LONDON (Sporting Alert) — The English Premier League points standings and fixtures ahead of this weekend’s clashes on Saturday, February 21 and Sunday February 22.
Leaders Chelsea head into Saturday’s matchup with Burnley with a seven point lead over defending champions Manchester City.
The Blues, who cruised to an easy win when these two teams met in the opening fixtures of the season, have 59 points from their 25 games and will start overwhelming favourites again to bag all three points and keep their advantage at the top of the table standings.
Burnley, in the meantime, are fighting relegation and need to start picking up points.
Second place Manchester City (52pts) face Newcastle United at home hoping to not slip up again as they seek to close the gap on Chelsea. The return of Yaya Toure and availability of January capture Wilfried Bony will certainly add more goalscoring options for the Citizens.
Newcastle United sit 11th in the standings on 31 points, but a win could see them moving into the top 10 and back in the race for a place in Europe again.
Meanwhile, third place Manchester United take on Swansea City on the road, looking to turn the tables on the side that handed them their opening fixture defeat to start the season.
Louis van Gaal’s side is on 47 points, one more than fourth place Southampton, who will take on Liverpool on Sunday.
A win for Manchester United would see the Red Devils staying third, while a defeat could see them dropping all the way down to fifth, if results in other games go against them.
Elsewhere this weekend, fifth place Arsenal will try to stay in the hunt for a Champions League place with a win against Crystal Palace.
Tim Sherwood starts his reign as the new manager of Aston Villa at home to Stoke City, while Hull City and Queens Park Rangers meet in a crucial contest.
Everton hope to carry their form from Europe into the EPL this weekend against Leicester City, while Tottenham face West United confident of staying in the race for a top four spot.
Saturday, February 21 (EST)
Chelsea v Burnley (10:00am)
Swansea City v Manchester United (10:00am)
Crystal Palace v Arsenal (10:00am)
Hull City v Queens Park Rangers (10:00am)
Aston Villa v Stoke City (10:00am)
Sunderland v West Bromwich Albion (10:00am)
Manchester City v Newcastle United (12:30pm)
Sunday, February 22 (GMT)
Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United (7:00am)
Everton v Leicester City (9:05am)
Southampton v Liverpool (11:15am)
Standings P W D L F A Pts
1 Chelsea 25 18 5 2 55 21 59
2 Manchester City 25 15 7 3 51 25 52
3 Manchester United 25 13 8 4 43 24 47
4 Southampton 25 14 4 7 38 17 46
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5 Arsenal 25 13 6 6 47 28 45
6 Tottenham Hotspur 25 13 4 8 39 34 43
7 Liverpool 25 12 6 7 36 29 42
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8 West Ham United 25 10 8 7 36 28 38
9 Swansea City 24 9 7 8 28 31 34
10 Stoke City 25 9 6 10 28 33 33
11 Newcastle United 24 8 7 9 30 36 31
12 Everton 25 6 9 10 31 35 27
13 Crystal Palace 24 6 8 10 26 34 26
14 Sunderland 25 4 12 9 22 36 24
15 Hull City 25 5 8 12 23 34 23
16 West Bromwich Albion 24 5 8 11 22 34 23
17 Queens Park Rangers 25 6 4 15 26 43 22
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18 Aston Villa 25 5 7 13 12 34 22
19 Burnley 25 4 9 12 24 43 21
20 Leicester City 25 4 5 16 22 40 17
