Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Fraser Forster steps up for Spurs, while the threat level is at its highest for Manchester City at Anfield

Fabian Hürzeler singled out Joël Veltman as one of the Premier League’s most underrated players as Brighton prepare to face the bottom side, Southampton, on Friday. “He knows what to do to win games,” Hürzeler said of the Netherlands defender, who has started all but one of Brighton’s league games so far. Veltman – who spent eight years at Ajax before moving to the Amex in 2020 for £900,000 – is 11 months older than his manager and his experience has proved invaluable to his side in the absence of the captain, Lewis Dunk, through injury. He is expected to return against Russell Martin’s side as Brighton attempt to record a fourth clean sheet of the league season, not to mention take the opportunity to move into second place in the table before the rest of the weekend’s fixtures. Ed Aarons

Brighton v Southampton, Friday 8pm (all times GMT)

Brentford v Leicester, Saturday 3pm

Crystal Palace v Newcastle, Saturday 3pm

Nottingham Forest v Ipswich, Saturday 3pm

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Kasparas Jakucionis scores a season-best 23 points as Illinois tops No. 19 Arkansas 90-77

Freshman Kasparas Jakucionis scored a season-high 23 points, Tomislav Ivisic had 21 points and 10 rebounds and Illinois beat No. 19 Arkansas 90-77 on Thursday in the Thanksgiving Hoops Showcase. Jakucionis hit two free throws to give Illinois a double-digit lead with 3:49 remaining in the game. Arkansas had a turnover and a missed jumper on its next two possessions and Jakucionis hit an open 3-pointer to make it 85-71 at 2:42.

Stewart scores 18, Santa Clara uses second half run to top TCU 69-52

Carlos Stewart Jr. scored 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting and Santa Clara pulled away from TCU in the second half for a 69-52 win in the Acrisure Invitational on Thursday. The Broncos broke the game open with a 24-3 run to turn a one-point deficit into a 20-point lead with less than five minutes to play. Elijah Mahi added 13 points and Camaron Tongue 11 for Santa Clara (3-4).

Kaufman-Renn takes over in second half as No. 13 Purdue beats NC State 71-61

Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 15 of his 22 points points in the second half and Camden Heide added 15 for No. 13 Purdue, which beat N.C. State 71-61 on Thursday in the opening game of the Rady Children’s Invitational. It was a rematch of last season’s Final Four game, which Purdue won 63-50 before losing to UConn in the championship game. Braden Smith had 11 points and and Fletcher Loyer 10 for Purdue (6-1).