Patson Daka will hope to feature for Leicester City when they take on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s Arsenal at the King Power Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.
At the Etihad Stadium, Riyad Mahrez could play against Crystal Palace side led by Wilfried Zaha aiming to stun Manchester City on their turf.
Manchester City vs Crystal Palace
Wilfried Zaha’s Palace will look to pounce on any possible Pep Guardiola rotation with next week’s Champions League clash with Club Brugge on the horizon.
Despite featuring for 72 minutes in the EFL Cup defeat by West Ham United, there’s a sense Riyad Mahrez plays from the off at the Etihad Stadium having featured for under 10 minutes in their win over Brighton last weekend.
Patrick Vieira’s men have performed well since their early struggles this term and are due a statement win after a couple of near misses already.
Beating Manchester City on their turf is a daunting prospect, but the Eagles will strive to claim success against the league favourites, nonetheless.
Leicester vs Arsenal
It remains to be seen if Jamie Vardy is deemed ready for a return following a half-time withdrawal at Brentford last time out.
He sat out Wednesday’s EFL Cup success over Brighton with Patson Daka stepping in for the Englishman, who probably won’t have featured against Graham Potter’s men anyway.
The Zambia marksman has started to flourish under Brendan Rodgers and the Northern Irishman could trust him to lead the line against Arsenal if Vardy isn’t ready.
While Leicester have picked up wins in their last few games, their inclination to be shaky defensively means Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will relish facing an error-prone Foxes backline.
Thomas Partey is also expected to feature in midfield for Mikel Arteta’s men while Nicolas Pepe could play in some capacity despite playing for 90 minutes in their 2-0 cup success over Leeds United.
Salah & Mane vs Bissouma
Having been handed a breather in Liverpool’s midweek League Cup clash at Preston North End, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane are likely to feature when Brighton & Hove Albion visit Anfield on Saturday.
It is the Reds’ first Premier League outing since thrashing Manchester United 5-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday in which the league’s top scorer netted a stunning hat-trick at Old Trafford.
While Mane was introduced in the second half in that encounter, he’s likely to feature from the off when Yves Bissouma’s teammates look to stun shock Anfield.
The Seagulls were beaten fairly comfortably by Manchester City last time out but they’ll look to produce their performance from the corresponding fixture last season where they won 1-0 on Merseyside.
Having said that, the mood around free-scoring Liverpool is different these days and the return of supporters means it’s doubly difficult for any visiting side.
Bennacer & Kessie
The AC Milan pair featured in mid-week as the Rossoneri eked out a slender 1-0 win against a Torino outfit that threatened to upset Stefano Pioli’s side at the San Siro.
Franck Kessie featured for 90 minutes after sitting out last week’s 4-2 success at Bologna, while Ismael Bennacer was introduced in the latter stages as the Serie A leaders aimed to see out their slender advantage.
Milan visit AS Roma in arguably the biggest clash in Italy this weekend, looking to inflict Jose Mourinho’s fourth league defeat in 11 games.
The Portuguese manager has lost the Rome derby against Lazio, was beaten by Juventus and couldn’t mastermind a win over Napoli last time out, leaving him winless in the so-called big games so far.
Dia & Aurier
Both men had stunning impacts off the bench as Villarreal fought back from 1-0 and 3-1 down to draw 3-3 against Cadiz during the week.
Boulaye Dia, on his first appearance in a month, was set up by Serge Aurier to make it 3-2 and the forward assisted Arnaut Danjuma’s 95th-minute leveller.
It’s been a disappointing start to the season for Unai Emery’s men, whose indifferent results in La Liga leave them 13th in the standings.
They have picked up only a pair of wins and they travel to a Valencia seeking only their third victory in their 11th fixture aiming to rise in the standings.
Success at Emery’s old stomping ground will see the Yellow Submarine leapfrog Los Che in the table and Dia and Aurier are certainly pushing for starts at the Mestalla.