There is hardly daylight between the top four in the English Premier League as Chelsea lead the way on 31 points, just one better off than Liverpool and Manchester City and three points ahead of Arsenal.
After last weekend’s clash against fellow Londoners and fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur (24 points), Chelsea travel up north to play City at the Etihad Stadium in today’s early kick-off.
Pep Guardiola’s Blues will knock Chelsea off the top perch with a win.
Yaya Toure, back in the fold at Manchester City, now aims to convince Guardiola to recall him for Champions League duty when the manager submits his updated squad in the New Year.
This week, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard claimed City are one of the biggest challengers for the league title this season. The Belgian winger believes City have a chance of lifting the trophy and if they do it will be largely down to his international team-mate Kevin De Bruyne.
Guardiola insists he will need every player in his squad as he embarks on a busy schedule in the league. He left John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan out of his squad for the 2-1 win over Burnley on Saturday while David Silva and De Bruyne were named as subs.
With qualification for the Champions League knockout stages secured, Guardiola can now focus on the domestic championship as City will be playing seven matches this month, including fixtures against Arsenal and Liverpool, besides today’s cruncher.
Chelsea left-back Marcos Alonso is confident his side will prove too strong for their rivals if they can maintain their recent form.
They were outplayed by Tottenham for much of the first half last week but still emerged victorious (2-1) at Stamford Bridge. That is 26 years and counting for the Spurs to record a victory of any sort and in any competition at Chelsea.
Liverpool striker Divock Origi said it was difficult to remain sat on the sidelines but his goal against Sunderland last Saturday showed he has lost none of his sharpness.
The win over the Black Cats arrived at a cost though as Philippe Coutinho will be out for six weeks after an ankle injury. In midweek, Ben Woodburn became the club’s youngest scorer ever after finding the Leeds net in a 2-0 League Cup quarter-final win.
Tomorrow, the Reds play at Bournemouth with hopes high of strengthening their challenge for the league title.
This evening, strugglers West Ham United and Arsenal will be involved in a derby at the London Stadium.
Cup upset
Arsenal are playing relentlessly in the Premier League but lost at home to Southampton in the League Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday.
After avoiding defeat at Old Trafford last week, the Hammers will be confident they can topple the Gunners to improve their lowly position in the standings.
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic praised his players’ commitment in earning a “great” point following a 1-1 draw with Manchester United in the league.
However, the Hammers came a cropper on Wednesday after going down 4-1 away to United in the League Cup.
Tottenham, having conceded their first defeat of the season against Chelsea, entertain Swansea at White Lane. The Welsh side emerged winners by the odd goal in nine against Crystal Palace in a high-octane match at the Liberty Stadium.
Tomorrow’s top game will be at Goodison Park where Everton play Manchester United.
Ronald Koeman’s return to Southampton was never likely to run smoothly but the Everton manager could hardly have expected his visit to St Mary’s to be quite so uncomfortable as the visitors lost 1-0 to stay seventh in the standings, one point behind United.
Jose Mourinho’s team have failed to win any of their last four league matches at home, their worst run since 1990, amassing an incredible 60 shots in the process but scoring just three times.
The Portuguese manager has now presided over United’s worst start in 27 years – and again he lost control and got sent off for showing dissent. This week he was slapped with another one-match ban by the English FA.
Football fixtures in UK...
Premier League
Crystal Palace-Southampton
Man. City-Chelsea - 13:30
Stoke City-Burnley
Sunderland-Leicester City
Tottenham-Swansea City
West Brom-Watford
West Ham-Arsenal - 18:30
Tomorrow:
Bournemouth-Liverpool - 14:30
Everton-Man. United - 17:00
Monday:
Middlesbrough-Hull City - 21:00
Standings: Chelsea 31; Liverpool, Manchester City 30; Arsenal 28; Tottenham 24; Manchester United 20; Everton 19; Watford 18; West Bromwich, Southampton 17; Stoke City 16; Bournemouth 15; Burnley 14; Leicester City 13; Middlesbrough, West Ham United 12; Crystal Palace, Hull City 11; Swansea City 9; Sunderland 8.
The Championship
Birmingham-Barnsley
Blackburn-Huddersfield
Bristol City-Ipswich Town
Burton-Rotherham United
Cardiff City-Brighton
Fulham-Reading
Leeds United-Aston Villa - 18:30
Norwich City-Brentford
Sheffield Wed.-Preston NE
Wigan Athletic-Derby County
League Two
Stevenage-Doncaster Rovers
Yeovil Town-Crawley Town
FA Cup – Second Round
Blackpool-Brackley Town
Carlisle-Rochdale
Charlton-MK Dons
Chesterfield-Wycombe
Luton Town-Solihull Moors
Plymouth-Newport County
Shrewsbury-Fleetwood
Sutton-Cheltenham
Tomorrow:
Curzon-Wimbledon - 13.00
Bolton-Sheffield United - 15.00
Bristol Rovers-Barrow - 15.00
Cambridge-Coventry City - 15.00
Eastleigh-Halifax Town - 15.00
Millwall-Braintree - 15.00
Notts County-Peterborough - 15.00
Stourbridge-Northampton - 15.00
Woking-Accrington - 15.00
Port Vale-Hartlepool - 16.00
Monday:
Lincoln-Oldham Athletic - 20:45
Scottish Premiership
Hamilton-Partick Thistle
Kilmarnock-Dundee FC
Motherwell-Celtic - 13:15
Rangers-Aberdeen
Ross County-Hearts
St Johnstone-Inverness
Scottish Championship
Dunfermline-Ayr United
Falkirk-St Mirren
Queen of South-Dumbarton
Raith Rovers-Morton pp
League One
Albion Rovers-Livingston
Peterhead-Airdrieonians
Queen’s Park-Brechin City
League Two
Arbroath-Edinburgh City
Cowdenbeath-Clyde
Elgin City-Montrose
Note: kick-offs 16.00 unless stated.