⛅ Friday Forecast: Derby in the capital and Claudio's comeback | OneFootball

You can open your eyes now, it’s all over. The international break has finished and the Premier League is rolling back into town.

Game of the weekend

Tottenham v Chelsea

Are Tottenham as good as last year? Are Chelsea going to stick around in the title race? These are the questions that, 12 games into the season, we still cannot answer.

Maybe Saturday will help, as Spurs host the Blues in a tantalising London derby.

One thing is for sure: Chelsea under Maurizio Sarri aren’t the same as they were under Antonio Conte. The Blues are now determined to be the protagonists in every game, aiming to dictate possession and press high up the pitch. Eden Hazard has been let loose, Jorginho has hit the ground running, and it all looks very nice.

All that up against Tottenham’s furious pressing leaves us with our mouths drooling. There’s just a point between the sides heading into the game and both teams will feel they have something to prove. Chelsea need something to keep pace with the two at the top, Spurs will want to show they have a shout in the title race themselves.

If it wasn’t being played at Wembley, essentially a neutral stadium at this point, it would have everything.

Potential upset

Bournemouth v Arsenal

With Arsenal on a 16-game unbeaten streak, this one really would be an upset. Then again, would it?

Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth side are, without doubt, the surprise package of the season. Callum Wilson is now an England international and only three players have more Premier League goals than him so far this season. He’s been supported brilliantly by Josh King and helped along by the superb form of Ryan Fraser and David Brooks.

There’s plenty to worry any defence there and Arsenal will have to be sharp.

As for the Gunners, their unbeaten run has gone on but they’ve drawn four of their last five and are the only team in league not to lead a game at half-time so far this season. Sooner or later, they’ll pay for starting slow.

Maybe it will be this weekend.

Easiest three points

Everton v Cardiff

We usually throw Manchester City (away to West Ham) or Liverpool (away to Watford) in this section.

For a second we considered Manchester United, who host Crystal Palace but it’s at least 15 months since a José Mourinho team made something look easy.

So here we are, choosing Everton at home against Cardiff.

Neil Warnock’s side have been surprisingly competitive so far this season … at home. Things aren’t so good on the road. They’ve scored just twice in five games and picked up a solitary point. That came against fellow strugglers Huddersfield. In August.

It may only be in pencil but the writing is very much on the wall already.

We hope to see

Pellegrini’s charm

Adored during his two seasons at the Etihad Stadium, Manuel Pellegrini is back in the Premier League and he has West Ham playing quite nicely.

The Hammers may be 13th in the table but they tend to be a force in the big home games. Chelsea were forced to settle for a point London Stadium this season, Manchester United didn’t even manage that.

And now? Manchester City. The Citizens have won all three of their games at West Ham’s new ground, scoring 13 times and conceding just once.

We get it, City are good. Great, even, and their form so far this season suggests it’ll be another easy win.

On the other hand, it’s surely time for West Ham to put up a fight against the champions? What better time to do it than with Pellegrini in charge?

Keep an eye on

Claudio’s Comeback

He’s back in town.

Fulham host Southampton on Saturday as Claudio Ranieri takes charge of his first game at Craven Cottage. We’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on things there.

The west London club are bottom of the table right now and Ranieri has to fix an historically bad defence to start turning things around. However, there’s just three points between Fulham and 16th-placed Crystal Palace.

Start with a win on Saturday and things aren’t looking so bad after all.