Saturday

Arsenal            4-1 liverpool 2pm

Unbeaten this year in the league until two weeks ago, Liverpool found themselves in the wrong place at home when bitter rivals Manchester United visited Anfield. Juan Mata produced his best performance of the season with a brace that consigned Liverpool to a 2-1 defeat. But that is not all. Defensive lynchpin Martin Skrtel starts his three-game suspension for stamping. Skrtel has been outstanding since Liverpool switched to 3-4-3 formation in December. Without him, the Reds will likely be short of ideas at the back, while upfront, they will have to endure the attention that has been turned to Raheem Sterling over his petulance on contract extension. The defeat to Manchester United was a big blow to Liverpool top four finish and a loss to Arsenal today will virtually end any pretense they have left. Last month, in my season-ender prediction, I had given Liverpool a 2-1 victory over Arsenal in this fixture but events have changed. Liverpool face a thumping like the one they inflicted on Arsenal at the same stadium last season where Skrtel scored twice.

Man Utd             3-1 Villa             4PM

Buoyant is an understatement to describe the mood at Old Trafford at the moment. Even Colombian striker Radamel Falcao must have returned from international duty feeling on top of himself. Manager Louis van Gaal must decide whether to recall Falcao to his starting line-up against Aston Villa today or keep him on the bench. Falcao is a world class striker, but Van Gaal has drained life out of him. The manager has no trust in the Colombian and the team is not helpful either. But after playing so well at Liverpool in their last fixture, Van Gaal is likely to stick with the team that beat the Kop and that will mean a bench for Falcao. Aston Villa have improved dramatically since bringing in Tim Sherwood, who insists his Villa team head to Old Trafford with nothing to fear.

Villa begin the weekend in 16th, just three points clear of the relegation zone, but have won two of their last three league matches under Sherwood. The key is to score first and use their big forwards to cause problems for the hosts. If they do that, they willl frustrate United and leave with a point.

Everton            2-2          Saints 4pm

Everton have won two games on the trot and are beginning to look like the real deal, not the scare they were causing that Martinez could sink them down like Wigan Athletic. For Southampton, this is yet another important fixture as Ronald Koeman has not given up on a top four finish. He is well within sight of Europe but to guarantee himself, he will need a win in a fixture like this.

Chelsea            2-1          Stoke  7pm

Jose Mourinho’s side can take a significant step toward the title with victory over Stoke in Saturday’s late fixture. The visit of Mark Hughes’ team presents the Blues with the opportunity to consolidate their six-point lead at the top of the table. But Stoke are no punching bag as they have showed when coming up against the top sides. Chelsea have been far from convincing in fixtures that should have been a walk in the park. Had second-placed City been winning their games, the title race would be exciting now as pressure would be on Chelsea. Perhaps a turn-around could start with Stoke causing problems.

dortmund        1-1          bayern 7pm

Bayern Munich lost their second game of the season, going down 2-0 at home to another Borussia side, Moenchengladbach. They now face Dortumund in a meaningless fixture whose only relevance will be about the intense rivalry between the Munich side and the Borussia one. Dortmund have picked the pieces since finding themselves bottom of the table at some point in January and have not lost a game in the last five fixtures. Marco Reus is on form after scoring for Germany, but Bayern have a lot to worry about. Midfielder weavers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery are both out with injury and defensive hardman Alaba is also injured. Even then, Bayern has the squad to put Dortmund to the sword.

OTHER FIXTURES

leicester         1-3     west ham

swansea        1-0      hull

west brom      3-2     QPR

Roma            1-3      napoli

inter              3-0     parma

bayer            4-0     hamburg

Sevilla           3-3     bilbao

burnley         1-2      spurs

Sunderland    1-3     Newcastle

Palace           2-1      man City                 

*SEAMAN IS A lIVERPOOL FAN