With the Manchester clubs neck-and-neck on points at this stage of the season we are in for another big weekend.
United face Chelsea; City host Fulham; QPR play Wolves
With the Manchester clubs neck-and-neck on points at this stage of the season, we are in for another important weekend of Premier League football.
City's disappointing defeat by Everton, a side who have become their bogey team in recent contests, means they only lead United at the top of the table on goal difference.
However, Sir Alex Ferguson's charges have not exactly been firing on all cylinders themselves and face a tough trip away at Chelsea on Sunday afternoon, with City playing Fulham
Elsewhere, Arsenal will be looking to halt their recent stutter when Blackburn travel to North London, while QPR and Wolves fight out a crunch relegation six-pointer.
Super Sunday sees
Manchester United and
Chelsea lock horns at Stamford Bridge on
Sky Sports HD1 from 4pm. In past campaigns these two sides have been battling it out for the Premier League title but Andre Villas-Boas' Blues are way off the pace. The 2009/10 champions sit 12 points behind United with a vastly inferior goal difference, during what has been a difficult first season in English football for the Portuguese manager. United recovered from their FA Cup defeat at Liverpool with a comfortable victory over Stoke City in their last game, but the goalkeeper position is still a question mark and Fernando Torres has looked sharp of late.
Roberto Mancini must be glad to see the back of Everton following
Manchester City's 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park on Tuesday night. Mancini accepted responsibility for the loss, shifting blame away from his players, but you can bet your bottom dollar he has had them working hard since then ahead of Saturday evening's home meeting with
Fulham. It is not often that City go without breaching the opposition goal and Martin Jol's Cottagers will be up against it to keep a clean sheet at the Etihad Stadium. Fulham have been steady if unspectacular under the Dutchman this term but their danger man is Clint Dempsey - the American recently netted a fine hat-trick against Newcastle and scored again in midweek against West Brom. If they get him attacking then Fulham have a chance, but the likelihood is they will have their backs to the wall for the most part.
One point from a possible 12 is simply not good enough for
Arsenal, and deep down Arsene Wenger will know this. Tepid displays against Manchester United, Swansea and Fulham all ended in defeat while the Gunners could not find a way past Adam Bogdan on Wednesday - a 0-0 draw the best they could muster at Bolton. They currently sit seventh in the Premier League and anything less than three points against struggling
Blackburn will surely see more vitriol descend from the stands at the Emirates on Saturday lunchtime. Rovers occupy the final place in the bottom three and were poor against Newcastle in midweek, but there were encouraging signs for Steve Kean in previous games.
If anyone is under pressure at the moment then it is Mick McCarthy. The
Wolves owner Steve Morgan gave the players a piece of his mind in the dressing room following Tuesday's home collapse to Liverpool and while he has been patient with McCarthy, a poor result at
QPR could be the final nail in the coffin for his reign at Molineux. Rangers looked sharp in front of goal against Aston Villa with Djibril Cisse scoring on his debut, and also added Bobby Zamora to their forward ranks on transfer deadline day.
Newcastle are only three points behind the top four and Alan Pardew's side continue to surprise and, many would argue, punch above their weight. They did not have to get out of second gear against Blackburn although had Tim Krul to thank following David Dunn's missed penalty at Ewood Park. Sitting in fifth place, the Magpies welcome
Aston Villa to St James' Park on Sunday, live on
Sky Sports HD1 from 1.30pm, with Villa showing heart to come back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with QPR on Wednesday. Charles N'Zogbia was on the scoresheet and Alex McLeish will be hoping the Frenchman can now find the same form that was so prevalent at Wigan last season.
Roberto Martinez, like Mick McCarthy, is another manager who needs a result.
Wigan were beaten 3-1 by Tottenham on their last outing and currently sit rock bottom of the table, five points adrift of safety. Dave Whelan may stick with the Spaniard even if the Latics drop out of the division this year, such is his loyalty to Martinez, but defeat at home by
Everton on Saturday would see them slip into deeper trouble. The Toffees will be buoyed by their hard-fought success over Manchester City and with Nikica Jelavic having bolstered their attacking ranks, may now push on during the second half of the campaign.
Bolton have seen an improvement in their performances and now sit outside the relegation zone following their goalless stalemate with Arsenal. Owen Coyle has come out fighting during a difficult time for the club and, to his credit, Wanderers have picked things up of late. The road to safety is still a long and arduous one and it starts with a tricky game at
Norwich City. The Canaries had been on a fine run before the midweek defeat at Sunderland, where they went down 3-0, and Paul Lambert will be hoping for a response at Carrow Road. The newly-promoted side were expected to slide down the table after their impressive start, but they remain well-placed in 11th and strengthened their squad in January.
Fraizer Campbell has made up for lost time following 18 months sidelined with two serious knee injuries, scoring in the FA Cup for
Sunderland against Middlesbrough and then netting a superb volley in Wednesday's victory over Norwich. He will be hoping to make it three goals in three games when Sunderland travel to
Stoke, with both sides equal on 30 points so far this term. Stoke have lost two Premier League matches in succession, although one of those was against Manchester United, and Tony Pulis will want to get back to winning ways.
Finally, 14th place takes on 15th when
Swansea City go to the Hawthorns to play
West Brom. Both sides drew their last games 1-1 but it is Swansea who impressed, leading Chelsea until a last-minute equaliser from Jose Bosingwa cancelled out Scott Sinclair's earlier effort. The Swans have won many plaudits for their style of football this season and Roy Hodgson will know the difficult challenge his team awaits. Albion look to have enough to avoid slipping into a relegation dogfight but with things tight at the bottom, that is never assured.
