Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend- one

Palace could take another step towards Manchester United’s unwanted record, Huddersfield should go for it against Spurs and a west London game to savour

1) United can help Palace towards unwanted record

After six league games, six defeats and still no goals, Old Trafford would be very close to bottom of the list of ideal destinations for Crystal Palace, but it may be a fine place to find some sympathy. After all, as nonagenarian United fans might recall, their team’s start to the 1930-31 season remains the most disastrous in Football League history. They were wildly unfortunate to lose their opening game to the champions Aston Villa – Joe Spence suffered a twisted knee and Tom Jones cracked a collar-bone, leaving United playing for a draw with nine and a half men (Jones gamely tried to carry on as best he could). With a minute and a half to play, Jack Wilson passed back to Alf Steward, the United goalkeeper, who inexplicably dropped the ball and Tom Waring capitalised to grab the winner. “The pass was made with complete accuracy,” we reported, “but Steward fumbled the ball and the insatiable Waring dashed in to dash out the Manchester hopes.” Eleven straight defeats followed – they shipped four to Manchester City and Portsmouth, five against West Ham, six against Chelsea and Huddersfield and seven against Newcastle before finally beating Birmingham on 1 November. Palace are only halfway to matching United’s miserable run but with a visit from Chelsea to follow Saturday’s game, United’s 87-year-old unwanted record could be under genuine threat. SB

2) A showdown to savour at Stamford Bridge

One of the first things Pep Guardiola said after his team’s 6-0 demolition of Watford a few weeks ago was that he would not get a truly accurate indication of the strength of his side until they go to Chelsea, who beat them home and away last season. Since that win at Vicarage Road, City have been weakened by the injury to Benjamin Mendy, which a pity both for them and for all admirers of rampaging left-backs, and Sergio Agüero’s car accident in the Netherlands. Fabian Delph has done a decent job since filling in for Mendy but he is no like-for-like replacement. City, then, might not be as dangerous and balanced as they would otherwise have been. But they are still have enough creativity to blow Chelsea away. Antonio Conte’s men have reason to be confident, too, especially if Fernandinho is left to hold midfield by himself. Hyped-up matches have a habit of letting us down but this one should be exceptional. PD

3) Seagulls lacking firepower for overdue trip to Arsenal

Brighton and Arsenal have met three times in the last 34 years, all of them cup meetings played on the south coast – making this the Seagulls’ first trip to this corner of north London since a 3-1 defeat in February 1983. Any buoyancy Brighton may have felt at the fixture’s timing, coming less than 72 hours after Arsenal’s Europa League trip to Belarus, lasted only as long as it took for their strikers to start falling. Glenn Murray and Sam Baldock, who scored 34 league goals between them last season, are both injured while the Israeli Tomer Hemed, responsible for two of the team’s five league goals this season, is starting a three-match suspension. This leaves on-loan Izzy Brown – whose top-flight experience amounts to 11 minutes for Chelsea in 2015, and 24 minutes in Brighton’s defeat to Manchester City on the season’s opening day, which for him was curtailed by a hamstring injury, and who in Chris Hughton’s words “has only just come back from injury and is really a No10” – as the most likely option up front. SB

4) Liverpool have a frightening attack but need to be more clinical

Liverpool’s newest Fab Four produced an encouraging enough display at Spartak Moscow on Tuesday night but the task now is for them to become clinical. Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané, Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah had not started a competitive game together before and at times their movement and interplay – particularly Salah’s when he darts in from the right – was dizzying. They should only get better but the big concern on Tuesday was that chances were once again missed and final passes frequently went awry. It is difficult to see a natural goalscorer in Jürgen Klopp’s ranks – if we are to assume that Daniel Sturridge, who in fact missed the most glaring opportunity in Moscow, is destined for little more than a cameo role – but they will need their whirlwind of an attack needs to be topped off by some cold-blooded finishing. Sunday may be one of those occasions; Rafa Benítez and Newcastle have, defeat at Brighton notwithstanding, been on decent form and look a tough nut to crack. Can Liverpool, for all their energy, demonstrate top-level composure regularly enough? NA

5) Huddersfield should ditch caution and go for it against Spurs

Huddersfield face their first test against one of the Big Six and David Wagner’s approach will be intriguing. The German manager has been an advocate of energetic pressing at the John Smith’s Stadium, while calling for a more belt-and-braces defensive approach on the road – at Turf Moor last weekend, Huddersfield had only three touches of the ball inside the Burnley penalty area. The Terriers have conceded just three goals in their opening six Premier League matches and, against a Tottenham Hotspur side that are a class above anyone they have faced so far, Wagner may be tempted to err on the side of extreme caution. We can but hope he doesn’t – after a fine start to the season this amounts to a free swing for Huddersfield and by showing the courage of the convictions that have brought them this far, Huddersfield can get a real measure of where they rank in the firmament, even if that means risking a heavy defeat. BG