Premier League Acca: Man City to drop points at Leicester

• Foxes can prevent City from winning
• Goals galore as Potter returns to Brighton
• Reds can run riot against Leeds

Rodgers' playmakers could overwork Rodri

Leicester City v Man City
Saturday, 12:30
Live on BT Sport 1

A run of good form has brought Leicester back from the brink at just the wrong time for Manchester City, who have much to fear from the way Brendan Rodgers has adapted his 4-1-4-1 formation. With Harvey Barnes and James Maddison as the nominal wingers, Leicester have begun to produce numerous vertical passing options through midfield.

Barnes and Maddison tuck right inside, joining Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Youri Tielemans to give Wilfried Ndidi the straight pass he needs to work the ball through the thirds, in turn allowing Leicester to run at pace towards the penalty area. This is a particular concern for Man City, who have been guilty on occasion of leaving Rodri with too much to do at the base.

Leicester's counter-attacking potential can overwhelm Rodri centrally as Ilkay Gundogan is caught too high up the pitch, although the threat is bigger from resets, when the City full-backs will be in traditional positions and Dewsbury-Hall, Maddison, and Barnes can drop into the half-spaces. The hosts should be able to cause significant damage.

Back double chance Leicester/draw at 3.613/5

De Zerbi aggression to create exciting game

Brighton v Chelsea
Saturday, 15:00

Roberto De Zerbi has turned Brighton into a very attacking team who like to press ultra-high and dominate possession no matter the opponents; last weekend they became the first side to win the possession battle (51.6%) against Man City since May 2021. They also lost the match 3-1, having been far too open to deal with Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne.

Graham Potter's unbeaten record shows Chelsea are absorbing his ideas, but they are blunt up front because their possession has not produced many chances against defences forced into a deeper shell. Consequently, playing Brighton will give the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang space and allow the wing-back Raheem Sterling to use the transitions.

However, Potter's use of wingers as wing-backs will be tested for the first time by the speed and aggression of Brighton's attacks, and it is likely that Chelsea will struggle to defend adequately when pushed into deeper areas than they are comfortable. Ultimately, Brighton will provide us with another open and entertaining game with goals for both teams.

Back over 3.5 goals at 3.412/5

Front four can obliterate Leeds

Liverpool v Leeds
Saturday, 19:45
Live on Sky Sports Premier League

Jurgen Klopp's switch to a 4-2-4 formation is working for the time being, and it is just the kind of all-out attacking system that will expose the crumbling Jesse Marsch project. His Leeds United team are far too open defensively for the simple reason they don't have high quality players, and without the maverick energy of Marcelo Bielsa are just too normal for a Championship-level squad to succeed in the top tier.

This will be most obvious in the full-back areas, where Pascal Struijk and Luke Ayling, receiving virtually no support from their wingers, should be overwhelmed by Liverpool's wide forwards as they are joined by the full-backs. There are simply too many swarming Liverpool attackers on the pitch for Leeds to cope.

However, it is possible that Marsch's intelligent possession coaching is able to work around the Liverpool press, taking those four forwards out of the game and allowing them to charge through an open midfield occupied only by Fabinho and Jordan Henderson. That might have happened in the Bielsa era, but with Brenden Aaronson carrying the team at the moment, Leeds surely won't pose much of a threat.

Back Liverpool to win with a -1 handicap at 1.834/5

Passive Hammers to be controlled by Casemiro

Man Utd v West Ham
Sunday, 16:15
Live on Sky Sports Premier League

West Ham have developed a habit of being far too passive against the 'Big Six' as David Moyes decides that a very deep line of engagement and a stubborn defensive shell is the right way to keep the score down. But in the 2-0 defeat to Man City, 2-1 defeat to Chelsea, and 1-0 defeat to Liverpool it always looked like a matter of time; like West Ham were waiting to be beaten.

Manchester United have been rejuvenated by their excellent new central midfield partnership of Christian Eriksen and Casemiro, which controlled Chelsea for long periods of last weekend's 1-1 draw before Potter was forced to play a diamond 4-4-2 to combat them. West Ham find it very hard to counter-attack from such a deep position at the best of times, but the chances are extremely slim with Casemiro pulling the strings.

Should Man United be reduced to crossing from deep, unable to penetrate the West Ham shell, then a substitute appearance from Cristiano Ronaldo should provide them with the firepower needed to make the breakthrough. He has something to prove after his recent tantrum and is the right kind of penalty-box player for an attack versus defence game like this.

Back Man Utd to win at 1.674/6