Premier League Matchday 24 Preview: Slot joins Frank as under pressure boss and Solanke fancied to net | OneFootball

Get the lowdown on Matchday 24 in the Premier League

Arsenal's lead has been cut at the top of the table, West Ham are on the up, and Arne Slot has joined Thomas Frank as a manager under pressure. Mike Norman has the full details and looks ahead to Matchday 24 in the Premier League...

What happened in Matchday 23?

The big result in Matchday 23 was Arsenal losing at home to Manchester United on Super Sunday, meaning the Premier League leaders have now failed to win any of their last three matches and their lead at the top of the table has been cut to just four points thanks to wins for Manchester City and Aston Villa.

The win for United took them up to fourth in the table, just one place and one point above Chelsea who thrashed Crystal Palace on Sunday. Liverpool suffered their first league defeat since November when losing at Bournemouth and the Reds have now dropped to sixth in the table.

At the bottom of the table West Ham won for the second successive week, but like last week they saw one of their closest rivals to avoid the drop - this time Nottingham Forest - also pick up three points.

Tottenham's poor league form continued with a 2-2 draw at second-bottom Burnley while elsewhere there was a win for Fulham over Brighton and Matchday 23 concluded with an entertaining 1-1 draw between Everton and Leeds on Monday night.

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Who are the favourites to win the Premier League title?

Arsenal remain favourites in the Premier League Winner market but from being 1/6 seven days ago they've now drifted to 4/11 on the back of that defeat to Manchester United.

Man City remain second favourites in the market, and following their 2-0 win over Wolves they've shortened from 4/1 last week to their current price of 11/4.

Like last week, Aston Villa are the third favourites to win the title at 16/1 and it's 66/1 bar the three which brings in Manchester United, who are now a shorter price in the market than both Chelsea and Liverpool despite only being one and two points above them respectively.

2025/26 Premier League Winner: Betfair Sportsbook odds

- Arsenal 4/11- Manchester City 11/4- Aston Villa 16/1- BAR 66/1

Who are the favourites to be relegated to the Championship?

There's no change at the head of the Premier League Relegation market with both Wolves and Burnley remaining un-backable at 1/500, but West Ham have drifted to 1/3 to go down following two wins on the spin.

The Hammers were 1/10 before the first of those wins and they can count themselves unlucky that their nearest rivals - Nottm Forest and Leeds - both picked up four points from their last two games. Leeds and Forest can both be backed at 15/2 to be relegated.

Appearing for the first time in this section are Crystal Palace who are now 7/1 in the market following their 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea. The Eagles are now just eight points above the drop zone, they've taken just two points from the last 24 available, and with the sale of star defender Marc Guehi and uncertainty over the future of manager Oliver Glasner - who will definitely leave at the end of the season, if not before - the club appears to be in turmoil at present.

2025/26 Premier League Relegation: Betfair Sportsbook odds

- Wolves 1/500- Burnley 1/500- West Ham 1/3- Crystal Palace 7/1- Leeds 15/2- Nottm Forest 15/2- BAR 14/1

What are the Matchday 24 fixtures?

Saturday 31 January

- Brighton v Everton (15:00)- Leeds v Arsenal (15:00)- Wolves v Bournemouth (15:00)- Chelsea v West Ham (17:30, live on Sky Sports)- Liverpool v Newcastle (20:00, live on TNT Sports)

Sunday 1 February

- Aston Villa v Brentford (14:00, live on Sky Sports)- Man United v Fulham (14:00, live on Sky Sports)- Nottm Forest v Crystal Palace (14:00, live on Sky Sports)- Tottenham v Manchester City (16:30, live on Sky Sports)

Monday 2 February

- Sunderland v Burnley (20:00, live on Sky Sports)

What is the game of the weekend?

Tottenham host Manchester City in the live Super Sunday kick-off and both teams should be high on confidence following crucial Champions League wins in midweek which saw them both qualify for the Round of 16 automatically.

