KEY questions for Matchweek 31's fixtures

Can in-form Fernandes end Bournemouth’s five-game unbeaten run against Man Utd?

AFC Bournemouth are a tough nut to crack. They are unbeaten in their last five games against Manchester United (W2 D3) and have drawn each of their last four matches in the Premier League, three of which have been goalless.

This has the feel, then, of a game in which Man Utd could struggle to create chances … or at least that is the conclusion we would draw if it wasn’t for Bruno Fernandes.

Fernandes has created six or more chances in each of his last three Premier League games, although his spell of form has been going on for considerably longer than that.

Remarkably, Fernandes has scored or assisted at least once in 15 of his last 21 matches for Man Utd in all competitions, amassing a total of 22 goal involvements in that time.

It’s a sequence that recently helped him top 100 assists for the club, surpassing David Beckham’s record for most assists in a single season by a Man Utd player (16) and moving within just four of Kevin de Bruyne and Thierry Henry's joint-record of 20 assists in one Premier League campaign.

That should be enough to worry Bournemouth but it gets worse: Fernandes has been involved in eight goals in his eight Premier League games against them (four goals and four assists).

Will Champions League football again interfere with Liverpool’s domestic form?

Juggling Uefa Champions League football with the Premier League is always a challenge but Liverpool appear to be finding it especially difficult.

Arne Slot rested key players for the Tottenham Hotspur match that was sandwiched between the two legs of their last-16 tie against Galatasaray, a decision that you could argue backfired when Richarlison scored a late equaliser - or could argue worked perfectly when Liverpool turned the European tie around on Wednesday.

It will be interesting to see how Slot approaches this match. Liverpool have won just four of their nine league matches straight after a midweek Champions League outing, collecting 13 points and with two more games set to be disrupted next month by Liverpool’s quarter-final matches, the problem of fixture congestion isn’t going away.

The temptation to again rotate will be there, not only because Slot may wish to prioritise the Champions League over the Premier League but because Liverpool have already beaten Brighton twice this season, by an aggregate score of 5-0.

But Brighton & Hove Albion have won three of their last four Premier League games, having emerged victorious in just one of the preceding 13, suggesting Fabian Hurzeler’s side represent a different kind of challenge now.

Can Fulham get their European push back on track after a goalless week?

With just six points between seventh place and 14th, inevitably there is an enormous amount of movement in mid-table and it sometimes feels like there is a new challenger for European places every week.

In the musical-chairs race for seventh or eighth, Fulham’s only chance to be there when the music stops is if they ensure their mini-slump - and goal drought - does not turn into anything more serious.

Two Matchweeks ago, they were flying but a 1-0 defeat to West Ham United and a 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest leaves Marco Silva’s side outsiders again. Between those games was a 1-0 loss to Southampton in the FA Cup, meaning Fulham have now gone three games without a goal.

Burnley at home is the perfect opportunity to correct that. They are the team Silva would have picked, had he been given the choice, to try to end the goalless run.

Scott Parker’s side have kept just one clean sheet in their last 41 Premier League away games, conceding in each of their last 25 since a 2-0 win at Fulham in December 2023.

Burnley also top the Premier League rankings for goals conceded (58), Expected Goals conceded (58.9) and shots conceded (498).

Fulham simply must seize this opportunity to get back on track.

Can Everton pull themselves to within just two points of Chelsea?

Liam Rosenior will be working hard to ensure that Chelsea’s 8-2 aggregate defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League does not impact upon the rest of their domestic campaign.

This is clearly a huge moment in their season, however: Rosenior's side have won just three of their last nine matches in all competitions and two of those were against Championship opposition in the FA Cup (Wrexham and Hull City).

Chelsea remain three points outside the Champions League places and although qualifying very much remains a realistic target, there is a danger that they begin to look backwards, not forwards, because if Everton win on Saturday, David Moyes’s side will move to within just two points of them.

Everton are hoping to win consecutive Premier League games at Hill Dickinson Stadium for the very first time, after beating Burnley 2-0 at the beginning of March.

They are not exactly in great form, although the 3-2 win at Newcastle United last month, and the narrowness of the 1-0 defeat at home to Man Utd just before, indicate that Moyes’s physicality in midfield and defensive sturdiness could cause Chelsea problems.

After Saturday, three of Chelsea’s seven remaining Premier League matches are against teams in the current top five. Defeat at Everton could have a dramatic impact on their campaign.

Leeds in danger of falling into the relegation zone?

Brentford are no pushovers but Leeds United really need to start winning more games at Elland Road.

