who "verbally abused" Arsene Wenger after the Stoke match and that their jeers at the Frenchman should have seen them arrested. Arsenal still have a chance in the Champions League this season and could easily finish third in the league, and that would be a successful year for the Gunners.

The team also look at in-form striker Andy Carroll, who scored two goals last weekend for West Ham, and looks a key figure for the team's already impressive season. West Ham travel to Sunderland on Saturday.

Premier League fixtures

Saturday:

Burnley v Southampton (15:00) Chelsea v Hull (15:00) Crystal Palace v Stoke (15:00) Leicester v Manchester City (15:00) Sunderland v West Ham (15:00) West Brom v Aston Villa (15:00) Arsenal v Newcastle (17:30)

Sunday:

Manchester United v Liverpool (13:30) Swansea v Tottenham (16:00)

Monday:

Everton v QPR (20:00)

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