10 Premier League talking points including Ruben Amorim’s debut, Arsenal worries and sack race

During this weekend, Ruben Amorim will be in charge of his first match for Manchester United, while Arsenal and Manchester City will be attempting to cut the gap on Liverpool, who are now in first place in the Premier League.

This next weekend marks the return of the Premier League, which will not be interrupted again until March. This comes after yet another challenging international break this past weekend.

Can I give you a sneak peek at what’s going to happen in the Premier League this weekend? The Nations League is done, and if you’ve finally found your composure following England’s historic elevation back to Group A, can I give you a taste of what’s to come in the Premier League? It should be satisfactory.

At Portman Road on Sunday afternoon, Ruben Amorim will be taking command of his first game as Manchester United manager. The match will be against Kieran McKenna and his Ipswich team, who were previously coached by United. Without a doubt, this will be the most interesting tale that will take place. Erik ten Hag has been removed from his position, and Amorim’s hiring is expected to completely transform things.

Liverpool will return to action after a two-week break with a five-point lead at the top of the league. They will play Southampton, the team that is now in last place, on Sunday, while Arsenal are in urgent need of a victory against Nottingham Forest, who are currently in good form. Allow Mirror Football to guide you through each and every game that is scheduled to take place in the near future. These are just some of the talking topics.

Maresca’s comeback Leicester vs. Chelsea, which will take place on Saturday at 12.30 p.m.

It is expected that Enzo Maresca’s return to his previous club will be the primary focus in the buildup to this match. After leading Leicester to promotion from the Championship in his first season as manager, the Italian made the move to Chelsea in the summer. He had previously been the manager of Leicester.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will be given a warm seat on the replacements’ bench, while Pep Guardiola’s former coach, who thrived at Leicester, will also be given a warm greeting. Both of these individuals will be given a warm reception. As a result of following Maresca to Stamford Bridge for a fee of thirty million pounds, the former Leicester midfielder has a grand total of forty-four minutes of Premier League play under his belt. This move, which appears to be one of the most meaningless moves of the season, has already been completed.

The match between Wolves and Fulham will take place on Saturday at three o’clock.

Wolves were able to acquire their first league victory of the season before to the break, which came after they had a dreadful beginning to the season that was marked by a variety of unfortunate events and a series of challenging matches. Following their 2-0 victory against Southampton, they now have a far more favourable sequence of matches to look forward to in the days leading up to Christmas. These matches include Fulham (A), Bournemouth (H), Everton (A), West Ham (A), Ipswich (H), and Leicester (A).

Wolves have had the typical comfort that “they’ll be alright” from every single pundit this season; nevertheless, it is now time for them to demonstrate that confidence. In light of the fact that Gary O’Neil’s team has been defeated by a strong Fulham team at Craven Cottage, we may begin to acknowledge that they have, in fact, been the victims of terrible circumstances up till.

3. The conflict between straightforward styles
Everton will play Brentford on Saturday at three o’clock.

This weekend, those who are going to Goodison Park should anticipate that there will be a lot of action in the air. Both Everton and Brentford are considered to be two of the most direct sides in the Premier League. Both Sean Dyche and Thomas Frank have mainly avoided the trend of playing out from the back in favour of a more route one strategy when playing for their respective teams.

Jordan Pickford, the custodian for Everton, has the most final-third entries of any player in the league (136), and a significant number of those entries are long balls that are directed for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the striker for Everton. Calvert-Lewin has won 47 aerial duels, which is more than any other player. It will be necessary for them to be on the lookout for Brentford’s lightning-fast beginnings, as the Bees have been on an incredible streak of scoring early goals, frequently from routines that involve long balls into the corners.

4. The Gunners need to demonstrate tenacity in their match against Nottingham Forest, which will take place on Saturday at 3 o’clock.

Arsenal have not come out on top in the Premier League for the past four matches in a row, and if they are defeated by Forest this weekend, they may be forced to give up their hopes of winning the championship for the first time in twenty years. Leandro Trossard suffered an injury while playing for Belgium during the international break, which was another unfortunate setback for the Gunners. Martin Odegaard has returned from his injury, but the Gunners have had another dreadful international break.

They will be hoping that Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka will be able to play after both of them withdrew from their contracts with England. They will need to find a way to grind out a win in order to get back into the battle for the Premier League crown. In addition, they will need other outcomes to go their way in order to achieve this accomplishment.

