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Teams: Fulham v Sunderland
Régis Le Bris, after the thrilling 2-2 with Arsenal, sees no reason to change a drawing team. Marco Silva brings in Raul Jimenez.
Fulham (4-2-3-1) Leno; Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon; Berge, Iwobi; Wilson, King, Kevin; Jimenez.
Subs: Lecomte, Castagne, Cairney, Cuenca, Kusi-Asare, Chukwueze, Reed, Traore, Smith Rowe.
Sunderland (5-4-1) Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, Ballard, Geertruida, Mandava; Traore, Xhaka, Sadiki, Le Fee; Isidor.
Subs: Patterson, Neil, Talbi, Mayenda, O’Nien, Alderete, Adingra, Masuaku, Brobbey.
Teams: Brighton v Brentford
Brighton have one big name suspended: their manager, Fabian Hürzeler, who won’t be pacing the technical area after collecting three yellow cards. The impetuosity of youth.
Brighton (4-2-3-1) Verbruggen; Wieffer, van Hecke, Boscagli, Kadioglu; Baleba, Ayari; Minteh, Rutter, Gomez; Welbeck.
Subs: Steele, Dunk, Gruda, Veltman, Tzimas, Hinshelwood, Kostoulas, De Cuyper, Coppola.
Brentford (4-2-3-1) Kelleher; Kayode, Collins, van den Berg, Ajer; Henderson, Yarmolyuk; Ouattara, Damsgaard, Schade; Thiago.
Subs: Valdimarsson, Hickey, Henry, Pinnock, Jensen, Nelson, Onyeka, Lewis-Potter, Janelt.
Teams: Bournemouth v West Ham
No sign of Antoine Semenyo, who, according to his manager Andoni Iraola, has “aggravated an issue”. Haven’t we all, at times.
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1) Petrovic; Cook, Diakite, Senesi, Truffert; Adams, Scott; Brooks, Tavernier, Junior Kroupi; Evanilson. Subs: Dennis, Soler, Christie, Smith, Jimenez, Adli, Hill, Unal, Milosavljevic.
West Ham (3-4-3) Areola; Todibo, Igor, Kilman; Wan-Bissaka, Fernandes, Potts, Diouf; Bowen, Wilson, Luis Guilherme.
Subs: Hermansen, Walker-Peters, Fullkrug, Rodriguez, Magassa, Soucek, Irving, Earthy, Mayers.
Teams: Liverpool v Forest
Arne Slot, who welcomes Alisson back in goal, opts to play Alexander Isak from the start even though he has very few minutes under his belt and has been a lot less impressive than Hugo Ekitike. He also has Szoboszlai and Kerkez as his full-backs, a decision that could have the Forest wingers licking their lips.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1) Alisson; Szoboszlai, van Dijk, Konate, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Jones; Salah, Isak, Gakpo.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Robertson, Nyoni, Endo, Ramsay, Ngumoha, Chiesa, Ekitike.
Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1) Sels; Savona, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Sangare, Anderson; Ndoye, Gibbs-White, Dominguez; Igor Jesus.
Subs: John Victor, Morato, Boly, Kalimuendo, Hutchinson, Yates, Hudson-Odoi, McAtee, Jair Cunha.
Preamble
Afternoon everyone. Are you old enough to remember when Saturday at 3pm was the moment you looked forward to all week? Well, it’s back, just for one day. From 3 till 5, we have half the weekend’s Premier League action. And as there are no dull teams this season, all five games are appetising…
Bournemouth v West Ham Bournemouth were second in the league at Hallowee’en, but then they got spooked, losing to Man City and Villa and slipping to ninth. Still, they’re only one point off the top four and at home, where they have four wins out of five, they should be too strong for West Ham, even allowing for the Nuno bounce.
Brighton v Brentford It’s the well-run derby! And a tussle between two mid-table neighbours. Both are on 16 points from 11 games and both have been much better at home, so Brighton are the favourites.
Fulham v Sunderland Fulham are on the slide, with five defeats from their last six league games. Sunderland are living the dream, fourth in the table and fresh from drawing with Arsenal. To be fair, Fulham’s home form has been respectable – but the last time Sunderland made the long trip to West London, a month ago, they beat Chelsea.
Liverpool v Forest On form, both these teams are very beatable. Liverpool have scraped only three points from their last six league games, Forest four. But both did emerge from a losing streak in October – Liverpool with a win over Villa (before they got battered by Haaland), Forest with a draw against Man United and a win over Leeds as Sean Dyche got them sorted. Liverpool remain formidable at home, but can they walk through this storm?
Wolves v Palace When I said no teams were boring this season, I nearly made an exception for Wolves, but let’s face it, they’ve been so bad that they’ve been riveting. At a time when everybody bar Arsenal has blown hot and cold, it’s quite a feat to have collected only two points from a possible 33. And now they’re even more interesting because they have a new manager. In his heart of hearts, Rob Edwards might settle for a point today, and Palace may oblige as they are hard to beat (only two defeats in the league) but easy to match (five draws).
Kick-off, as you know, is at 3pm GMT, and I’ll be back soon with a heap of team sheets.
