W2W4 previews the weekend's Premier League action and highlights five key storylines.
Ranieri, Guardiola seek salvation
Reputations are at stake Saturday when Manchester City travel to Leicester. Last season's champions against the pre-season favourites has lost a bit of its lustre as Leicester have become a salvage operation.
Claudio Ranieri's team are just two points above the relegation zone, confirming their 2015-16 title as an unrepeatable freak. Bookmakers should happily now accept bets of 5,000-to-1. Ranieri appears powerless with only his charm to protect him. He buried the image of the "nearly man" with last season's triumph but Leicester's fall suggests an inability to sustain success.
Until Wednesday night, the Champions League had been an oasis but their 5-0 defeat at Porto was another dose of icy reality. Ranieri fielded a second-string eleven, and Leicester were already through as group winners, but it now looks as if they struck it lucky in pulling minnows Club Brugge and FC Copenhagen as their other opponents.
The Premier League has been far less forgiving; Leicester have not won since Oct. 22, which should make them ideal opposition for Pep Guardiola. Except, of course, Guardiola's City team are suffering their own crisis of confidence.
Last Saturday's 3-1 loss to Chelsea was a severe blow to his Messianic status. As Guardiola's rigorous plan came apart at the seams in the second half at the Etihad, Antonio Conte looked like the leading man among the Premier League's superstar coaching class. City then lost their heads and Sergio Aguero for four matches with suspension.
Both Ranieri and Guardiola need far, far better from their teams if those damaged reputations can be hastily repaired.
A Christmas Carroll?
Talking of capitulation, Sunday's meeting between Liverpool and West Ham also sees two managers licking ugly wounds from a week ago. West Ham were disastrous in Arsenal's first visit to the London Stadium, losing 5-1. After the match, aghast manager Slaven Bilic pronounced himself as responsible for the mess his team has become.
Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp rampaged on the sidelines at Bournemouth as his players, 3-1 up with 13 minutes to play, contrived to lose 4-3, the winning goal presented to Nathan Ake by hapless goalkeeper Loris Karius. "It's a wonderful story if you're not part of it on the wrong side," Klopp said ruefully. Central defender Joel Matip, back in training this week, was sorely missed on the South Coast.
Liverpool failed to beat the Hammers in four attempts last season, losing three times, including a 2-1 loss at Anfield last August. Bilic has tried and failed to summon the team spirit of last season but might hope that the return of Andy Carroll, still Liverpool's record signing at £35 million in 2011 and scorer of the Hammers' consolation against Arsenal last week, can alter fortunes.
On Jan. 2, it was Carroll who opened the scoring as West Ham began their year with a 2-0 defeat of Liverpool. His bulwarking centre-forward play may now present Bilic's best chance of not ending 2016 in the relegation zone, a descent that may hasten his exit.
Mourinho "welcomes" pretender Pochettino
Though Jose Mourinho achieved his dream of being Manchester United manager back in May, another name in the frame to replace Louis van Gaal was Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino; Sir Alex Ferguson is confirmed as among the Argentinian's admirers.
Instead, Mourinho's team are lagging in the shadows beneath the title race after two wins in 11 Premier League matches and he faces accusations of being yesterday's man. He might well have taken some solace from the recent struggles suffered by young pretender Pochettino, but Tottenham are fully six points clear of sixth-placed United.
Last week's 5-0 burying of Swansea lifted Spurs' spirits after defeat to Chelsea the previous week, as did ending their Wembley hoodoo by beating CSKA Moscow in the Champions League on Wednesday. Victory at Old Trafford, where Pochettino has lost on both previous visits with Tottenham, might mortally wound Mourinho's designs on making the top four. It might also heighten Pochettino's candidacy for any potential future vacancy.
Kante's destiny?
Victory in Manchester made it eight in a row for Chelsea and a ninth looks more than possible against West Brom, even if Tony Pulis' team are unbeaten since October.
Last week, Conte was forced to mess with a previously winning formula and replace injured midfield Nemanja Matic with the different skill set of Cesc Fabregas. The Spaniard's days of being a box-to-box marauder have disappeared, but he still made a crucial impact last Saturday, supplying Diego Costa for Chelsea's equaliser. With N'Golo Kante around, life is made so much easier for fellow midfielders as the revived Matic has found this season.
It took time for Conte to get Kante into the kind of fiery form that fuelled Leicester's title, but the Frenchman could well become the first outfield player to win a title in successive seasons with different clubs: reserve goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer triumphed with Chelsea in 2014-15 and Leicester last season.
Bradley must plug aching gaps
When Bob Bradley's Swansea beat Crystal Palace 5-4 a fortnight ago, the American manager admitted that he had tempered criticism of his team's defending in the aftermath of a thrilling last-gasp victory.
The crushing 5-0 Tottenham defeat that followed has exposed the gossamer-soft centre that Sunderland, after three wins from their last four, will try to expose. Having scored four goals in his last five matches, Jermain Defoe must fancy this trip.