Ten key questions for this weekend's matches

Here we look at the main talking points for each fixture in Matchweek 16

Can in-form Palace repeat their FA Cup final win?

Crystal Palace have won 26 points in their first 15 Premier League matches this season, their best start to a top-flight campaign and double the tally they had at this stage of 2024/25.

An extraordinary calendar year for Palace just keeps getting better and better. Every time the Eagles seem to hit a new peak, they surpass it. Every time a roadblock comes into view, they smash through it.

With that in mind, there is every reason to think Palace can stay in the Uefa Champions League places this season – and that they can get their second major scalp of the campaign at Selhurst Park on Sunday.

Palace have already beaten Liverpool 2-1 at home this season and so far have won seven points from four matches against teams who finished in the top six last season, conceding only one goal.

It is the Man City fans who will feel apprehensive on Sunday, not the Palace supporters, who will be confident their team can counter-attack their way to victory as they have done so many times before, including, most recently, their 1-0 victory against Manchester City in the FA Cup final.

That day Eberechi Eze was the hero, whereas this season Ismaila Sarr has been Palace's creative leader. Sarr's recent absence after sustaining an ankle injury at the end of November has failed to disrupt Palace, who have recorded back-to-back away wins at Burnley and Fulham.

Oliver Glasner's side could yet again defy expectations and beat Man City to make it three wins from three in December.

Can Sunderland use the derby to reinvigorate their season?

Whether or not the first Premier League Tyne-Wear derby in almost exactly 10 years has come at a good time or a bad time for Sunderland is up for debate.

Regis Le Bris’ team have won just one of their last six Premier League matches, suggesting they would have preferred hosting Newcastle United at a time when they were flying; when the energy and boldness of Sunderland’s play meant they felt capable of taking on anybody.

Alternatively, it could be argued that the form guide is of no relevance when it comes to rivalries as fierce as this one. The Stadium of Light will be at its most raucous, which is saying something for a fan base that have already made their ground one of the most intimidating in the country this season.

From that perspective, the surge of electricity could be precisely what the players need to become re-energised after a slight drop in intensity recently.

Certainly the players and fans could hardly be more motivated to get the win. It’s been a long decade since they last faced Newcastle in the top flight, four years of which were spent in League One, and in the meantime their arch rivals have twice qualified for the Champions League and won domestic silverware.

Will deep-lying West Ham test whether Villa’s attacking issues are really solved?

Aston Villa’s nine wins from 10 in the Premier League, their best run of form since 1919, has some tipping them as outsiders to win the title. The gap to Arsenal is a mere three points and although Unai Emery has batted away suggestions of a challenge, there is just one thing that gives pause for thought.

Villa have got into this position without Ollie Watkins’ goals (his brace against Brighton & Hove Albion last week ended a run of two goals in 20 matches in all competitions) and with Morgan Rogers in disappointing form until late October. Prior to the 4-3 win at Brighton, 56% of Villa’s total goals had been scored from outside the box and they had the league’s second-lowest Expected Goals (xG).

So, if Rogers and Watkins can enter a rich vein of form, if Villa are only now beginning to play at their creative peak, then their winning run could continue for some time yet.

A trip to West Ham United is a good test of whether Villa’s attack has finally gelled. The Brighton game was predictably end-to-end, allowing Emery’s side to run into spaces usually closed off, while Arsenal’s defensive issues made that task simpler than usual.

So far this season, Villa have struggled against low blocks, most recently requiring a long-range strike to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 at Villa Park in late November.

If Villa can play with fluidity in the final third against a defence-first Nuno Espirito Santo team, then just maybe Emery’s side are here to stay.

Can Everton continue their brilliant run against a limping Chelsea attack?

This is not an ideal time for Chelsea to be hosting Everton. Enzo Maresca's side are winless in their last three Premier League matches, leaving them eight points off top spot and with 10 points fewer than at this stage last season.

Their campaign is at an important crossroads. Only once have Chelsea had a longer winless run under Maresca. They cannot afford any more dropped points, not on a weekend in which Arsenal host Wolves.

Liam Delap’s injury and Moises Caicedo's suspension significantly disrupt Chelsea's preparation for this match, most importantly weakening the hosts' attack.

Everton have won four of their last five Premier League matches, making them one of the division’s in-form teams, and all four of those games have been to nil.

In fact, since David Moyes’ first game back in charge on 15 January this year, only Man City (13), Arsenal (13) and Chelsea (11) have more Premier League victories without conceding than Everton’s 10.

That solid defence will be very difficult for this young, ever-changing, and now striker-less Chelsea attack.

But Maresca simply has to find a way to break through, or else Chelsea’s title bid will be all-but over.

Will an end-to-end game at Anfield be overshadowed by the Salah story?

The focus here should be on what promises to be a hugely entertaining game. Brighton’s openness when playing the top clubs (as the 4-3 defeat to Villa showed), coupled with Liverpool’s ongoing defensive problems, could make this one of the highest-scoring matches of the season so far.

