Hughes faces former boss in derby of Manchester

All attention will be on Old Trafford this weekend as United and City cross swords in tomorrow's Manchester derby.

City and Chelsea are the only two sides with a perfect record in the Premier League so far. The two Manchester rivals are on the 12-point mark, three points behind the Blues. City, however, have a game in hand.

The spotlight last week was on Emmanuel Adebayor and his antics during City's 4-2 win over Arsenal, his former club. The Togo striker has received a three-match ban for his stamp on Robin van Persie.

Even the Greater Manchester Police deplored Adebayor's actions last weekend as his celebrations in front of the Arsenal fans could have sparked crowd trouble.

Meanwhile, Mark Hughes and Alex Ferguson have been taunting each other since the start of the season as City mockingly declared that they are now the top team in Manchester.

Hughes looks to have done his homework right, judging by the positive impact of his summer signings, but tomorrow will be a different test for City against current champions United.

City will be without Robinho, sidelined for three more weeks with a stress fracture in his ankle, but former United striker Carlos Tevez is expected to return from injury.

Last week, United dented Tottenham's perfect record at White Hart Lane with a convincing 3-1 win. Ryan Giggs, two months short of his 36th birthday, scored with an exquisite free-kick in north London to go down in the annals of English football. He is the only player to have scored in every Premier League season.

In the Champions League, the Red Devils won 1-0 in Besiktas, a place where every visiting team must cope with the ferocious support and intimidation of the Istanbul fans.

United did the double on City last season, winning 2-0 away (Tevez, Ronaldo) and 1-0 at home (Rooney). In all past Premier League meetings at Old Trafford, the Citizens only won once, 2-1 (Vassell, Benjani − Carrick) in October 2008.

Last kick

Chelsea, having taken all points at Stoke with the last kick of the match last Saturday, are sitting pretty at the top of the tree with maximum points and a goal difference of nine, the best in the division.

Carlo Ancelotti should be more than pleased with how his players are responding to his instructions. The Italian coach remarked that this could be the year the Londoners finally break their jinx in the Champions League.

In midweek, Chelsea struggled to break Porto's defence but still managed a slim 1-0 win to start their group commiments on the right footing.

Chelsea will also be involved in a derby tomorrow as they host Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. The Spurs are still licking their wounds after the upset to United which highlighted the team's perennial struggles to deliver in big games.

The lucrative shirt sponsorship deal Liverpool signed with Standard Chartered this week has given the Reds a massive lift.

Yossi Benayoun was delighted to be assigned a roving role and fill the void left by the injured Javier Mascherano. The Israeli responded with a hat-trick in the 4-0 win over Burnley.

Yet, against European minnows Debrecen in the Champions League, the Anfield Reds failed to stamp their authority and scraped through 1-0.

This evening, Liverpool visit London to clash with West Ham at Upton Park.

Gianfranco Zola was pleased with striker Zavon Hines's debut even if the Hammers lost at Wigan. Zola remarked that the 20-year-old did well up front and was denied a penalty in the first half against Wigan.

In a pulsating match against Standard Liege on Wednesday, Arsenal, with Eduardo in the team after winning his appeal against UEFA's two-match ban , showed true class. They won by the odd goal in five after falling behind 2-0 in the opening five minutes.

Today, Arsenal play hosts to Wigan at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners have already lost twice in the Premier League but Arsene Wenger again insisted that he has no regrets about selling two of his best players, Adebayor and Kolo Toure, to Manchester City this summer.

Aston Villa climbed to sixth place in the standings after edging the second City derby against Birmingham last Sunday.

Villa boss Martin O'Neill said the introduction of towering forward John Carew made the difference in that last-gasp win. Today, O'Neill will warn his players against complacency as they entertain pointless Portsmouth at Villa Park.

Pompey boss Paul Hart can become the first managerial casualty of the season, yet the new owners should give him more time in light of the difficulties he had to put up with in the close season.

Sunderland, who take on Burnley today, can indeed become the surprise pack of the season as they have nine points from five outings. Steve Bruce is slowly but surely improving the team and the 4-1 annihilation of Hull was the Black Cats' third win of the season.

Stoke manager Tony Pulis is still upset at the manner of his side's last-minute defeat to Chelsea when the Potters were odds-on to gain a point from the clash at the Britannia Ground.

This afternoon, Stoke travel to Bolton. In their two matches last season, both sides won their home meeting. Ricardo Fuller, of Stoke, scored in the 2-0 home win and the 1-3 away setback.

Lowly Everton

Everton are second from bottom following the 2-1 loss to Fulham and their lowly position is annoying the fans, even though the season is still in its infancy.

At this time last season, after four outings, the Toffees had eight points compared to the three they have now. Everton tackle Blackburn at Goodison Park tomorrow.

At Molineux, Wolves will attempt to chalk up their first home win in the duel with Fulham.

Manager Mick McCarthy has imposed record fines on Ronald Zubar and George Elokobi for their late showing prior to the Blackburn encounter.