Leeds are only three points above the relegation zone and in serious danger of slipping out of the division - they are winless in their last five Premier League games (D3) and haven’t scored in any of their last three - despite being rightly praised for staying above water through most of the campaign.

Six of their seven wins in the competition this season have been at home. Leeds' hopes of safety rest on their Elland Road form and after this weekend, their remaining opponents there are Wolverhampton Wanderers, Burnley and Brighton.

Even beating those sides in 19th and 20th places won’t be quite enough to take Leeds to the magic 40 points, piling pressure on to Saturday’s game.

But even leaving aside Brentford’s high place in the league table, this one looks tough for the hosts. Excluding penalties, Leeds have scored a higher share of their Premier League goals from set-pieces this season than any other side (35.1% - 13/37), but only Everton and Wolves (six each) have conceded fewer goals from set-pieces than Brentford (seven).

Will Sunderland break a Tyne-Wear record and climb above their rivals?

As one of the fiercest rivalries anywhere and with a raucous atmosphere guaranteed, the Tyne-Wear derby is always an engaging spectacle.

But Newcastle and Sunderland have both looked tired recently, explaining why the Black Cats have scored a meagre four goals in their last eight games in all competitions, while Eddie Howe’s side have been streaky at best.

More significantly, derbies can be a little too tense to produce entertaining football: the reverse fixture in December had a combined Expected Goals (xG) of 0.54, the second-lowest on record (from 2012/13) in a Premier League match.

Nevertheless, this derby has a lot riding on it, so much so it will be hard to tear your eyes away.

Incredibly, Sunderland are unbeaten in their last 10 league games against Newcastle (W7), winning seven of the last eight. It's a run the Magpies are desperate to break, not least because if the Black Cats make it 11, it will become the longest unbeaten sequence by either side in this fixture’s entire history.

The bragging rights go deeper still. Newcastle’s 1-0 victory over Chelsea last weekend, and Sunderland’s 1-0 defeat to Brighton, took Howe’s side above their rivals in the league table. Regis Le Bris will want to correct that.

Will Nuno’s tactics draw out a familiar problem for stuttering Villa?

Unai Emery has never lost four consecutive league matches in his whole career. That tells you how important it is that Aston Villa use a home game against a relegation candidate to rediscover their domestic form.

The issues for Villa are familiar by now. They consistently drop points against clubs that deploy a low block because Emery’s tactics rely upon drawing out the opposition press in order to play through it.

Nuno Espirito Santo, then, is precisely the kind of tactician who can slow Villa down and bring out the creatively-lacking team we saw lose 2-0 at Wolves last month.

And West Ham are likely to be more confident than their hosts. They have earned 15 points from their last nine Premier League games, one more than they had in their first 21 this season, while Villa have scored the fewest Premier League goals so far in 2026, with 10.

Villa’s high line and risky offside trap could come under serious pressure, especially from the in-form Jarrod Bowen, who has two goals and five assists in his last eight Premier League games.

Another counter-attacking, smash-and-grab win for West Ham is on the cards, and with Forest and Tottenham Hotspur playing each other, Nuno’s side could move out of the bottom three for the first time since November.

Has Richarlison's goal changed the narrative or will Forest triumph in a crucial six-pointer?

The significance of Richarlison's late equaliser at Anfield will become clear only after Sunday’s six-pointer.

Igor Tudor’s first point as Spurs head coach, plus the 3-2 on-the-night victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, needs to be the catalyst for a change in fortune.

It needs to inspire a big result on Sunday, because if Forest emerge victorious, Spurs could be in the bottom three by the end of the weekend, with any confidence restored by stoic and in-sync displays against Liverpool and Atletico in danger of evaporating.

Spurs remain winless in 12 Premier League games and haven’t gone as many as 13 in a row since 1935. The draw at Anfield was valuable, but it doesn’t mean too much in isolation, and certainly supporters’ worst fears will look more likely than ever should Forest win in north London.

Forest head coach Vitor Pereira is unbeaten in his three Premier League games against Spurs (W1), which includes a 1-1 draw at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in September, one of just two points he won with Wolves this season while he was still their boss.

Pereira knows how to frustrate, then and indeed it is possible that Tudor’s side benefited from being able to play as the underdogs against Liverpool: staying compact in a deep 4-4-2 and waiting for chances to steal an attack. Now they are expected to be on the front foot again, this is a huge test for Tudor and his team.

What’s more, although Forest are winless in seven Premier League games, Pereira’s side have been at their best against "Big Six" clubs: the 2-2 draw at Manchester City and the unlucky 1-0 defeat at home to Liverpool suggest that Forest may revel in an encounter where their hosts are expected to dominate the ball.