Aston Villa are firmly in this title race and could find themselves just one point behind Arsenal if results go their way by the end of the weekend. Unai Emery’s side secured their spot in the top eight of the Europa League during the week with a 3-2 win over Salzburg, marking their fourth win across their last five matches.

Villa Park has always been a fortress for Unai Emery’s side under the guidance of the Spanish boss. They’ve won eight of their 11 matches in front of their home fans in the Premier League this season - only Arsenal and Manchester City (nine) have won more games at home than Unai Emery’s side this season. They’ve also only conceded nine goals across those games, with only City and Arsenal having a better home defensive record.

Brentford become a different team when they play away from home; just nine of the 33 points they’ve collected this season have been earned on the road (27%). This translates to just three wins from their 11 away matches, with Brentford notably not drawing any of those games. This suggests to me that the Bees don’t really have a ‘B’ game to fall back on, and their lack of goals (12) is also a concern against a Villa side that are so secure at the back.

Michael Carrick has made the ideal start as interim manager of Man United, with back to back wins against Man City and Arsenal. I’m more interested to see how United cope with this assignment, their players have regularly turned up for the high profile matches in recent seasons but then collapsed when facing up against a side that they are expected to beat. 

Man United have definitely become a more attacking side when compared to last season, they’ve seen 33 goals across their 10 games at Old Trafford this season (3.0 per game) and have seen 3+ goals in three of their last five matches across all competitions.

Fulham have seen 3+ goals in four of their last five matches across all competitions, with the exception of their 1-0 defeat to Leeds on the road. The Cottagers held United to a 1-1 draw in the initial league meeting between the sides, though they could be more vulnerable here having conceded 18 goals across their 11 away games in the Premier League this season.

This isn’t a traditional derby, but it is developing into a real rivalry with off-the-field issues building the tension between the camps. The split between the teams first came about due to Forest taking Palace’s spot in the Europa League, as they failed to comply with UEFA rulings, it has spiralled since then, with Palace fined for a banner their fans displayed at Selhurst Park the last time that the sides met.

The tension has been further exacerbated by Forest recently being linked with a move for Jean-Philippe Mateta. Those issues translated onto the pitch the last time that the sides met, with that 1-1 draw producing six match cards from 22 fouls in total. The referee for this game is Michael Salisbury, who is averaging 4.56 match cards per game across his nine appointments in the Premier League this term.

The other meeting between the sides last year produced 11 match cards from 24 match fouls, adding to the bank of evidence to suggest that the sides are likely to be involved in a real battle at the City Ground on Sunday afternoon. Palace saw six match cards in their most recent Premier League match against Chelsea, with Adam Wharton also picking up a red card in that encounter - with a high card tally expected here, the red card markets may also be worth looking at.

Tottenham’s North London rivals often get a lot of stick for how often they use set pieces as a route to goal, but Spurs are just as reliant on this avenue in the absence of their most influential creative players. Tottenham’s top scorer in the Premier League this season is Richarlison with seven goals - he’s injured for this clash and the two next top scorers after him are Romero and Van de Ven (4).

12 of the 33 goals that Tottenham have scored in the Premier League this season have come from set pieces (36%) - the highest share of any side in the Premier League. Tottenham are averaging 5.35 corners per game in the Premier League this season, with this metric rising to 5.82 corners per game when looking at their matches at home in the Premier League.

Man City have been fairly vulnerable to conceding corners on the road, with Guardiola’s side allowing the opposition to have just under five corners across City’s 11 away games in the Premier League this season.