Sunday\u2019s Carabao Cup final will dominate conversation, but a decisive run of Premier League fixtures leaves little room for the top flight to play second fiddle. The action this weekend carries crucial consequences at both ends of the table, and several title-chasing clubs head out on the road looking to strengthen their Champions League bids.<\/p>\n
The weekend opens with Manchester United travelling to Bournemouth, a side unbeaten in the league since Jan. 3 but held to four straight draws. Bournemouth sit 10th, with seventh-place Brentford only four points better off, so a win here would significantly enhance their outside European hopes. Only Newcastle United have beaten Manchester United since Michael Carrick retook the reins, and United responded to their defeat on Tyneside with a 3\u20131 win over Aston Villa last weekend. Prediction: Bournemouth 1\u20132 Man Utd.<\/p>\n
Liverpool arrived off a needed 4\u20130 victory midweek that followed criticism after another late concession at Tottenham Hotspur. Arne Slot\u2019s side used Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai in advanced roles and moved Mohamed Salah closer to goal with positive effect. Brighton visit having won three of their previous four and have avoided defeat in each of their last three league outings against Liverpool at the AMEX. Prediction: Brighton 1\u20131 Liverpool.<\/p>\n
The 3 p.m. blackout fixture sees Fulham host Burnley. Burnley remain nine points adrift of safety with eight games to play, while Fulham have collected only one point from recent outings against Nottingham Forest and West Ham United. Fulham should be confident here. Prediction: Fulham 2\u20131 Burnley.<\/p>\n
Chelsea have had a difficult few days, including being hit with a record fine for ‘secret payments’ made under the previous regime and learning Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez is considering a summer exit. Everton have struggled to settle in their new ground but beat Burnley 2\u20130 on their previous Merseyside outing. Both sides will seek to return to winning ways. Prediction: Everton 1\u20131 Chelsea.<\/p>\n
Leeds, Brentford, Newcastle, Sunderland, Aston Villa, West Ham, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest all face matches that carry relegation or European implications. Of note: Tottenham\u2019s home game against Nottingham Forest has been cast as a potentially season-defining fixture. Final predictions: Leeds 2\u20131 Brentford; Newcastle 2\u20130 Sunderland; Aston Villa 2\u20132 West Ham; Tottenham 3\u20131 Nott’m Forest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Key Premier League matches this weekend carry relegation and Champions League implications. Round-up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1539,172],"tags":[342,1066,1540],"class_list":["post-9103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gameweek-31","category-epl","tag-bruno-fernandes","tag-carabao-cup","tag-gameweek-31-predictions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}