Premier League matchday 8 preview: perfect City at Villa Park, Arsenal v Everton, Chelsea v Tottenham

Manchester City have won all seven and lead by three points, and the match to watch first is their trip to Aston Villa on Saturday lunchtime, the side that beat them in each of the last two meetings. Arsenal, second, are at home to Everton that afternoon, and third-placed Brighton go to Liverpool on Sunday. Chelsea host Tottenham on Saturday evening, and the round opens on Friday night with tenth-placed Ipswich against Nottingham Forest, nineteenth.

Friday

Ipswich v Nottingham Forest (19:00 UTC, Portman Road Stadium). Ipswich, tenth on nine, lost 3–2 at City and have won three and lost four; Forest, nineteenth on five, lost 1–0 at home to Arsenal and have scored five, the fewest in the league. Forest won the last league meeting here 4–2 in March 2025 and 1–0 at home in November 2024; between those, the sides drew 1–1 at the City Ground in the FA Cup.

Saturday

Aston Villa v Manchester City (11:30 UTC, Villa Park). Villa, twelfth on eight, won 1–0 at Newcastle; City beat Ipswich 3–2 and have 21 points from 21, with E. Haaland on eight league goals. Villa have won the last two meetings, 2–1 at City in May and 1–0 here in October 2025, and also won 2–1 here in December 2024; City won 2–1 at home in April 2025. Haaland stayed on the bench for City's Champions League win over AEK Athens, and ESPN reports Enzo Maresca saying that of his injury doubts Haaland is "the only one 100% available", with Matheus Nunes, Nico O'Reilly and Mateo Kovačić still being assessed. Maresca also said it was "too early" to rule anyone out of the title race.

Arsenal v Everton (14:00 UTC, Emirates Stadium). Arsenal, second on 18, won 1–0 at Forest with their only shot on target and have conceded five, as few as Brighton. Bukayo Saka went off with a thigh problem in the 10th minute of the 2–2 draw at Bayern Munich on Wednesday; Mikel Arteta said it "doesn't look good at all", Sky Sports reports. Everton, eighth on ten, lost for the first time, 2–0 at home to Chelsea. Arsenal won 2–0 here in March and 1–0 at Everton in December; the two meetings before that were drawn, 1–1 at Everton in April 2025 and 0–0 here in December 2024.

Coventry v Fulham (14:00 UTC, Coventry Building Society Arena). Coventry, seventeenth on six, lost 3–1 at Tottenham and have lost five of seven; Fulham, eighteenth on five, beat Hull 1–0 for their first win. It is their first meeting since the Championship in 2021–22, when Coventry won both, 4–1 at home in October 2021 and 3–1 at Craven Cottage in April 2022.

Chelsea v Tottenham (16:30 UTC, Stamford Bridge). Chelsea, fourth on 13, won 2–0 at Everton and have scored 17, the third most in the league. Tottenham, sixteenth on six, beat Coventry 3–1 on Monday for their first win. Chelsea have won the last four league meetings, 2–1 here in May, 1–0 at Tottenham in November 2025, 1–0 here in April 2025 and 4–3 at Tottenham in December 2024, though Tottenham won a pre-season friendly between them 2–1 at Accor Stadium in August. Chelsea are without their captain, Reece James, who is expected to miss around three months after knee surgery, according to Sky Sports. Tottenham's website says Pedro Porro is back in training after missing their last two league matches, and Roberto De Zerbi said "maybe in Chelsea he can play".

Sunday

Crystal Palace v Newcastle (14:00 UTC, Selhurst Park). Crystal Palace, fourteenth on seven, lost 5–0 at Brighton and have conceded 17, the most in the league; Newcastle, eleventh on eight, lost 1–0 at home to Villa. Palace won the last meeting here 2–1 in April; Newcastle won 2–0 at home in January and 5–0 at home in April 2025.

Hull City v Brentford (14:00 UTC, MKM Stadium). Hull City, ninth on nine, lost 1–0 at Fulham without a shot on target; Brentford, sixth on ten, lost for the first time, 2–1 at home to Liverpool, and finished with nine men. The sides last met in the Championship: Brentford won 5–1 here in February 2020 and 5–1 at home in February 2019, and drew 1–1 at Brentford in August 2019.

Liverpool v Brighton (14:00 UTC, Anfield). Liverpool, fifth on 12, came from behind to win 2–1 at Brentford. Brighton, third on 16, beat Crystal Palace 5–0, have scored 23, the most in the league, and have won their last four league matches without conceding. Brighton won 2–1 at home in March; Liverpool won 3–0 here in the FA Cup in February and 2–0 here in the league in December, and Brighton won 3–2 at home in May 2025.

Manchester United v Bournemouth (14:00 UTC, Old Trafford). Manchester United, thirteenth on seven, have won one of seven and drew 1–1 at Leeds. Sky Sports reports that Michael Carrick stays in charge for this match after a run of seven matches without a win, the latest a Champions League defeat at Como. Bournemouth, fifteenth on six, beat Sunderland 2–0 for their first win of the season. United have not beaten Bournemouth in the last four league meetings: 2–2 at Bournemouth in March, 4–4 here in December, 1–1 at Bournemouth in April 2025 and 3–0 to Bournemouth here in December 2024.

Sunderland v Leeds (16:30 UTC, Stadium of Light). Sunderland, bottom on four, lost 2–0 at Bournemouth with ten men and have lost four in a row; Leeds, seventh on ten, drew 1–1 with United and have drawn four of seven. Sunderland won 1–0 at Leeds in March, and the meeting here in December finished 1–1; Leeds won a pre-season friendly between them 1–0 in July.

The table before the round

#	Team	P	GD	Pts
1	Manchester City	7	+12	21
2	Arsenal	7	+6	18
3	Brighton	7	+18	16
4	Chelsea	7	+4	13
5	Liverpool	7	+1	12
6	Brentford	7	+5	10
7	Leeds	7	+3	10
8	Everton	7	+1	10
…
16	Tottenham	7	−4	6
17	Coventry	7	−8	6
18	Fulham	7	−3	5
19	Nottingham Forest	7	−4	5
20	Sunderland	7	−8	4

City play first of the top three, on Saturday lunchtime; Arsenal follow that afternoon and Brighton on Sunday. At the bottom, Forest can climb out of the bottom three with a win on Friday night, and Coventry and Fulham meet on Saturday a point apart.

Numbers to know

• City are the only side with a perfect record and the only unbeaten one.
• E. Haaland leads the scorers with eight; João Pedro of Chelsea and A. Isak of Liverpool have five each.
• Brighton have scored 23, the most in the league, and have a goal difference of +18.
• Arsenal and Brighton have conceded five each, the fewest; Crystal Palace 17, the most.
• Forest have scored five, the fewest; Sunderland have lost five of seven.

The full round with kick-off times in your time zone is on the Premier League page.

Sources for the context: Tottenham Hotspur, Sky Sports, Sky Sports, Sky Sports, ESPN.