EPL: City and Arsenal can close the gap on leader Liverpool this weekend

Despite losing to title rivals Arsenal at the start of the month, Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table over Manchester City and The Gunners to four and five points respectively thanks to Wednesday’s 4-1 win over Luton Town, although the gap could be reduced this weekend with Jürgen Klopp’s side one of four teams not in league action.

Pep Guardiola’s City will expect to move back to within a point of The Reds by winning away to Bournemouth on Saturday, while The Gunners will be two behind if they can bounce back from their midweek Champions League disappointment with a win, although they are unlikely to have things all their way at home to Newcastle United later that day.

Chelsea’s game against Tottenham Hotspur, scheduled for Friday 23 February, has been postponed, and there is no sign of Liverpool or Luton on the fixture list for the weekend. The match between the league leaders and The Hatters was, as mentioned, moved forward to Wednesday.

While many will likely be aware of the reason, it may have escaped the attention of anyone who hasn’t favourited the Carabao Cup that the final of the competition is taking place on Sunday, with Liverpool playing Chelsea at Wembley.

As a result, Liverpool and Luton have already played their matchday 26 fixture, while Chelsea against Spurs has yet to be rescheduled by the Premier League.

Klopp’s team will hope to win their first of four trophies this season by beating The Blues, although the German has several injury issues to contend with.

Goalkeeper Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota, and Curtis Jones are all out, while there are question marks over the fitness of Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Darwin Núñez.