Klopp banking on Chelsea to slow City charge

LONDON: Jurgen Klopp will be desperately hoping Chelsea can slow down Manchester City’s title charge this weekend as he balances his Premier League ambitions with a Champions League decider against Napoli.

Unbeaten Liverpool are clinging on in the title race — scoring deep into added time against Everton last week and recovering from a goal down to beat Burnley on Wednesday to move just two points behind City. Elsewhere, all eyes will again be on the next instalment in the Old Trafford soap opera, with stuttering Manchester United hosting bottom club Fulham. Tottenham — yet to register a single draw in the Premier League this season — are away to Leicester. Arsenal play lowly Huddersfield. AFP Sports picks out some of the main talking points ahead of the weekend fixtures in the Premier League.

Chelsea seek to arrest slide: Chelsea were unbeaten in their first 12 Premier League games, determinedly hanging on to the coat-tails of Manchester City and Liverpool.

But if they lose to Pep Guardiola’s league leaders at Stamford Bridge on Saturday they will be looking at a yawning gap of 13 points — and it would be their third defeat in four league games. Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso has urged his teammates to forget about the gap, which already looks ominously big. “If we lose we are going to be 13 points from the top and that’s a lot of points but we have to think, prepare for the game well and not pay attention to the table at moment,” he said.

Jose Mourinho is desperately casting around for solutions to the malaise at Old Trafford — but is all the chopping and changing hindering, rather than helping? Manchester United have made a total of 46 changes to their starting XI in the Premier League so far this season, including seven changes on Wednesday against Arsenal — more than any other team in the competition.