5. The store window for the manager
Match between Bournemouth and Brighton will take place on Saturday at three o’clock.

When Brighton announced that Fabian Hurzeler would be taking over as their new manager in the summer, there was a great deal of scepticism. How could a 31-year-old with such a little amount of experience be able to handle the pressures of the Best League in the WorldTM? In a satisfactory manner, as it turns out. Additionally, he has continued the ambitious work that the Seagulls have been renowned for, and the most recent match, which they won 2-1 against Manchester City, shown that they are not only great but also intriguing.

Something comparable has been accomplished by Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth, where he has transformed the Cherries into a team that is extremely hard-working, difficult to play against, and possesses a wide variety of threats. While it seems unlikely that there will be a clean sheet, this is going to be a terrific watch.

Sixth, Watkins who has something to demonstrate
Today at three o’clock, Aston Villa will take on Crystal Palace.

Last week, Ollie Watkins was the recipient of a significant decision made by Lee Carsley, who was serving as the temporary England manager at the time. Carsley chose to play the Villa striker instead of Harry Kane. After that, he replied by scoring a goal within seven minutes of the start of the match against Greece; nonetheless, he must now persuade Thomas Tuchel that he is deserving of a spot ahead of the England captain.

Although Watkins has scored five goals in 11 Premier League games so far this season, which is a respectable return, there is still a feeling that his potential has not been fully realised. In the Premier League this season, he has failed to capitalise on eleven significant opportunities, which is more than any other player, surpassing Erling Haaland’s ten. If Watkins begins to make the most of those opportunities, then he has the potential to cause Tuchel a headache.

Is it a crisis or a blip?
At 5.30 p.m. on Saturday, Manchester City will play Tottenham City.

Given that they have won six of the last seven Premier League championships and are presently defending themselves over alleged violations of financial fair play, it is quite doubtful that they would receive much compassion; yet, City are currently in a rut. The current run of outcomes that Pep Guardiola is suffering is the worst run of results he has ever experienced as a manager. He has suffered four consecutive losses across all competing tournaments.

On the televised game that will take place on Saturday evening, the Spurs, who are highly scoring, free-flowing, and erratic, could present a strong challenge. There is a five-point margin between City and Liverpool heading into the weekend, but City has the opportunity to close that deficit to two points with Liverpool playing on Sunday. Due to the fact that the Reds are facing Southampton, it appears to be an automatic victory.

This Sunday at 2:00 p.m., Southampton will play Liverpool, and Martin will be skating on thin ice.

In spite of the fact that his team is now in last place and has only collected four points from 11 games, Russell Martin continues to assure us that they are performing really well in football. In order for them to play their way out of problems, they need to have faith in the process and support themselves. For the time being, he continues to enjoy the support of the Saints administration, with Rasmus Ankersen, the director of football, being a significant supporter of the team as well as adamant in his beliefs.

But if he does not see results in a short period of time, it will become increasingly difficult for him to keep his position. Southampton has already lost five highly costly points at home to Ipswich and Leicester, and they now face a terrible run of matches, which begins with Liverpool and continues with Brighton (A), Chelsea (H), Aston Villa (A), and Tottenham (H). Should the present trajectory of events continue, Martin has the potential to become the second Premier League manager to be fired, following in the footsteps of Ten Hag.

Amorim will make his debut for Ipswich against Manchester United on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

Since taking over in February, INEOS has made a number of moves that are controversial, such as handing Ten Hag a new contract, supporting him with new players worth more than 180 million pounds, and making 250 employees redundant, among other things. They need the most recent decision to be accurate. They have the opinion that Amorim is the most talented young coach in Europe and that he has the ability to do things differently on the training pitch.

The thirty-nine-year-old is prepared to adhere to his ideology, and the three-four-three configuration that he utilised when playing for Sporting is prepared to make its debut at Portman Road on Sunday. In order for United to turn things around and move up the table from seventh place, they will need to make some adjustments rather fast.

10. Lopetegui is attempting to win over supporters in the match between West Ham and Newcastle, which will take place on Monday at 8 o’clock.

It is not well known that West Ham fans have a favourable opinion of Julen Lopetegui. In the summer, the manager who won the Europa League was given a total of one hundred million pounds worth of new players, but he has not yet been able to transform them into a cohesive and fluid unit. There are rumours that Lopetegui has been kicked out of the locker room, and his own supporters have already shown their disapproval of him.

In a nutshell, he is in dire need of a victory that would improve his morale and make a statement. The match against Newcastle on Monday may be the occasion, and there are already reports circulating that West Ham is looking at prospective replacements for players who are currently on the roster. Because Sky’s Monday Night Football has evolved into a venue where managers who are currently unemployed may publicise their names, Lopetegui will not want to give his employers any notions about what he is doing.