Spurs though are in woeful league form and are now on a run of five games without a win. They've slipped to 14th in the table, just eight points above the drop zone, and with games against Man City, Man United, Newcastle and Arsenal coming up there's a very realistic chance that they could be sucked into a relegation battle should results not go their way. They are currently 14/1 to be relegated.

Man City endured their own mini poor run of form but have seemingly shaken that off with back-to-back 2-0 wins at the Etihad, and they're now just four points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal.

But while on current form, and perhaps paper when you consider Tottenham's huge injury list, you'd expect Man City to take all three points on Sunday, this isn't a fixture that they have a great record in down the years.

Stretching back to the start of the 2021/22 season Tottenham have faced Man City 11 times in all competitions, with a W6-D1-L4 record, scoring 18 goals and conceding 11. From their last four meetings, Spurs have won three including a 2-0 win at the Etihad earlier this season. It's definitely something to bear in mind if betting on the game.

In the Sportsbook Match Odds market Man City are the favourites to take all three points at 8/13 while Tottenham can be backed at 15/4 and the Draw at 31/10.

Below you can see a chart showing the percentage chance for each outcome using the  market.

Managers to watch in Matchday 24

You'd think, after last week's draw with second-bottom Burnley, Tottenham boss Thomas Frank would still be the man under most pressure to save his job going into Matchday 24.

He probably still is, at least in my eyes anyway, but when Betfair opened their latest Sack Race market at the start of the week Liverpool boss Arne Slot was the 4/7 favourite to be the next Premier League manager to leave, with Frank second favourite at 6/4.

There's no doubt that it's been a hugely disappointing domestic season for the reigning Premier League champions, but going into the weekend Slot's men were on an unbeaten run of 13 game in all competitions, and although there have been some below-par draws in that sequence it was still a surprise to see Slot odds-on favourite to be sacked next following Liverpool's defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.

The Reds responded in style, thrashing Qarabag 6-0 in the Champions League in midweek, meaning they qualify automatically for the Round of 16, but with Newcastle up next in the Premier League it will be interesting to see what the reaction will be should they fail to win. Will the Liverpool hierarchy pull the trigger at this stage of the season on a manager who won the Premier League title last term? Surely not.

So that leaves Frank still the man most likely to be sacked next, and with a tough set of fixtures coming up, will the former Brentford boss still be in charge of Tottenham come the end of February? Or even the end of Matchday 24?

Spurs have been on a poor run of form but you'd have thought that losing at home to West Ham or failing to beat Burnley would have resulted in Frank getting sacked. But he's still in charge and like Slot he's guided his side to automatic qualification to the Round of 16 in the Champions League, so it seems he does have a bit of credit with the club.

And maybe the Tottenham board are sympathetic to the huge, and seemingly never-ending, injury list that Frank is having to deal with.

But a heavy home defeat to Man City on Sunday won't go down well with the home faithful, and he will most likely be the odds-on favourite in the next Sack Race market on Monday morning. Win however, and it could be the start of a glorious run to the end of the season for the Spurs boss with a realistic chance of going deep in the Champions League.

Player to watch in Matchday 24

This section had an excellent winner last week when we highlighted how good Bruno Fernandes has been in recent weeks, and in particular his assists record. He duly obliged for us with another assist against Arsenal, tipped up at 9/2.

I've got good vibes about Dominic Solanke this week, and I'm going to wager that he gets on the scoresheet against Man City at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The 28-year-old had a nightmare start to the season, suffering an ankle injury after Tottenham beat Man City in the reverse fixture in August. He spent five months on the sidelines but has returned to the team in promising form, scoring in each of Spurs' last two Champions League games.

Because of the list of injuries to Tottenham's squad Solanke has probably been put back in the team a little sooner than Thomas Frank would have ideally liked, but he was a substitute in Frankfurt on Wednesday night before coming off the bench to score with an excellent cross-goal finish. He should be fresh and raring to go on Sunday.

11/4 to score anytime he's worth chancing.