George Cummins
BBC Radio 5 live

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Arsenal’s record signing Nicolas Pepe has failed to live up to expectations since his £72m move from Lille in the summer of 2019.

The Ivorian clocked up 100 appearances for the Gunners against Sunderland in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday but still finds himself a fringe player under Mikel Arteta.

“A player that doesn’t play, if he is happy you have a big problem and Nico has not been happy," says Arsenal boss Arteta.

"He’s been trying to challenge us and asking for more minutes because this is what he wants to do and rightly so. This is the attitude we want from our players.”

Signed by Unai Emery, it's unclear what the future holds for the winger. Arsenal are keen to bring in a striker and selling Pepe could help finance a move for a new number nine.

Pepe could also be one of four Arsenal players who are heading to the Africa Cup of Nations next month.

Marc Webber
Final Score at Carrow Road

Despite the Covid-19 concerns at Carrow Road, it’s game on for a match where Arsenal will feel comfortable in making it three wins in a row.

Norwich hate Boxing Day - their last festive league win was 1987.

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BREAKING NEWS:

Santa is a Hammers fan!

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Southampton

Ralph Hasenhuttl says taking extra steps to minimise time around the training ground has led to Southampton's low number of positive Covid-19 results.

The majority of the Saints players and staff have been vaccinated and the club have so far been relatively untroubled by the virus.

"We try to to stick to the rules, we try to do what helped us so far staying safe and it looks that we are we are in a good mode so far," said Hasenhuttl.

"In the moment we don’t eat indoors anymore. Yesterday we dressed in the car and went home after the sessions.

"It's not the perfect preparation for the players, definitely. They get a lunch package at home and eat at home to try to minimise the time around the training ground."

Some things never change. It's raining in Manchester.

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Mark Lawrenson
BBC football expert

It is so far, so good for Tottenham manager Antonio Conte, who is still unbeaten in the Premier League after five games in charge and is starting to mould his squad into his own team.

Palace out-played Spurs at Selhurst Park in September, which was the beginning of the end of Nuno Espirito Santo's short reign as Tottenham boss.

The Eagles will still pose a threat but this is a very different Spurs team, and it is interesting to see Conte giving chances to players who were on the periphery under his predecessor. His team selections are working out pretty well.

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

Izzy Christiansen
England and Everton midfielder on BBC Radio 5 Live

Jordan Henderson has spoken up on behalf of the majority of players, and the fixture schedule is something players are used to, but throwing Covid-19 into it is an absolute catastrophe.

The PFA need to look into it very quickly. If it is like this with Covid again next year then I don’t think the festive period can look like this again. I think the PFA need to step up.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says Leicester City are still dangerous opponents despite their mixed form this season.

The Foxes are ninth in the table and 22 points behind the leaders, who beat them 1-0 in the reverse fixture in September.

But Guardiola said: "Leicester remain Leicester.

"For me, they remain with a top-quality manager, absolutely, with exceptional players in all departments.

"But sometimes, in seasons, there are periods of highs and lows. Maybe we are used to seeing Leicester up there all the time.

"Hats off to how well this club works in many senses - recruitment of players, adapting and adjusting to many situations - but sometimes there are periods that they are not consistent all the time."

Chris Bevan
BBC Sport at Etihad Stadium

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Manchester City make two changes from the side that beat Newcastle 4-0 last weekend.

Ilkay Gundogan and Fernandinho come into the team, with Gabriel Jesus dropping to the bench and Rodri not in the squad.

Phil Foden and Jack Grealish are again among the substitutes, which include two goalkeepers and Brazilian forward, Kayky, 18, who is included for the first time in a senior City squad and is very much a player to watch.

Man City XI: Ederson, Cancelo, Dias, Laporte, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Bernardo, Sterling, De Bruyne, Mahrez

Subs: Steffen, Carson, Ake, Jesus, Grealish, Kayky, Foden, Mbete, Palmer.

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Leicester City make six changes from the side that lost to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

Jannik Vestergaard, Marc Albrighton, Kelechi Iheanacho, Ayoze Perez, Daniel Amartey and Ademola Lookman come in for the injury hit Foxes.

Ricardo Pereira and Caglar Soyuncu, who were injured against the Reds, miss out along with Patson Daka, and Jamie Vardy, Wilfried Ndidi and Boubakary Soumare drop to the bench.

Vardy apparently picked up a hamstring problem late in the game against Liverpool, but it is at the back where they have been hit hardest by injury.

