A finely poised North London derby, a meeting of midfield maestros and Mike Dean refereeing Cristiano Ronaldo

Thomas Tuchel has masterminded three wins out of three against Pep Guardiola since his arrival in England. Another at Stamford Bridge on Saturday will give Chelsea a six-point cushion over the reigning champions after as many Premier League games. Guardiola was roundly criticised following City’s Champions League final defeat for not picking a holding midfielder, despite having lost the FA Cup semi-final between the two sides with both Rodri and Fernandinho in his starting lineup, then a subsequent Premier League match with just the Spaniard shielding his defence. In a fixture where it seems Guardiola can’t seem to do right for doing wrong in terms of team selection, we can only ponder if and how he might “overthink” his tactics for this crunch game. BG

Chelsea v Manchester City, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)

Brentford v Liverpool, Saturday 5.30pm

Manchester United v Aston Villa, Saturday 12.30pm

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