Mourinho threatens to haunt Man Utd on return to Old Trafford

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Tottenham Hotspur's head coach Jose Mourinho (R) greets Dele Alli during the UEFA Champions League Group B match between Tottenham Hotspur and Olympiakos at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Britain on Nov. 26, 2019. (Photo by Matthew Impey/Xinhua)

A midweek round of games in the Premier League takes place this week with two standout matches and a few more to whet the appetites of supporters.

The big game of the week is without doubt the Merseyside derby which sees Everton make the short trip across town to Anfield on Wednesday, where their neighbors Liverpool await them.

Sunday brought a much improved performance from Marco Silva's men, which probably made the heartbreak of conceding a 94th minute goal which cost them a point away to Leicester City even harder to bear.

Liverpool meanwhile held on for 10 minutes with 10 men at home to Brighton after goalkeeper Alisson was sent off for handball outside of his area against Brighton and Adrian San Martin will be in goal as the Brazilian serves his suspension.

Everton fans will probably still have nightmares about goalkeeper Jordan Pickford's last minute howler against Liverpool exactly a year ago and will be keeping their fingers crossed for better luck this time, although it would be a brave man to bet against a Liverpool side that has won 13 out of 14 league games.

Tuesday sees two games as Crystal Palace, fresh from their impressive win away to Burnley, entertain Bournemouth, who have Harry Wilson in fine form, while Burnley try to recover from their weekend disappointment with a home game against Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola's men disappointed yet again at the weekend as they were held by Newcastle, but will expect to control the ball at Turf Moor. Burnley fans meanwhile will look to strikers Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes to trouble a suspect City defense.

Chelsea need to bounce back from their surprise home defeat to West Ham United when they entertain Aston Villa, who took a valuable point from Manchester United on Sunday.

Manchester United's Old Trafford Stadium will no doubt be the focus of much of the attention on Wednesday when Jose Mourinho returns as Tottenham coach just over a year after being sacked by United.

Spurs have not exactly convinced, but they have won all three games since Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino, with Dele Alli starting to look more like his own self.

Manchester United have probably got worse since Mourinho's departure and currently sit in mid-table, but there could be some players with a point to prove against their former boss and that alone should make for interesting viewing even without the tension Mourinho brings to this kind of event.

Second place Leicester City should get all three points from their home game against bottom of the table Watford, who are looking for their third coach of the year after sacking Quique Sanchez Flores on Sunday.

West Ham face a difficult trip to play Wolves in the wake of their victory at Stamford Bridge, while there will be tension yet again at Saint Mary's as Southampton entertain Norwich in a game between teams in the relegation zone.

Both teams played well at the weekend with Southampton beating Watford and Norwich taking a point off Arsenal, but results in 'six-pointers' such as this are what determines if a team stay up or go down.

Steve Bruce faces another former club on Thursday when Newcastle United visit Sheffiled United, while Freddie Ljunjberg's second game in charge at Arsenal will see him try and inspire some personality from his players when they entertain a Brighton side that gave Liverpool a few nasty moments on Sunday. 

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