Brighton’s detailed tactical preparation means they will surely target Ibrahima Konate’s side, where Maxim De Cuyper has excelled in recent weeks. When those attacks break down, there will no doubt be space on the break for Liverpool’s attackers to utilise.

But we don’t yet know who those attackers will be. Mohamed Salah’s words last weekend, when he spoke about his future at Anfield, have overshadowed everything this week, although Liverpool’s 1-0 win at Inter Milan on Tuesday night was a welcome relief.

Whether or not Salah is in the Liverpool team this weekend will be the story. But once the game kicks off, the entertainment on show should take everybody’s minds off it.

Will in-form Leeds drag Brentford into a relegation battle?

An excellent start to the 2025/26 campaign has seen a lot of people reassess their pre-season predictions that Brentford could finish in the bottom three. But after three defeats in four, certainly Brentford fans aren’t feeling secure just yet.

Indeed the Bees could be dragged right back into the relegation conversation this weekend if they lose this six-pointer against a Leeds United side that scored six goals, and picked up four points, from games against Chelsea and Liverpool.

Daniel Farke's side beat Chelsea 3-1 and drew 3-3 with Liverpool thanks to the head coach's new 3-5-2 formation, although tactically Leeds' success has resulted from counter-attacking possession-centric sides.

Brentford are the exact opposite, a deep-lying defensive side, who will not give Dominic Calvert-Lewin space like Liverpool and Chelsea did.

Also, Brentford’s string of defeats were all away from home, with Keith Andrews’ side winning each of their last three Premier League matches at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Victory for the hosts would relieve pressure in the run-up to the Festive Fixtures, whereas a win for Leeds would pull them to within one point of Brentford, who may be left as little as three points above the relegation zone.

It isn’t the headline game this weekend. But it might just be one of the biggest.

Is the timing perfect for Man Utd to end their losing streak against Bournemouth?

AFC Bournemouth have beaten Manchester United 3-0 in each of their last two league visits to Old Trafford and haven’t lost any of their last four league meetings with their hosts, a record that will be fresh in the minds of Man Utd supporters on Monday evening.

But the fixture comes at a fortuitous moment for Ruben Amorim’s side, who are clearly on the up. The 4-1 victory at Wolves on Monday meant Man Utd have now won 18 points from their last nine Premier League matches, as many as in their previous 17 matches combined.

Meanwhile, Bournemouth are winless in their last six Premier League games and have failed to score in their last two. Andoni Iraola’s team are looking tired as we approach the hectic Christmas schedule and, despite their strong start to the season, the Cherries are now all the way down in 13th.

Can Burnley get the win they desperately need to avoid a bleak midwinter?

Six consecutive Premier League defeats has left Scott Parker’s Burnley stuck in the bottom three and in desperate need of beating Fulham this weekend.

So far this season, Burnley have won only three times in the Premier League, beating 20th-placed Wolves along with fellow promoted sides Sunderland and Leeds. If they are to remain at this level, it looks like Parker’s side will need to win most – if not all – of their home matches against teams looking down, not up.

After Fulham on Saturday, Burnley don’t have another match of that nature until they host West Ham on 7 February, 10 games from now.

Meanwhile, Fulham have only won one away game all season, a 2-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur.

Burnley cannot afford anything less than three points this weekend.

Will Spurs need Simons to pick the lock at the City Ground?

Thomas Frank’s team have been defined, all too often, by slow and sluggish patterns that are failing to meet some supporters’ expectations of adventurous attacking football.

Sean Dyche, who specialises in spoiling opponents’ plans with a frustrating low block and aggressive direct football, will set his Nottingham Forest side up to drag Spurs down to the worst version of themselves.

But Spurs might be turning a corner under Frank, who appears to have responded to critique of his pragmatic setups with more expansive team selections recently.

The most attacking of these was the side that beat Brentford 2-0, starring Xavi Simons in the No 10 role. His goal and assist were among the first signs Spurs fans have had that Simons possesses the physicality and the speed of thought needed to succeed in the Premier League.

Assuming Forest are ultra-defensive in this game, Frank and Spurs will need Simons’ lock-picking abilities in the final third.

Are Wolves perfect opponents for Arsenal to recover from Villa defeat?

First versus last is almost always a foregone conclusion in the Premier League. The team at the top of the table has played the team at the bottom of the table on 42 previous occasions in the competition and only four times has the side in 20th won.

Two of those four have been Wolves, who beat Man Utd at Molineux in both January 2004 and February 2011.

Beating the leaders from 20th place feels very unlikely this time around. Wolves are on course for the worst season in Premier League history, plus they have lost each of their last eight encounters with Arsenal in the competition.

Emiliano Buendia's last-gasp winner at Villa Park last weekend was a psychological blow from which Arsenal must recover quickly in the league, especially with Man City breathing down their necks.

The visit of Wolves is just what Mikel Arteta needed.