Premier League Matchweek 26 preview: Liverpool and Manchester United clash highlight of the weekend

Matchweek 26 in the Premier League sets us up some of tastiest ties of the season so far with the derby between Liverpool and Manchester United grabbing the attention of almost every fan in the country.

We preview the best action of the weekend’s fixtures below.

Manchester City v Newcastle

Friday night sees two teams that at the peak of their powers look almost unbeatable, but have suffered from relatively poor form in the last two weeks.

While this is unlikely to be the blockbuster tie it will surely become in future seasons, as Manchester City acclimatise to their new signings and Newcastle continue to establish themselves as top six regulars, it certainly holds a lot of weight. The Sky Blues are eagerly chasing down league leaders Arsenal , whilst Newcastle remain keen to put a stop to their poor run and take a first win in four matches.

Whilst City have struggled recently, they always the favourites to win against almost every team in the world and this remains true here as the Cityzens will go into the fixture with leading odds of 4/9.

City have bags of talent on every corner of the pitch, and the pace and outcome of the game could be decided by any of their star-studded squad. The one who captured the headlines in the week was Phil Foden, who bagged two goals as City defeat Bristol City 3-0 to advance to the FA Cup quarter finals.

The England winger is the third favourite City player to open the score here at 12/5 and if he can keep his midweek form up there is no reason why he can’t get more than one again.

Newcastle may struggle to hold a clean sheet, but will likely also have joy in piercing a leaky Manchester City defence of late. This is one is likely to go in City’s favour looking at recent form, and Man City to win and both teams to score at 21/10 will offer great value for money.

Wolves v Tottenham

Another big match for Spurs in the top four race and equally critical one for Wolves, who bid to retain their status as a Premier League side for next season.

Again, both of these teams have had relative struggles in the last few months; Spurs’ inability to maintain momentum after good performances and Wolves’ difficulty in winning matches despite playing well sets this up as an unpredictable clash.

The odds make fourth-place Tottenham the favourites at 6/5 with Wolves at 23/10. In normal circumstances Spurs, would be expected to win this comfortably looking at Wolves’ league position, but Antonio Conte’s men have struggled to compose sequences of good form for the best part of the season.

One man that has been consistent though is Harry Kane, scoring 18 premier League goals this season and countless more in his Spurs career. The England talisman is 4/1 to score first here with enhanced odds and the shortest price to score anytime of both squads.

If he doesn’t do the business for Spurs Wolves could be in with a shout as Kane has been the one scoring and making the lion shares of Spurs goals this season. Wolves have always got a threat with Raul Jimenez at 7/2 to score anytime but don’t bank on it as they are 9/5 to not to net at all.

Liverpool v Manchester United

Arguably the biggest game of this side of the new year, Liverpool versus Manchester United has been one of the most anticipated football matches in Europe for decades.

Their recent form has been up and down and of course Manchester United are ahead on that front currently, but that doesn’t seem to have affected the odds as Liverpool find themselves favourites at 11/8.United come in at 7/4 and we think this could be way to go as under Erik ten Hag the Red Devils have looked closer to their former glory of the early 2000’s than any other time in the last 10 years.

Whatever the result is we expect this one to be a high scorer as neither side will let this one go lightly, and both are more than capable of getting a great result against a top side. Both teams to score at 4/7 offers good value and the total match goals at over 4/6 is certainly a worthy punt.

This season’s big games have come down to the star players on a number of occasions and this one won’t be any different. Marcus Rashford at 6/5 to score anytime offers a great return and Darwin Nunez, who looks to be slowly finding his form, comes in at 17/10 to do the same. Both are worthy choices.