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Chelsea to unleash Ziyech against Southampton in a match

Friday, October 16th, 2020 00:15 | By
Hakim Ziyech.

London, Thursday

The Premier League will be back in full swing this weekend after the international break, and the last time we saw action Tottenham embarrassed Manchester United with a 6-1 win as Liverpool also got an embarrassing 7-2 trashing.

Ziyech can be Chelsea’s kick-starter

With all of Chelsea’s summer business, it’s easy to forget about how fine a signing Hakim Ziyech could turn out to be.

Ziyech was one of the early arrivals, for £38million from Ajax, and his name was soon drowned out by Timo Werner and Kai Havertz, who both joined for larger fees.

But after a stuttering start to the season in his absence, Frank Lampard will be glad to be able to call on someone of Ziyech’s ilk to shake things up a bit. The midfielder has so far missed all of Chelsea’s games due to an injury he picked up in pre-season, but is likely to feature against Southampton.

Ziyech can play in a number of different positions across the midfield and has bags of talent and creativity.

At Ajax, he was a regular game changer. At Chelsea, Lampard will be hoping he can be their kick-starter.

The return of Bale

Tottenham fans will be drooling at the prospect of getting a glimpse at their prodigal son this Sunday.

After seven years away from the Premier League, Gareth Bale is in contention to make his long-awaited return against West Ham.

His second Spurs debut has been delayed due to a knee injury and while he is not yet back up to full fitness, Jose Mourinho will no doubt be itching to utilise him.

Bale has looked sharp in training all week too and would have done his chances of featuring no harm.

At his peak, Bale was an irrepressible force and after a few years of warming the bench in Madrid and persistent niggles, it will be interesting to see if he is still the same player which Spurs had such fond memories of.

The Student takes on The Master

Pep Guardiola showed Mikel Arteta the ropes when he was his understudy at City and this weekend the two tacticians will pit their wits against each other.

It is not the first time these two have gone head to head, but this burgeoning new rivalry has so much intrigue.

Guardiola has got the stronger squad and is far more experienced but it is Arteta who will feel he has the edge having led Arsenal to a 2-0 victory over City last time they faced off.

Watch out for the debutants

There could be plenty of new faces making their introduction to the Premier League this weekend.

Arsenal’s £45million deadline-day signing Thomas Partey is one who could be handed his debut.

Ben Godfrey is also in line to make his first appearance for Everton after joining in a £30m deal from Norwich.

Elsewhere, Manchester United are weighing up whether or not to chuck Alex Telles straight into the action at Newcastle while Theo Walcott is likely to be in the squad ahead of potentially making his second debut for Southampton after rejoining from Everton.

Three tasty derbies

Tackles flying in, players wearing their hearts on their sleeves: who doesn’t love a good derby? 

Well this weekend we are spoiled for choice because there’s three to get your teeth stuck into.

First up, there’s the Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool in the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday - but more on that later.

And on Sunday, Spurs welcome West Ham to White Hart Lane while Crystal Palace host fierce rivals Brighton in the M23 derby. 

You can always count on high-stake games like these when the bragging rights are up for grabs to deliver an enthralling 90 minutes of football. It’s just a shame there won’t be any fans to add to the atmosphere.

Expect goals galore at Molineux 

Wolves vs Leeds may slip under the radar this weekend but this has all the makings of a thriller.

For the neutrals, this could well be the pick of the weekend. Their only two meetings in the Premier League have finished 4-1 to Leeds and then 3-1 Wolves. 

Looking at how Marcelo Bielsa and Nuno Santo’s men play now, those scores are entirely plausible for this weekend.

Both Leeds and Wolves play fast, expansive football which is nice on the eye and have goals in their teams. You won’t want to miss this one. -Dailymail

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