⛅ Friday Forecast: Mourinho v Conte and an unlucky Jamie Vardy | OneFootball

One blockbuster clash and the League Cup final, it’s a big weekend on the horizon.

While we love the FA Cup, league games are the bread and butter of being a football fan and we’re happy to see the Premier League back.

With Conte and Mourinho facing off, Moyes back on Merseyside and an unwanted record chasing Jamie Vardy, here’s your Friday forecast.

? Game of the weekend: Manchester United v Chelsea

Yep, you read that correctly. We still haven’t learned our lesson and we still sometimes nominate José Mourinho’s Manchester United for game of the weekend.

Before moving to Old Trafford, the Portuguese had lost three of 20 career games against his former clubs.

Since then he has lost three more, all to Antonio Conte and Chelsea. Things get worse for the hosts: they’ve won just one of their last 14 against Chelsea in all competitions.

And then there’s the backstory of the two strikers. Álvaro Morata and Romelu Lukaku were widely expected to end up at each other’s clubs in the summer. Both have underwhelmed a little so far, with Morata scoring just 12 in 33 appearances and Lukaku yet to score against any of the top six since his move to Old Trafford.

Chances are the winner of that little battle will decide this one.

Easiest 3️⃣ points: Liverpool v West Ham

David Moyes has never won in 14 trips to Anfield and the Reds are unbeaten in 13 Premier League home games.

Basically there’s only one way we can see this game going and it’ll probably go there courtesy of Mohamed Salah.

? Potential upset: Crystal Palace v Tottenham

Mauricio Pochettino better watch out: Crystal Palace have lost just one of their last 10 Premier League home games.

In that time Roy Hodgson masterminded the defeat of Chelsea and was a missed penalty away from taking all three points from Manchester City – it’s a tough place to go.

Tottenham have a great recent record at Selhurst Park and Palace will be without Wilfried Zaha but all that will be thrown out the window if they start well and get Selhurst Park rocking.

? For the record: Jamie Vardy’s unlucky streak

Jamie Vardy has 15 goals this season and five in his last five. Sounds great, right?

However, the England international has been on the losing side in six of the Premier League games he’s netted in. Sounds unlucky, right? Well have we got some news for you.

In Premier League history, only two players have ever suffered the disappointment of both  scoring and ending up on the losing side seven times in a season.

One more game like that and Vardy will join Matt Le Tissier (1992/93) and Charlie Austin (2014/15) in the record books for all the wrong reasons.

? We hope to see: Punches thrown

Are we condoning violence or is our tongue planted firmly in our cheek? We’ll let you decide.

Maybe we don’t actually want José Mourinho’s spat with Antonio Conte to actually lead to violence but that really would be something.

The pair have been sharing moments all year, with Mourinho criticising Conte’s touchline behaviour and hinting at an old match-fixing scandal.

Conte responded with jibes about amnesia and called Mourinho a “little man” before landing the final say:

“He said serious words and used serious words. I won’t forget this.”

? Keep an eye out for … the League Cup final

It isn’t a Premier League fixture so it doesn’t really feature here but there will be a game at Wembley this weekend.

Arsenal take on Manchester City for the League Cup (before the sides meet in the Premier League on Thursday).

Will Arsène Wenger win the only trophy in English football he’s yet to capture or will Pep Guardiola win the first trophy of his Manchester City career? We can’t wait to find out.