Under-pressure Adams takes Pompey to Arsenal

The Arsenal fans will welcome one of their modern time heroes at the Emirates Stadium today, Tony Adams.

The lanky centre-half was a pillar in the Gunners' defence for almost two decades. He captained the team to many an honour between 1983 and 2002. During his time, he played 505 league games in the famous Arsenal shirt.

Adams is now manager at Portsmouth following the departure of Harry Redknapp who left to fill the vacancy at Tottenham last month.

Pompey are lacking consistency and come into this match in North London on the back of a 4-1 drubbing at home to West Ham on Friday, putting a lot of pressure on their new manager.

Arsene Wenger was irate in the team's last home match against Liverpool that ended in a 1-1 draw.

In his opinion, Emanuel Adebayor should never have been sent off. Wenger had high hopes that his team will remain in the championship race but on Boxing Day the Gunners threw away a 2-0 lead at Villa Park and had to settle for a draw. Now, they are 10 points adrift of leaders Liverpool.

Villa are still occupying fourth place in the standings, keeping the Gunners away from a slot in the Champions League for the time being.

But Wenger said: "The title is won in May and we are still in December. We will fight until the end."

Wenger had also warned his players that they must improve on their home record if they want to remain in the thick of things. From a maximum of 27 points Arsenal gained just 17 at the Emirates, forfeiting ten after their two defeats and two draws to Hull (1-2), Tottenham (4-4), Aston Villa (0-2) and Liverpool (1-1).

On the road, Pompey collected five points (at Sunderland 2-1, West Ham 0-0 and West Brom 1-1) since Adams became manager.

Portsmouth have lost their best player, Lassana Diarra, to Real Madrid, who have agreed to fork out 20 million for his signature.

In the five meetings between the two clubs at Arsenal's home ground, visitors Portsmouth managed two draws of 2-2 and 1-1.

While Rafa Benitez recovered from an operation he had earlier this month, his assistant, Sammy Lee, made sure that nothing goes missing on the sidelines for Liverpool.

Against 10-man Arsenal last week, Liverpool had a chance to pull away from the other title contenders but again they lacked that killer instinct in front of goal.

Liverpool looked much better on Friday when they thrashed Bolton 3-0 at Anfield to retain their top-of-the-standings position with striker Robbie Keane again among the scorers, this time with two goals.

Today, Liverpool are away at Newcastle. They will have to watch out for ex-attacker Michael Owen.

The Toon, who lost 2-1 to Wigan on Boxing Day, are doing their utmost to convince Owen to sign another contract, yet the England man is hoping other clubs will come in chase of his signature.

A London derby in the offing is the duel between Fulham and Chelsea at Craven Cottage.

Chelsea, with Didier Drogba again firing on all cylinders, maintained the pace with Liverpool after a comfortable 2-0 victory over West Brom on Friday.

In the absence of midfielder Michael Essien, his replacement John Mike Obi is doing a fine job for the Blues.

Fulham are having a great season and have a fine record in front of their own fans so far. Their total of six wins is one of the best in the Premiership.

The Cottagers, who held Tottenham 0-0 at White Hart Lane on Friday, met Chelsea seven times at home in the Premier League so far but have only registered one victory against them - in 2005-06 (1-0) courtesy of a Boa Morte goal.

On top of the world

Last week, Manchester United became world club champions in Japan after a 1-0 win over Ecuadorian side LDU Quito.

The Red Devils returned to the domestic scene on Boxing Day but had to struggle harder than expected to break down a stubborn Stoke City team at the Britannia Stadium. Carlos Tevez scored the goal that mattered late on in a 1-0 victory after the hosts had Andy Wilkinson sent off with 18 minutes to go.

Man. United will play tomorrow against Middlesbrough at Old Trafford.

Meanwhile, the war of words between Inter's Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson has already started after the draw had pitted the two great sides together in the Champions League.

Mourinho was the one to have the first go after he declared his striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is better than Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.

The end-of-year programme will be completed on Tuesday night when in-form Aston Villa travel to Humberside to tackle Hull.

On their travels, Villa have won six matches including their last one at West Ham. Martin O'Neill's side have also collected fine scalps such as those of Arsenal and Everton away.

The neutrals are pleased with the way the Villans have barged into the 'reserved four' zone. It seems that they could give these 'big teams' a chase till the very end as clearly demonstrated against Arsenal on Friday.

Hull are coming from a 5-1 upset to Manchester City.

Everton beat M'boro 1-0 away on Friday. They are now aspiring for a UEFA Cup slot.

Today, the Toffees host Sunderland. The latter have chalked up some positive results lately following the exit of manager Roy Keane.

Redknapp will surely be scrutinising the market to bolster his Tottenham side next month. This afternoon, Spurs play away at West Brom boosted by the news that midfielder Didier Zakora intends to stay at White Hart Lane.

Zakora is wanted by his ex-boss Juande Ramos at Real Madrid.

Despite West Brom's latest struggles, manager Tony Mowbray is confident that his players will rally to keep the Midlands club in the top echelon.

Sam Allardyce started with a bang in his new job at Blackburn and is fast winning the fans' support after the Rovers' remarkable 3-0 opening win against Stoke and a 0-0 draw away at Sunderland on Boxing Day.

Blackburn face Manchester City at Ewood Park today. Citizens' boss Mark Hughes breathed a sigh of relief following the 5-1 victory over Hull but he still does not know where he stands with so many changes going on at the club. Hughes is confident, though, that he will be given the time and cash required to bolster his squad.

Bolton lost heavily to Liverpool at Anfield but manager Gary Megson looks more keen to count on home wins after his side thrashed Portsmouth in their last outing at the Reebok Stadium. Today, the Trotters play Wigan who won twice from eight outings on the away front.

Wigan manager Steve Bruce, who saw his team beat Newcastle 2-1 on Friday, has dismissed rumours that he will be chasing the signature of Owen next month.

Stoke look destined to face a hard winter to retain their status in the FA Premier League. Today, they will have a difficult task to stop West Ham from claiming all points from their clash at Upton Park.