Andre Villas-Boas faces a stern test this weekend as he leads Tottenham Hotspur in the North London derby against Arsenal in today’s early kick-off at the Emirates Stadium.
Villas-Boas, formerly of Porto and Chelsea, has yet to convince his critics since taking over at White Hart Lane following a spate of inconsistent results that saw the team grab a remarkable victory away at Manchester United but then concede home defeats to Chelsea and Wigan.
Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, had little to smile about last weekend as the Gunners threw away a two-goal lead and were forced to settle for a 3-3 draw against Fulham.
Arsenal could have won it at the death but Mikel Arteta’s penalty was saved by Mark Schwarzer.
This has been Arsenal’s worst start to a season since 1982-83.
However, despite the negative statistics, Wenger is still confident his team can turn the season around and challenge for the league title.
Tottenham are currently seventh in the Premier League standings on 17 points, just one point ahead of the Gunners, and both teams will go all out for victory today to sustain their challenge for a top-four berth.
Leaders Manchester United, on cloud nine after bagging five successive league victories, will be on their travels when they face Norwich at Carrow Road.
Last weekend, United had to rely on the heroics of Javier Her-nandez after the Mexican striker came off the bench to score two goals and make another as the Red Devils came from behind to win 3-2 at Aston Villa.
Norwich City are undefeated in their last four league matches and are now five points off the relegation zone.
Champions Manchester City trail United by two points. This afternoon they play hosts to Aston Villa who are still licking their wounds from their upset to Manchester United.
Last week, substitute Edin Dzeko sent another clear message to manager Roberto Mancini when he netted a last-gasp winner over Tottenham to help unbeaten City maintain their charge at the top places.
Chelsea’s task
Chelsea, who dropped seven points in their last three outings, face another arduous trip today when they play West Brom at The Hawthorns.
Manager Roberto Di Matteo will be without skipper John Terry for a few weeks after a knee injury to the team captain in the 1-1 draw to Liverpool.
West Brom manager Steve Clarke has been keen to play down expectations following his team’s first away win of the season at Wigan that lifted the team to fifth place.
David Moyes’s Everton play at relegation-threatened Reading as Liverpool, heartened by their performance at Stamford Bridge last week, will be looking to return to winning ways when they host Wigan at Anfield.
Fixtures and forecast...
Premier League
Arsenal-Tottenham (13:45) X
Liverpool-Wigan 1
Man. City-Aston Villa 1
Newcastle-Swansea X
Norwich-Man. Utd (17:30) 2
Qpr-Southampton 1
Reading-Everton 2
West Brom-Chelsea 2
Tomorrow:
Fulham-Sunderland (17:00) 1
Monday:
West Ham-Stoke (21:00) X
Standings
Manchester United 27; Manchester City 25; Chelsea 24; Everton, West Bromwich Albion 20; West Ham United 18; Tottenham 17; Arsenal, Fulham 16; Newcastle United 14; Swansea 13; Stoke, Liverpool 12; Wigan, Norwich City 11; Sunderland, Aston Villa 9; Reading 6; South-Ampton 5; Qpr 4.
The Championship
Birmingham-Hull X
Bolton-Barnsley 1
Bristol City-Blackpool X
Burnley-Charlton 1
Cardiff-Middlesbrough 1
Crystal Palace-Derby 1
Huddersfield-Brighton X
Leicester-Ipswich 1
N. Forest-Sheffield Wed. 1
Peterborough-Blackburn (18:20) 2
Watford-Wolvesx
Tomorrow:
Millwall-Leeds United (14:15)1
League One
Bournemouth-Oldham 1
Carlisle-Leyton Orient 1
Colchester-Bury 1
Crawley-Walsall 1
Hartlepool-Coventry 1
Portsmouth-Doncaster X
Preston-Brentford X
Scunthorpe-Notts County 1
Sheffield United-Stevenage 2
Shrewsbury-Crewe 1
Swindon-Yeovil 1
League Two
Afc Wimbledon-Aldershot X
Bradford City-Exeter 1
Burton-Dagenham 1
Chesterfield-Oxford Utd 1
Fleetwood-Plymouth 1
Gillingham-Morecambe 1
Northampton-Wycombe 1
Port Vale-York City 1
Rochdale-Bristol Rovers 1
Rotherham-Cheltenham X
Torquay-Southend X
Hot Four: Liverpool, Man. City, Bolton, Leicester City.