Top 5 things to look forward to in the EPL this weekend

Last weekend we spoke about Walter Mazzarri’s midfield dominating the midfield in the Milan derby, Sagna & Arteta’s role in the big London derby against Chelsea, the possibility of Allegri & Mackay losing their job(s), Atletico’s push towards the top of La Liga and Bayern’s domination of the World! Some of those came true, other’s not quiet but we were fairly accurate in our assessment. Read last week’s piece here

Bearing that in mind, we have listed out the Top 5 for this weekend. Of course this list has a heavy Premier League tinge to it with all other major leagues on a Winter break.

1) Skrtel’s shirt pulling, and Chelsea’s strikers

Liverpool may have ended up on the losing side at the Etihad on Boxing Day, but they came away with all the plaudits for putting in a fantastic performance. Not only did they attack with a fair degree of effectiveness, they also managed to keep City’s awesome attacking force at bay for large parts. Key to this brilliant rearguard action was one Martin Skrtel.

The Slovakian centre back put in a terrific shift defensively, and was one of the best players on show. However, there is a dark side to his game, and that was also on display. Skrtel’s tendency to pull his opponents shirts is something that has become increasingly menacing. He was all over Vincent Kompany in the corner that led to the first goal, and this didn’t change over the course of the game.

If this continues at the Bridge, Liverpool may well have cause to regret his actions, as referees may take note and award the opposition penalty kicks. This is even more of a possibility at the Bridge, against a side led by Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese coach is no shrinking violet and will not let up any opportunity to pressure the referee into a favourable decision; added to that, the media have taken note of Skrtel’s shirt pulling, the referee’s are surely going to keep a special eye out.

Coming to the Blues and Mourinho, they have a few issues of their own to focus on before they can worry about Skrtel’s shirt pulling. The Chelsea side of this season have been as sharp in attack as a butter knife, and could do with an in form striker to sort out their goal scoring woes.

Boxing Day served to display their deficiencies in that department yet again, as they laboured to a narrow 1-0 victory over Swansea City, with their forward of choice for the day, Eto’o, missing a few gilt edged chances. His place in the starting 11 is likely to be taken up by ex-Liverpool fan favourite, Fernando Torres. The Spaniard hasn’t been in the best of form either, and his outings against Liverpool in the past haven’t been fruitful either.

Chelsea probably need a striker who can take part in build up play along with the attacking midfielders. Eto’o can generally perform this function (almost 80% pass completion in all competitions), but his finishing leaves a lot to be desired.

Torres on the other hand tends to drift out of the game a little too often, and creates a gap between the midfield and himself that the opposition can exploit with ease. The alternative is that a motivated Torres can be a handful for any opponent on his own (ask Manchester City). The question is, can Mourinho get him motivated?