Southampton, the surprise-package of the 2014-15 Premier League, face their first real test in front of their fans this season when they host champions Manchester City at the St Mary’s Stadium tomorrow.

Second-placed Saints lost ground with Chelsea last Monday when only managing a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa, an outcome that left them six points adrift of the leaders.

City are currently third, eight points behind Chelsea following a come-from-behind victory over Swansea in their last outing.

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman is wary of the ‘crazy’ Christmas programme awaiting his team as he believes the tight schedule only favours the bigger clubs who boast better squad resources than the others.

The Dutchman admitted this week his early success as Southampton manager should be put down to instilling a positive spirit among his players.

City go into the match on a high as they backed up their victory over Swansea with a dramatic 3-2 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League that kept their hopes alive of progressing to the Last 16.

In the last ten top-flight showdowns in the south, Manchester City have won four times to Southampton’s two.

2013: Saints-City - 1-1
2013: Saints-City - 3-1
2004: Saints-City - 0-0
2003: Saints-City - 0-2
2002: Saints-City - 2-0
2000: Saints-City - 0-2
1996: Saints-City - 1-1
1995: Saints-City - 2-2
1994: Saints-City - 0-1
1993: Saints-City - 0-1

Today, Chelsea head to the north-east to tackle Sunderland, managed by former Blues player Gus Poyet.

Chelsea are experiencing their best ever start in the top-flight as Jose Mourinho’s men are un-beaten in 12 matches. Indeed, they seem unstoppable at the moment.

In midweek, the Londoners reached the KO stages of the Champions League with a 5-0 thumping of Schalke away.

This afternoon, they start clear favourites to bag all points against the Black Cats who chalked up their first clean sheet of the season following a 0-0 draw at Leicester.

Manchester United fans had good cause to be happy last weekend after a 2-1 win at Arsenal to go fourth in the standings.

Today, manager Louis Van Gaal will be eyeing United’s third win in a row when they play hosts to Hull at Old Trafford.

Arsenal will be on their travels in today’s early kick-off when they face West Brom at the Hawthorns.

The Gunners have bounced back from their upset to United by beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in midweek to book their place in the Last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

Meanwhile, manager Alan Pardew has won back the respect he deserves as Newcastle United claimed their sixth straight Premier win against QPR at home to continue their climb up the ladder.

Today, the Magpies travel to London to play guests to West Ham United.

Two sides engaged in the Europa League group matches on Thursday, Tottenham and Everton, clash at White Hart Lane while Champions League hopefuls Liverpool host Stoke City this afternoon as they look to end a poor run of three successive league defeats that left them 12th in the standings.

Fixtures and forecast

Premier League
Burnley-Aston Villa - X
Liverpool-Stoke - 1
Man. United-Hull City - 1
QPR-Leicester City - 1
Sunderland-Chelsea (18:30) - 2
Swansea-Crystal Palace - 1
West Brom-Arsenal (13:45) - 2
West Ham-Newcastle - X

Tomorrow:
S’thampton-Man. City (14:30) - X
Tottenham-Everton (17:00) - X

Standings: Chelsea 32; Southampton 26; Man. City 24; Man. United, Newcastle 19; West Ham, Swansea 18; Arsenal, Everton, Tottenham 17; Stoke 15; Liverpool 14; West Brom, Sunderland 13; Crystal Palace, Aston Villa 12; Hull City 11; Leicester, Burnley 10; QPR 8.

The Championship
Birmingham-Nottm Forest - X
Bolton-Huddersfield - 1
Bournemouth-Millwall - 1
Brentford-Wolves - X
Brighton-Fulham - 1
Charlton-Ipswich (13:15) - X
Leeds-Derby County - 2
Middlesbrough-Blackburn - 1
Norwich-Reading - 1
Rotherham-Blackpool - 1
Sheffield Wed.-Wigan - X
Watford-Cardiff - 1

League One
Barnsley-Scunthorpe - 1
Bradford-Leyton Orient - X
Coventry-Walsall - X
Crawley-Chesterfield - X
Crewe-Doncaster - X
Gillingham-Port Vale - X
MK Dons-Colchester - 1
Rochdale-Oldham - X
Swindon-Fleetwood - 1
Yeovil-Preston - 2

League Two
AFC Wimbledon-Cambridge - 1
Bury-Dagenham - 1
Carlisle-Newport - X
Cheltenham-Oxford - X
Hartlepool-Wycombe - X
Luton-Mansfield - 1
Plymouth-York - 1
Shrewsbury-Burton - 1
Southend-Northampton - 1
Stevenage-Morecambe - 1
Tranmere-Portsmouth - X

Hot four
Liverpool, Manchester United, QPR, Swansea City.