After last weekend\u2019s FA Cup action, with its exciting games and baffling refusal to have all of them feature a five-minute delay to check some blurry pictures for where somebody\u2019s toenail might have been, we\u2019re delighted to confirm it\u2019s normal service resumed this weekend. The Barclays is back! VAR is back! What passes for a title race is back!<\/p>\n
There are some brilliant games this weekend, as well, and the big twist is the one we all want to watch while pointing and laughing \u2013 the most spectacularly beleaguered El Sackico imaginable between Spurs and West Ham \u2013 isn\u2019t even on the TV.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how you know the rest must be good. You\u2019d better believe it\u2019s a Big Weekend.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Game to watch: Manchester United v Manchester City<\/p>\n
Can\u2019t say fairer than a Manchester derby for a bit of Saturday lunchtime entertainment, can you?<\/p>\n
And let\u2019s be honest, derby games are always most fun when both teams are in what is in modern football always for some reason now called a \u2018bad moment\u2019.<\/p>\n
Now there are levels to this game. City\u2019s bad moment means winning their two most recent matches 10-1 and 2-0 after slipping off the title race pace with some annoying draws, while for United it means going out of a second domestic cup at the earliest opportunity<\/a> to ensure this will be their shortest season in terms of matches played since 1915, when there was a literal world war happening.<\/p>\n And also they\u2019ve sacked the manager <\/a>and replaced him with one of Fergie\u2019s Boys<\/a>, and then replaced that one of Fergie\u2019s Boys with another one of Fergie\u2019s Boys<\/a>, who was most recently seen leaving Middlesbrough after not getting them promoted.<\/p>\n So yeah, not quite the same thing. But it does all mean this is a game riddled with glorious uncertainty.<\/p>\n For all the contrasts, both teams\u2019 recent Premier League record is one of irritating draws. The key difference again there being that United\u2019s recent run of irritating draws have been against three of the bottom five.<\/p>\n Even if we accept that drawing at Leeds right now is a halfway acceptable result for anyone given their current resurgence, failing to beat both Burnley and Wolves having somehow managed to fall upwards into Champions League contention is immensely daft.<\/p>\n Ifs and buts never got anyone anywhere, but if United had done everything else the same and just won those two games against the two worst teams in the league they would now be fourth<\/a>.<\/p>\n Instead they are seventh, with a rookie manager, and about to face City and Arsenal back to back with a retreat right back into the mid-table slop firmly on the cards. But it\u2019s derby day, isn\u2019t it? And you just never know on derby day.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Team to watch: Wolves<\/p>\n That\u2019s now four games unbeaten for Wolves in all competitions. It\u2019s not much, but when you consider the record-breaking appallingness of what had gone before, then it is definitely and absolutely something.<\/p>\n Getting Shrewsbury in the cup helped on multiple levels, we fancy. One, a nice easy game to rack up some goals and boost confidence further, obviously, but also a reminder that however bad things might feel for you as a Premier League team \u2013 and things have felt really quite abysmally sh*t for Wolves this season \u2013 there is always somebody worse off than you. And a team currently hurtling towards double relegation to fall outside the Football League altogether for the first time since the 2003\/04 season is certainly that.<\/p>\n In the Premier League, it\u2019s been a win and two draws in the last three for Wolves ahead of a clash with a Newcastle side that has shown the sheer awesome power of three straight wins<\/a> in this compacted and congested league without ever really looking like they\u2019ve actually compellingly resolved any of the issues that had them rotting in the bottom half to begin with.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Player to watch: Ollie Watkins<\/p>\n Funny old week at Aston Villa, who\u2019ve spent it proving how much better they are than Tottenham on the field and how little that still means at transfer time. Losing out to Spurs for Conor Gallagher is no catastrophe in itself; he is a good footballer who would have been a useful squad player for Villa\u2019s Champions League push but it is abundantly clear that Spurs\u2019 need for midfield legs is far greater<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s more irritating for what it represents; another reminder that PSR rules continue to limit Villa\u2019s gravity-defying efforts just as much as being in Birmingham rather than London does. It\u2019s not \u2018unfair\u2019 as many still insist, of course. A level playing field doesn\u2019t mean letting every club spend the same amount of money; it means not letting any club spend more money than they actually have.<\/p>\n But still. It\u2019s annoying, isn\u2019t it? And the financial tightrope Villa continue to walk has had further consequences this week with the departure of Donyell Malen. He\u2019s precisely the sort of good-not-great squad player it can be surprisingly damaging to lose midway through a season going well.<\/p>\n It can cause unexpected ripples and leave a hole where no hole existed before. It leaves a lot of responsibility now on the shoulders of Ollie Watkins, who is suddenly very short of back-up.<\/p>\n Luckily his own form has significantly turned around, more than doubling his Premier League goal tally for the season with four in his last four games, but there is pressure now to continue that form.<\/p>\n