➤ Arsenal will travel to Manchester City to round off the Premier League weekend with a bang.
The Gunners have quietly been going about their business with all the attention focused on Manchester City and Liverpool.
This weekend, however, Arsenal have the chance to make a bold statement if they manage to claim all three points at the Etihad Stadium.
Mikel Arteta and his men sit top of the Premier League table, level with Liverpool on points.
And while a win for Arsenal and Liverpool would take them four points clear of City, the Gunners will take great confidence from beating Pep Guardiola’s charges.
The blockbuster clash kicks off at 5.30pm on Sunday.
Before that, Chelsea will host Burnley at 5pm on Saturday with Tottenham Hotspur taking on Luton Town at the same time.
Brentford will then face Manchester United at 10pm.
On Sunday, Liverpool will kick the day off against Brighton & Hove Albion at 3pm before the mammoth clash between Arsenal and Manchester City.
All the action will be live on DStv channel 203.
➤ The four South African Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) teams go into the weekend with their tails up and their confidence at the highest possible level.
The match between the Bulls and Leinster can be seen as a mini-URC final.
As always the question is will the Bulls, with Jake White running the show, be at their best or will they accept a strategic surrender? The two top teams on the log will get home matches in the semi-finals. Given the differences in the weather, playing at home is a massive advantage – and the two top teams are Leinster and the Bulls.
Crucially Leinster is four points clear of the Bulls, while the Bulls are ahead of the Glasgow Warriors by a single point.
But the Bulls are riding high after dismantling the Dragons last week and they can be expected to give it one helluva push.
Can the Sharks make it two in a row? They should, seeing as they’re playing Edinburgh in the Durban shark tank where they did a fine job of beating Ulster by four tries to one last weekend.
But Edinburgh, around the middle of the URC log, have a habit of winning and the Sharks, let’s face it, have a habit of losing.
The Lions face the Ospreys at the Swansea Stadium and once again they are the underdogs. But the team from Johannesburg are used to that by now.
Last week the Lions scored six tries against Connacht and they’re playing not only with their tails up but with big smiles on their faces.
The experts may favour the Ospreys, but they may very well find themselves looking down their noses after the match.
Ulster will still be smarting after last week’s thrashing by the Sharks, and it looks like the Stormers will add salt to their wounds.
The men from Cape Town will be hungry for the tantalisingly close five points that could put them in the top four on the log. They scored seven tries last week. Perhaps they can do it again this weekend.
Vodacom Bulls vs Leinster, Friday at 9.35pm
Hollywoodbets Sharks vs Edinburgh, Saturday 3pm
Ospreys vs Emirates Lions, Saturday 5.05pm
DHL Stormers vs Ulster 7.15pm
All matches will be broadcast live on DStv channel 211.
Pictured above: Arsenal.
Image source: X
