Chelsea can make for lost ground against City

Chelsea are expecting their players to hit back strongly after last week's third Premiership defeat of the season (last term lost once) at Fulham.

The Londoners, whose two other losses came away at Manchester United and Middlesbrough, will be at Stamford Bridge to face Manchester City - the only side to beat them last year. Chelsea will be keen to claim another win to the five needed (if second-placed Manchester United win all their matches) to close further on the title.

The upset to Fulham was the first in a league game to another London side since Jose Mourinho took over at Chelsea.

Chelsea's advantage can be whittled down to nine points if United win their game in hand but with eight matches to go Chelsea are unlikely to lose their crown. The pressure has increased though even if Mourinho said he takes most of the stress on himself to keep his players free from the burden.

Lately, there has seldom been a game that he was not in the news for negative reasons and his players appeared to be tense against Fulham.

William Gallas turned from hero to zero following his great goal against Tottenham and the dismissal at Fulham, where he deliberately trampled with his feet on an opponent.

But, Chelsea remained firmly on the Double's route after their home 1-0 victory over Newcastle in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

City were also involved in a cup tie against West Ham this week. They lost 2-1 at home.

Man. United vs Birmingham. The Red Devils welcomed Chelsea's result at Fulham, knowing that they can push their rivals further for the title with high hopes of winning their game in hand against West Ham at Old Trafford next Wednesday.

On April 29, United square up to Chelsea in a crucial league match at Stamford Bridge.

Alex Ferguson has reminded Ruud van Nistelrooy that he still has a part to play at United after he lost his starting place. The Blues' plight for survival received another setback with their eighth home defeat to Tottenham and the humiliating 0-7 thrashing to Liverpool in the FA Cup at St Andrews.

Liverpool vs Everton. After managing only nine goals in 14 league and cup outings, Liverpool have now scored 15 in their last three matches.

Apart from these three outcomes, the last time Liverpool had scored more than two goals in a match this season was in the first round clash against Everton at Goodison Park. They won 3-1 (Crouch, Gerrard, Cisse - Beattie).

Seven of the 15 goals came in Liverpool's away cup tie at Birmingham, as they registered the biggest win between Premiership clubs in the FA Cup.

Everton are also on a high ahead of the 174th Merseyside derby, having created a club record of five straight home Premiership wins in the 4-1 trimming of Aston Villa.

On past league records, Liverpool lead Everton 64-55 on wins in favour. In the last five clashes at Anfield, Liverpool won twice with the other encounters ending as draws.

Tottenham vs West Brom. West Brom were hard done, along with Birmingham, when West Ham decided to field a depleted side, that included a rookie goalkeeper, in the home upset to other relegation strugglers Portsmouth.

On Monday night, Albion travel to the capital where in the last Premiership visit they were humiliated 6-1 by Fulham.

The Spurs are currently engaged in a combat with Arsenal for a Champions League berth.

Portsmouth vs Arsenal. For the first time this season, Portsmouth claimed successive Premiership wins at home to Manchester City and away at West Ham to give a sound warning that they are still there in the thick of things.

The Gunners are firing on all cylinders, having claimed their third double of the season against Charlton following similar feats against Fulham and Birmingham.

Meanwhile, the Thierry Henry saga goes on at Highbury as fans are on the edge pondering about their skipper's future.

Sunderland vs Blackburn. The last time Blackburn won at the Black Cats' patch was in 1989-90 in Division II 1-0 (Reid) after they had failed in their previous four attempts.

This afternoon, the odds highly favour Blackburn since their opponents have not emerged victorious at the Stadium of Light in the league this season.

Morten Gamst Pedersen, who appears to make all the difference when on duty for Mark Hughes's side, has great confidence that his team will play in Europe next season.

M'boro vs Bolton. M'boro had all good reasons to complain about the FA Cup ties played from Monday to Thursday. Their previous game, played last Saturday, followed the victorious excursion in Rome in the UEFA Cup only two days before.

Meanwhile, if Bolton win their two games in hand (home vs M'boro and away vs Birmingham) they will go fourth past Arsenal and Tottenham in the standings.

Wigan vs West Ham. After a string of erratic performances, Wigan succeeded in achieving back-to-back wins for the first time since Yuletide. Following their FA Cup triumph at Manchester City, West Ham will shift focus on their first clash with Wigan in the Premiership at the JJB Stadium.

In the first round at Upton Park, Wigan won 2-0 (Roberts, Camara).

Charlton vs Newcastle. Both sides were involved in FA Cup quarter-final ties in midweek. Newcastle went down at Chelsea but Charlton drew with M'boro.

The Charlton board said they will be offering Alan Curbishley a new contract in summer.

Aston Villa vs Fulham. While the Villans received a 4-1 beating at Everton, the Cottagers were on top of the world following their significant 1-0 win over champions elect Chelsea.

Fulham stretched every muscle and sinew to chalk up three more points that put them 11 points clear of the relegation zone.