•Tottenham They are six points behind with two games in hand but Villa have a superior goal difference.
•Arsenal now have four games left to try and steal the Premier title from Manchester City and Liverpool.
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Tottenham vs Arsenal
When this game kicks off on Sunday, Arsenal will have played four times since Tottenham’s last match—the 4-0 defeat to Newcastle.
Therefore, it is strange that Spurs have picked up more injuries than the Gunners with Destiny Udogie being the latest victim with surgery needed on his left quadriceps.
He will miss the rest of this season. Ange Postecoglou plays high-intensity football, which is certainly entertaining, but puts a lot of pressure on players in training which is where Udogie was injured. The Australian coach suffered the same injury rate at Celtic, his previous club.
Tottenham need to win this match if they are to eventually overtake Aston Villa and secure Champions League football. They are six points behind with two games in hand but Villa have a superior goal difference.
In the 2-2 draw at Arsenal earlier this season, Udogie was a vital cog in preventing Arsenal moving forward down the right wing and made passing between Ben White and Bukayo Saka difficult.
Ben Davies is likely to take his place against Arsenal. Postecoglou was looking at other options in training and considered reorganising his defence using Christian Romero, Radu Dragusin and Micky van de Ven in a rather unorthodox back three and Pedro Porro stepping into midfield from right back.
There is still some doubt as to Porro’s fitness having been pulled off during the Newcastle game. Emerson Royal could also step in at right back although he is less comfortable working inside. Whatever happens, the loss of Udogie highlights the need for Arsenal to strengthen their left-back position in the summer.
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Arsenal’s Jurrien Timber is back in contention and desperately wants to be involved. He scored a brilliant goal in a testing Under-21 game in midweek and he can play anywhere across the back four.
Arsenal now have four games left to try and steal the Premier title from Manchester City and Liverpool. They are on a fine run of form and have to be favourites to win but they have played a lot of football. Their 5-0 demolition of Chelsea on Tuesday shows how well Kai Havertz has performed this season after a dismal spell at the Blues.
His incisive running passes inside to his strikers and holding up the ball in midfield has been a revelation since his dark days when he could do little right.
Postecoglou has worried more about stopping Havertz, Trossard and Saka than training with his forwards. Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard could run the show again in midfield and he is the one player Tottenham need to control and his battle with Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr could well decide this tie.
West Ham vs Liverpool
After their humiliating 5-2 defeat at Crystal Palace last weekend, the possibility of coach David Moyes’ departure from West Ham is becoming ever more likely. The noise of Palace fans singing ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning!’ can hardly have helped him sleep at night.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Hammers' next game is Liverpool and if that goes wrong, Moyes might not even see out the remaining two months of his contract.
After a decent season as captain, the commanding Kurt Zouma had a shocker against Palace. He is clearly out of form. The backline of Emerson, Ogbonna, Zouma and Coufal will struggle against Mo Salah, if he is fit and the lively Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez.
Liverpool’s midweek derby loss to Everton was a devastating blow for Klopp and the Reds’ fans. The coach was working with his assistants on Thursday morning to determine what changes to make.
Holding the centre will be the responsibility of West Ham’s James Ward-Prowse and he will feed Paqueta and Kudus on the wings but Moyes accepts they will struggle against Van Dijk, Robertson, Quansah and Alexander-Arnold.
Liverpool, like Arsenal, can’t afford a single loss or even a draw because if they falter again as they did at Everton then Manchester City will take the title again and in reality, that loss might well have sealed their fate.
Two things that favour Hammers are the injury to Liverpool’s Diogo Jota picked up against Fulham last weekend and the Reds' midweek loss which will see even the most experienced in their team low on confidence.
Manchester United v Burnley
Two managers under pressure. Burnley are in the middle of a daring spirited escape from relegation which a few weeks ago looked certain.
A fine run of form has given them a fighting chance of survival but they can’t afford to lose.
Burnley made the same mistake as Fulham and Nottingham Forest before them by winning promotion and bringing in a large number of players who lacked Premier League quality and experience.
The Clarets signed 15 new players at the beginning of the season and went nowhere.
They attempted to rectify their mistake by bringing in on loan Lorenz Assignon, Maxime Esteve and David Fofana in January which gave them stability and better structure.
At the weekend against Sheffield, four different players scored: Lorenz Assignon, Lyle Foster, Bruun Larsen and Gudmundsson which demonstrates the team’s versatility.
Sander Berge and Josh Cullen will battle it out in midfield against Casimiro and further forward Fernandes.
Burnley coach Vincent Kompany’s job is safe whether they stay up or not but Erik Ten Hag is very vulnerable because any loss now will almost certainly mean him waving goodbye at the end of the season.
Their midweek match at home to Sheffield United was a predictable win which will not count for much against Burnley.