Get out your fork and knives and get ready to dig into the filet mignon of the EPL this weekend! Two top of the table encounters that will pit Liverpool and Chelsea together at Anfield as well as Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates.

While both Liverpool and Arsenal will be clawing in desperation to pull back some of the flack, it’s actually Chelsea and Man. United that are in the driver’s seats in these juicy fixtures.

Liverpool and Chelsea have had several interesting meetings in the past few years, but in league play Chelsea seems to have the upper hand. Even with the recent form doldrums and the controversy surrounding Mourinho and Shevchenko, Chelsea still has the brass and taps to see off Crouch and Co.

Viewers may also get to see Petr Cech return to the Chelsea goal this weekend. The Chelsea and Czech Republic no. 1 seems to have the all clear after recovering from his horrific collision with Reading winger, Nicky Hunt, earlier in the season.

And though Arsenal has benefited from the return of their own injured star, Thierry Henry (scoring in all three matches since his return), when the Gunners line up against Man. U on Sunday, it will be another veteran that will still this day—Henrik Larsson.

While Arsenal clearly have the most exciting football and potential of the cream of the crop, it is Manchester United who have made the most of the transfer market to secure real time (which is always the deciding factor) results with their acquisition of the Swedish talisman.

Certainly it’s the beginning of the end, and Man. U looks the strongest across all fronts.

Carvings from the dagger

This entry was posted on Friday, January 19th, 2007 at 7:30 pm and is filed under Soccer World, England. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.