Premier League PrimerGetty/GOAL

Premier League Primer: Can Cole Palmer continue his Cristiano Ronaldo character arc, are Aston Villa losing steam, and can Liverpool officially ruin Arsenal's season?

Finally, some Premier League matches to be excited about! Forget the title (sorted), relegation (sorted) and the plight of Manchester United and Spurs (boring.) It's time to get jazzed up about European qualification, which has become of increasing importance in recent years.

It's simple: European soccer means money, which means better players, which means happier fans, which means a higher profile.

Sure, Chelsea are in the running, but they should be. Outside of them, there's Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and even Bournemouth. Any of them playing in Europe, at any level, would make for good entertainment - and mean much to their fans.

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This weekend, there are a fair few pivotal matchups in that hunt. Chelsea play Newcastle, while Bournemouth play Villa. Elsewhere, there's Arsenal trying to salvage any residual embarrassment from this season, something easily attainable against league champions Liverpool.

GOAL US looks at all of those plot points and more in the Premier League Primer, a weekly rundown of what to watch from an American perspective in England's top flight.