Mark Lawrenson
Former Liverpool defender on Football Focus

They've had a little bit of a bad run but they're still only four points behind Manchester City.

Chelsea will come good again.

Chelsea

Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount says 2021 has been a "special" year for him, with personal highlights including winning the Champions League, and reaching the Euro 2020 final with England.

Christian Fuchs
Former Leicester left-back on BBC Radio 5 Live

You miss the protection when Kante is not playing. He does so much running, he is all over the place – it makes life so much easier for the defenders.

I spent a season with him and his work rate is phenomenal. He never gets tired. He gives so much more value to a whole team. It was a pleasure to play with him.

Talking defensively, you want to play with Kante, definitely. The balls he intercepts, the way he makes it predictable for the defence is second to none.

Chelsea

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Chelsea were top of the table not long ago but have fallen four points adrift of leaders Manchester City.

They have won just twice in five Premier League fixtures (D2, L1) and have dropped seven points from winning positions in their past seven Premier League games.

The Blues have also conceded in their past five league games - their longest streak without a clean sheet under head coach Thomas Tuchel.

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel asked about getting today's game postponed: "It is exactly like this, we thought we had a strong case regarding the security and health of players, we have seven positive cases, we were made to be in the bus and travel together for three hours, were in meeting together, in dinner and lunch and the situation does not feel like it will stop if we keep on doing this. We applied to not play and put the situation under control and it was rejected. It is very hard to understand it, we are very concerned about the health of the players. We end up with players who play coming from injuries and we take the risk.

"I am worried from a medical point of view, we have had four days of consecutive positive tests. How will it stop if we are in a bus together and in meetings together if we pretend it is not happening?

"We are disappointed, we are a bit angry."

Shaka Hislop
Former Newcastle & West Ham goalkeeper on BBC 5 Live

Right now [in the Premier League race] you want to be in Manchester City’s shoes.

The great test for City will be in the second half of the season. Their holy grail is the Champions League, so how do they manage these two competition?

For Liverpool, it is all about the league. They can be a bit more laser focused. I don’t say that to suggest that they are not going to take the Champions League as seriously, but for City it is all about the Champions League. Maybe that will be their undoing. But right now, you’d want to be in City’s shoes.

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Eddie Howe makes five changes to the Newcastle side that began the 3-1 loss at Liverpool on Thursday.

In come Ciaran Clark, Joe Willock, Miguel Almiron, Matt Ritchie and Callum Wilson, with Allan Saint-Maximin among those dropping to the bench.

Newcastle XI: Dubravka, Murphy, Clark, Lascelles, Hayden, Fraser, Willock, Ritchie, Almiron, Wilson, Joelinton.

Subs: Darlow, Schar, Saint-Maximin, Hendrick, Krafth, Anderson, Longstaff, White, Gayle.

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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola changes three of his starters from the 7-0 thrashing of Leeds a few days ago.

In come Joao Cancelo, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus, with John Stones, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden all among the substitutes.

Manchester City XI: Ederson, Zinchenko, Laporte, Dias, Cancelo, De Bruyne, Rodri, Silva, Sterling, Jesus, Mahrez.

Subs: Steffen, Ake, Stones, Wilson-Esbrand, Gundogan, Fernandinho, Palmer, Grealish, Foden.

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Wolves make three changes, including Raul Jimenez returning from suspension to replace the injured Hwang Hee-chan.

Ki-Jana Hoever and Leander Dendoncker replace Nelson Semedo and Francisco Trincao.

Wolves XI: Sa, Coady, Saiss, Kilman, Hoever, Marcal, Neves, Moutinho, Dendoncker, Podence, Jimenez.

Subs: Moulden, Ruddy, Jordao, Trincao, Semedo, Traore, Cundle, Bueno.

Image source, .

Chelsea make two changes from their 1-1 draw with Everton, with N'Golo Kante and Trevoh Chalobah replacing the injured Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Jorginho.

With at least four players out with Covid, Chelsea only name a six-man bench, including midfielder Mateo Kovacic, who has been out for 11 games, and two goalkeepers.

Chelsea XI: Mendy, Rudiger, Silva, Azpilicueta, James, Alonso, Chalobah, Kante, Mount, Ziyech, Pulisic.

Subs: Kepa, Bettinelli, Kovacic, Saul, Barkley, Sarr.

Image source, Getty Images

Premier League clubs will meet on Monday to discuss the escalating crisis around the coronavirus pandemic.

With 10 games postponed over the past week, including six already from this weekend's 10-match fixture list, clubs want the chance to discuss the options.

Managers and captains are also due to hold their own meetings.

Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard said he hoped the meetings would provide "clarity" to "a lot of concerns and unanswered questions".

Meanwhile, Premier League chief Richard Masters has written to clubs urging players to get the vaccine and stressed the importance of the league completing the season.

Read the full piece

Chelsea

Chelsea confirm a request to postpone their Premier League match at Wolves has been rejected.

The Blues issued a statement revealing strong disappointment at league bosses insisting Sunday's match at Wolves went ahead on schedule.

Chelsea were already without Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Callum Hudson-Odoi due to positive Covid-19 tests.

The Stamford Bridge club were understood to have lost more players to positive tests on Saturday, leaving the west Londoners travelling to Wolverhampton with a makeshift squad.

Team news for that game is out at 13:00 GMT.

MOTD

Match of the Day turned out to be just that, thankfully for the production team they had a programme to put together.

Pundits Danny Murphy and Martin Keown discusses Leeds' "chaotic" performance against Arsenal that resulted in a 4-1 defeat.

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One game did go ahead on Saturday...

Two goals from Gabriel Martinelli helped Arsenal sweep past an injury-hit Leeds at Elland Road to secure their third successive Premier League victory.

Martinelli's double and Bukayo Saka's deflected effort made it 3-0 before half-time as the Gunners ruthlessly capitalised on an error-strewn Leeds performance.

Raphinha pulled one back from the penalty spot in the second half, before Arsenal substitute Emile Smith Rowe wrapped up an emphatic victory for Mikel Arteta's side late on.

Read the report

Chelsea had five players with Covid cases during the week and reports say, external there are "new cases" in the squad.

But as it stands, the game still goes ahead. Players have just arrived at Molineux.

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From the scheduled six games on Saturday, there were meant to be two going ahead. It ended up being just the one.

Aston Villa's match against Burnley was postponed because of Covid-19.

Villa said they received an "increased amount" of positive test results on Saturday morning.

The postponement was announced just over two hours before the scheduled 15:00 GMT kick-off at Villa Park.

Villa apologised to Burnley and their fans but said they acted "as swiftly as possible" to "minimise disruption".

An Aston Villa statement said: "The club is extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused to Burnley Football Club, both our own supporters and the Burnley fans due to attend the fixture."

Read the full piece

One game went during the week but the top three are all scheduled to be in action today, here is what we have:

Everton P-P Leicester

Newcastle v Man City (14:00 GMT)

Wolves v Chelsea (14:00)

Tottenham v Liverpool (16:30)

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And then there were three.

Well for now anyway, don't start making plans for your game just yet.

We saw what happened on Saturday.