Cup and League share top billing in England this weekend

Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-15 19:18:44|Editor: Xiaoxia
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LONDON, March 15 (Xinhua) -- The coming two days in English football will see attention divided between the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and a reduced Premier League program.

Liverpool have a great chance to go back to the top of the Premier League table when they visit second from bottom Fulham on Sunday.

While Liverpool produced a majestic display to win 3-1 away to Bayern Munich on Wednesday and qualify for the last eight of the Champions League, Fulham have lost their last seven matches and Scott Parker's naming as their third coach of the season cannot disguise the lack of quality in their squad.

Chelsea meanwhile will also look to build on their European form when they visit Everton, where goalkeeper Jordan Pickford needs a good performance ahead of the forthcoming international games after some recent uncertain displays.

Saturday's Premier League matches see West Ham entertain bottom of the table Huddersfield, who with just 14 points, are clearly doomed to a return to the Championship.

Burnley, who are currently fourth from bottom, need to recover their home form against Leicester City, who are playing more confident football since Brendan Rodgers replaced Claude Puel as coach, while Newcastle United will consider themselves to be all-but safe from relegation if they can take all three points from their visit to Bournemouth.

Newcastle striker Ayoze Perez scored twice last weekend against Everton and commented in the week that he still has hopes of one day winning a Spain call up.

Watford's game at home to Crystal Palace opens the round of FA Cup matches and the home side will be looking to make it three wins out of three after already defeating Saturday's rivals twice in the Premier League.

After reaching the quarter-finals with away wins against Arsenal and Chelsea, Manchester United face another difficult tie away from Old Trafford with a visit to play Wolves.

Wolves knocked Liverpool out of the Cup and showed last week that they not only know how to attack, but also to defend when they went close to taking all three points from Stamford Bridge.

Raul Jimenez will be Wolves' main threat, but Manchester United will be looking to bounce right back from last weekend's league defeat to Arsenal, which was their first domestic setback since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over as coach.

Manchester City were brutal in demolishing Schalke 04 7-0 in the Champions league this week and should expect a smooth passage into the semi-finals when they travel to play Swansea.

City's Cup results so far have been 7-0 v Rotherham, 5-0 against Burnley and 4-1 v Newport County, although the fourth tier side did hold them for almost an hour before the floodgates opened.

Swansea coach Graham Potter has told the press that he is going to ask his Newport counterpart, Michael Flynn for advice, but he may need more than good advice to keep Aguero, Sterling and Phil Foden at bay.

Finally, Millwall are looking for their first home win since the fourth round when they face Brighton on Sunday.

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