London: The FA Cup semi-finals dominate the weekend fixtures in England as Manchester City and Liverpool go head-to-head for the second time in a week on Saturday, before Chelsea take on Crystal Palace on Sunday.
The City-Liverpool match comes just six days after the two teams shared four goals in a thrilling Premier League draw last Sunday, and just three days after they both booked their places in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Liverpool could have a slight advantage as their first-leg win away to Benfica allowed coach Jurgen Klopp to rotate his starting eleven, resting players such as Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah.
By contrast, Manchester City had to dig deep away to Atletico Madrid to take a 0-0 draw, and are likely to play without Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne, although they could be boosted by the return of Ruben Dias and Gabriel Jesus, who is available after suspension in midweek.
The second semi-final comes 24 hours later, and Crystal Palace will be without the influential on-loan midfielder Conor Gallagher, who is ineligible to play against his parent club Chelsea.
Chelsea go into the game after their brave but ultimately futile fightback against Real Madrid in the Champions League, and the FA Cup is now their only chance of a trophy this season, reports Xinhua.
There are also six Premier League games over the weekend, and with the top three all involved in FA Cup action, the battle for Europe takes centrestage.
Tottenham suddenly have a three-point lead in fourth place ahead of Arsenal, and Saturday lunchtime sees them entertain Brighton. With Harry Kane and Son Heung-min in exceptional form, Antonio Conte’s men should extend their four-game winning run, but they will have to be mindful of a Brighton side that stunned Arsenal a week ago.
Arsenal have started to look fragile at just the wrong time and have to take all three points from their visit to Southampton. Granit Xhaka will continue at left-back for Arsenal, who may be visiting St Mary’s at the wrong time.
Southampton lost 6-0 at home to Chelsea last weekend — and could have lost by more if Chelsea hadn’t eased up — and Ralph Hasenhuttl will no doubt be demanding a reaction from his players.
Manchester United’s hopes of playing in Europe look to be drifting after some dreadful recent performances, although the visit of bottom side Norwich City should be a chance to get back on track. Of course, it also offers the opportunity for things to get even worse, especially if Norwich play with the spirit they showed last week at home to Burnley.
Watford are entering the last-chance saloon in their battle against relegation, and any chance of avoiding the drop means beating a Brentford side that has been revitalized by the signing of Christian Eriksen. However, to do that, Watford need to end a run of nine consecutive home defeats, with their last home win against Manchester United in November.
Sunday sees Newcastle United at home to Leicester City, who reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Conference League on Thursday, while Burnley will hope that West Ham suffer tired legs after their Europa League exploits in Lyon, when they travel to the London Stadium looking for three points to keep their survival hopes alive.
