Feature

What to look out for in Matchweek 22's fixtures

3 Feb 2023

As Kane and Haaland go head-to-head again, get ready for more drama in battles at top and bottom

As the dust settles on a frantic January transfer window, the Premier League returns. Here are the key things to look out for this weekend.

Kane v Haaland

The Premier League's two leading goalscorers, Harry Kane and Erling Haaland, go head-to-head for the second time in less than three weeks.

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Haaland took the spoils in their first meeting, scoring in City's 4-2 win, with Kane returning a blank.

But Kane bounced back to score the only goal in the win at Fulham last time out, netting his 266th goal for Spurs in all competitions to equal Jimmy Greaves' club-record.

He needs only one more to reach 200 Premier League goals, a mark only previously achieved by Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney.

The battle between the two strikers is certainly one that City manager Pep Guardiola is looking forward to.

"What an exceptional player," he told the club's official website about Kane. "What Harry Kane has done is amazing, the goals, the quality he has.

"Harry Kane remains one of the best strikers I have seen in my life."

However, a fourth Castrol Golden Boot seems far off as Haaland holds a nine-goal lead, with 25 goals to Kane's 16. What might help Kane is that Haaland has not scored in three of his last four away league matches.

Can Dyche have an immediate impact?

There have been plenty of struggles at Everton this season but the arrival of Sean Dyche could be a turning point.

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The former Burnley manager takes charge of his side for the first time against Arsenal at Goodison Park, hoping to give them a much-needed boost in their bid for Premier League safety.

The task will be far from straightforward, though. Everton, who sold Antony Gordon to Newcastle United and were unable to make any additions in January, are in the bottom three on 15 points from their 20 matches.

However, Dyche has plenty of experience of working with a small budget at Burnley and he says he can improve the squad without signings.

"The thing that often gets overlooked is that [signings] have got to be better than what we’ve got here," he said. "We've got some very, very good players, some very talented players."

See: Can Dyche recreate Burnley magic?

He has had only a few days to work with them and has conducted some soul-searching with his squad to identify what went wrong via a questionnaire for players.

"It was just feedback on where it is all at - what is your opinion of it and just trying to be as open ended as possible," Dyche said. "By giving a question, you can sometimes guide people to a place. It was dead short, as simple as possible."

Watch back Sean Dyche's first #EFC press conference in full.

➡️ https://t.co/1ccBPE6MS9 pic.twitter.com/vXsdSCdYQC
— Everton (@Everton) February 2, 2023

New faces in new places

There have been 10 days since the last Premier League match, eight of which were full of transfers. Many players could make their debuts for their new clubs this weekend.

Pedro Porro may line up for Tottenham Hotspur against his former club Manchester City on Sunday, while another Deadline Day signing, Marcel Sabitzer, could go straight in to replace the injured Christian Eriksen for Manchester United at home to Crystal Palace.

With Thomas Partey an injury doubt, Arsenal fans could see Jorginho in action for the first time at Everton, while Southampton may unleash their new exciting attacking duo Kamaldeen Sulemana and 6ft 7in striker Paul Onuachu for their trip to Brentford.

Will Anthony Gordon don the black and white stripes of Newcastle for the first time at home to West Ham United?

All to play for down the bottom

Leeds United's trip to Nottingham Forest shows how congested the foot of the table is and could become further.

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Leeds sit 15th, three points behind 13th-placed Forest. Jesse Marsch's side could end the weekend in Forest's position but should results go against them, a defeat at the City Ground may leave them in the bottom three ahead of Wednesday's trip to Man Utd.

Indeed, any of the bottom seven clubs could find themselves in the relegation zone at the end of the weekend.

Both Forest and Leeds were busy in the January window, with the likes of Kaylor Navas, Felipe and Weston McKennie in line to make their debuts in a pivotal match.

Position Pos	Club	Played Pl	GD	Points Pts
13	Wolverhampton Wanderers WOL	38	-27	41
14	West Ham United WHU	38	-13	40
15	Bournemouth BOU	38	-34	39
16	Nottingham Forest NFO	38	-30	38
17	Everton EVE	38	-23	36
18	Leicester City LEI	38	-17	34
19	Leeds United LEE	38	-30	31
20	Southampton SOU	38	-37	25