Leicester XI: Schmeichel, Albrighton, Vestergaard, Thomas, Amartey, Tielemans, Maddison, Dewsbury-Hall, Perez, Iheanacho, Lookman

Subs: Jakupovic, Bertrand, Vardy, Choudhury, Ndidi, Castagne, Soumare, Nelson McAteer.

Norwich make three changes from their last game - a 2-0 defeat by Aston Villa 12 days ago.

Angus Gunn makes his Premier League debut for the Canaries as he replaces Tim Krul in goal, while Kieran Dowell and Josh Sargent return to the line-up, with Todd Cantwell and Jacob Sorensen dropping down to the bench.

Norwich XI: Gunn, Aarons, Kabak, Gibson, Williams, Dowell, Gilmour, McLean, Placheta, Sargent, Pukki.

Subs: McGovern, Byram, Cantwell, Tzolis, Sorensen, Lees-Melou, Mumba, Giannoulis, Idah.

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta makes just one change from last week's win at Leeds having fielded a much-changed side for the Carabao Cup win over Sunderland.

Takehiro Tomiyasu is the player to miss out with Rob Holding recalled, while there is still no place in the squad for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Arsenal XI: Ramsdale, White, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Lacazette.

Subs: Leno, Smith Rowe, Pepe, Tavares, Mari, Sambi Lokonga, Elneny, Nketiah, Patino.

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West Ham have made four changes from Wednesday's Carabao Cup defeat by Tottenham for the visit of Southampton.

Lukasz Fabianski, Vladimir Coufal, Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma come in for Alphonse Areola, Ben Johnson, Harrison Ashby and Manuel Lanzini.

West Ham XI: Fabianski; Coufal, Dawson, Diop, Masuaku; Soucek, Rice, Fornals; Bernrahma, Vlasic, Bowen.

Subs: Areola, Yarmolenko, Antoniio, Lanzini, Noble, Fredericks, Johnson, Kral, Ashby

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Southampton have not played since 15 December, but also make four alterations.

Fraser Forster, Jan Bednarek, Theo Walcott and Mohamed Elyanoussi replace Willy Caballero, Lyanco, Nathan Tella and Will Smallbone.

Southampton XI: Forster; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Salisu, Livramento; Romeu; Ward-Prowse; Redmond, Elyanoussi, Walcott; Broja

Subs: Caballero, Long, Adams, A. Armstrong, Perraud, S.Armstrong, Diallo, Simeu, Valery

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Antonio Conte has made five changes to his Tottenham side that held Liverpool to a draw in their last Premier League outing.

Ben Davies and Ryan Sessegnon are replaced by Sergio Reguilon and Japhet Tanganga, while it's an entirely different midfield.

Oliver Skipp, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Lucas Moura are all in as Dele Alli, Harry Winks and Tanguy Ndombele drop to the bench.

Tottenham: Lloris, Reguilon, Sanchez, Dier, Royal, Tanganga, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Moura, Son, Kane

Subs: Gollini, Doherty, Winks, Gil, Rodon, Alli, Bergwijn, Ndombele, Davies

Crystal Palace have been hit with an outbreak of Covid-19 but manager Patrick Vieira, who is isolating after testing positive, has made just one change to the side that last played on 15 December.

Centre-back Joachim Andersen replaces Marc Guehi, who drops to the bench.

Palace: Butland, Ward, Tomkins, Andersen, Mitchell, Gallagher, Hughes, Kouyate, J Ayew, Edouard, Zaha

Subs: Matthews, Guehi, Mateta, Schlupp, Kelly, Ferguson, Riedewald

Time for some team news from our 3pm kick offs.

Norwich City

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Norwich boss Dean Smith is frustrated about the festive fixture schedule in the current Covid-19 climate and says he is concerned his squad isn't robust enough to play twice in two days.

The Canaries, bottom of the table, entertain Arsenal before travelling to face Crystal Palace on Tuesday for a 15:00 GMT kick off.

"We all know that there is a tradition with the festive scheduling and it is difficult normally, but it is nigh on impossible to ask players to play twice in 48 hours and I, at the moment, don’t know how we are going to do it," adds Smith.

"It is asking massive questions of everybody’s squads at the moment and it is lunacy that we are having to play two games in 48 hours.

"There has got to be a question about the integrity of the competition when teams are playing weakened teams against other teams and it is affecting league positions."

Leeds United

More on the breaking news that Leeds-Aston Villa on Tuesday has been postponed because of Covid-19 cases at the Yorkshire club.

Leeds' game at Liverpool today had already been called off.

A club statement said there had been no new Covid cases but the majority of those who had already tested positive were still isolating so there were not enough "recognised first-team players".

Read more about this here.