United strive for form at Chelsea

Champions Manchester United, having gone down at Liverpool 1-2, will leave no stone unturned to emerge with a positive result from Chelsea tomorrow.

United, who have a game in hand, will have Cristiano Ronaldo back after recovering from injury but will be without the suspended Nemanja Vidic.

Alex Ferguson slammed his players for their poor second-half performance at Anfield but remarked that he was confident United would bounce back from their loss to their Lancashire rivals.

League leaders Chelsea tamed the furore at Manchester City who had Robinho scoring on his debut with a free-kick. But the Blues hit back to win 3-1. Luiz Felipe Scolari wore a wide smile on his face after his side's emphatic win at City but said he was still not happy and his side could produce much more.

Midfielder Frank Lampard, who was coming from a great game for England in Zagreb, repeated his performance at Eastlands and Deco was awarded the Player of the Month award.

Chelsea are unbeaten against United in the last six Premier League matches at Stamford Bridge. Both played at home in the first group match of the Champions League, Chelsea beat Bordeaux 4-0 but United were held 0-0 by Villarreal.

Anfield. Rafa Benitez was delighted Liverpool beat Manchester United in the league last weekend. The Spaniard believes that his side proved their title credentials with that victory which was followed up with a hard-earned 2-1 win away at Marseille in the Champions League.

This afternoon the fans will look forward to another impressive display from the Reds when hosting Stoke City.

The last Stoke win at Liverpool came in the 'old' Division Two in 1957-58 (4-3).

Reebok Stadium. Following the 4-0 hiding of Blackburn, Arsenal will remain on the road to tackle Bolton.

Emmanuel Adebayor, who scored a hat-trick (the second of the season after Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor), was also the first player to score a treble for the Gunners last season at home to Derby (5-0).

Arsenal fought hard for a one-all draw in the Champions League away at Dinamo Kiev on Wednesday.

The Trotters have now earned one point from the last available nine. They also lost at home to Northampton in the League Cup.

The Hawthorns. Aston Villa are fourth in the standings following their 2-1 win at Tottenham. Ashley Young, who played a blinder at White Hart Lane, still needs more persuasion to sign a new contract but Craig Gardner has put his name on the dotted line to a new four-year deal at Villa Park.

West Brom registered their first win of the season (vs West Ham) and moved out of the red zone.

In three years of Premier League football, the Baggies still have to beat the Villans, at home or away.

KC Stadium. Hull City are currently fifth in the standings and proud to hold the highest place from the three promoted sides. The Tigers, who won the first and last fixtures (home to Fulham, away at Newcastle) play Everton this weekend.

The introduction of Aussie Tim Cahill at Stoke paved the way for the Toffees' second away win of the season. He scored the killer goal in a dramatic 3-2 win.

City of Manchester Stadium. Manchester City, whose sparkling opening against Chelsea last weekend was soon doused as they lost 1-3, have the chance to redeem themselves if they beat Portsmouth.

Robinho's goal against Chelsea was a gem but then the team started to play for pride, particularly Jo, and Man. City lost their way.

Pompey boss Harry Redknapp reserved special praise for midfielder Lassana Diarra after the 2-1 triumph over Middlesbrough.

Ewood Park. Is Paul Ince finding the going tough at Blackburn?

He scaled dizzy heights with League Two champions MK Dons but after back-to-back defeats to West Ham and Arsenal, in which the Rovers conceded eight goals, Ince looks under pressure.

Rovers face another London side today as they host Fulham.

Stadium of Light. Sunderland cross swords with Middlesbrough in the north-east derby.

While Roy Keane was rapped by FIFA for not allowing Dwight Yorke to play for his country, his counterpart Gareth Southgate was voted Manager of the Month for August.

Southgate will be looking for his side to improve on their travels in the league since the team's barren away run in the championship has been stretched to ten matches following the upset at Portsmouth.

Upton Park. The West Ham management team of Gianfranco Zola and his ex-mate at Chelsea, Steve Clarke, will be in the dugout for today's match against Newcastle.

Zola is a true ambassador of the game and in Clarke he will find all the assistance he needs.

Newcastle are still without a manager and owner Mike Ashley is reportedly ready to sell just 16 months after he took over at St James' Park for a global sum of £134.4 million.

White Hart Lane. You have to feel sorry for Tottenham, occupying the very bottom with just a point to show from four outings.

In their last match, at home to Aston Villa, some players did not perform, mostly due to the good number of new faces in the side.

This afternoon Spurs will tackle Wigan, whose only win came on the away front at Hull.