Shinji Kagawa, of Manchester United, tries to stop Swansea City’s Wayne Routledge (front) at Old Trafford.

Are Manchester United back to form after their 2-0 win over Swansea City?

Prior to the match at Old Trafford last weekend, manager David Moyes had a one-hour talk with Alex Ferguson that probably answered some posers the ex-Everton boss might have had.

Tomorrow, United will know whether they are in the same equation with the top clubs in the Premier League this season, playing guests to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

In the first round fixture back in August, the spoils were shared in a 0-0 draw.

In their last six league matches the Londoners have won five and drawn the other. In the same number of games United won five and lost the sixth game. In the classification Chelsea are currently nine points better off than United.

This week, Chelsea made a £20m move to bring Benfica’s Nemanja Matic back to their fold. The midfielder left for Portugal in 2011 as part of the deal that saw David Luiz arrive at Stamford Bridge.

Petr Cech kept his 209th clean sheet for Chelsea in the 2-0 win at Hull, beating the mark set by the club’s legendary goalkeeper of the 1960s and 70s, Peter Bonetti.

The fine form of Eden Hazard could mean Juan Mata has to get used to sitting on Chelsea’s bench, but Mourinho insists the Spaniard has a future at the club.

Michael Laudrup was in Adnan Januzaj’s position once, a teenage star with the world at his feet.

The Danish legend has seen a few of them come and go in his time but he recognises the star quality in United’s exciting prodigy.

The last ten seasons of Premier League action at Stamford Bridge have seen the Londoners winning half the fixtures and United won twice.

2012 Oct.: Chelsea-United 2-3
2012 Feb.: Chelsea-United 3-3
2011 March: Chelsea-United 2-1
2009 Nov.: Chelsea-United 1-2
2008 Sept.: Chelsea-United 1-1
2008 April: Chelsea-United 2-1
2007 May: Chelsea-United 0-0
2006 April: Chelsea-United 3-0
2004 August: Chelsea-United 1-0
2003 Nov.: Chelsea-United 1-0

The capital duels continue this afternoon as leaders Arsenal play troubled Fulham at the Emirates.

Following their 2-1 win at Aston Villa on Monday, the Gunners leapfrogged Manchester City to gain their place at the summit. Manager Arsene Wenger had striker Olivier Giroud back from injury.

Fulham are fifth from bottom and on the away front they lost seven league games this season.

After another difficult win at Newcastle, where the referee was the centre of attraction, Manchester City return to home comfort to take on Cardiff.

City are the only side with a 100 per cent record at home. Their attacking style have made them one of the most exciting sides in recent years, having scored a total of 59 goals in the league.

Fourth-placed Liverpool are in line to reach their objective of Champions League football next season. Today, they will tackle Aston Villa at Anfield.

Strikers Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge rekindled their deadly partnership to help the Reds record their first league victory at Stoke in more than 29 years.

Steven Gerrard is set to be asked to play in the “controller” role for Liverpool more often after the success of Brendan Rodgers’s tactical tweak at the Britannia Stadium.

Merseyside rivals Everton, one point behind Liverpool, play West Brom on Monday.

Midfielder Gareth Barry hopes he impressed England coach Roy Hodgson during Everton’s match against Norwich, scoring a rare goal in the 2-0 win.

Everton boss Roberto Martinez, meanwhile, expects the trip to Tenerife would accelerate Ross Barkley’s recovery from a foot injury. This week Martinez completed the signing of former Celtic winger Aiden McGeady from Spartak Moscow.

At Upton Park, West Ham will be keen to claim back-to-back wins if they beat Newcastle this afternoon. Hammers boss Sam Allardyce was glad to see striker Andy Carroll back but he’s still expected to be busy this month on transfers.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has apologised for a foul-mouthed rant on Man. City boss Manuel Pellegrini after an ill-tempered clash at St James’ Park.

Cheick Tiote admitted his disappointment after seeing his stunning strike disallowed in the 2-0 loss to Manchester City.

At the Liberty Stadium, Swansea duel with Tottenham.

Jermain Defoe is off to his new home in Canada, appearing at the Toronto airport this week draped in the colours of the local team with whom he signed a lucrative deal.

Fixtures and forecast

Premier League

Arsenal-Fulham 1
Crystal Palace-Stoke X
Liverpool-Aston Villa (18:30) 1
Man. City-Cardiff 1
Norwich-Hull X
Sunderland-S’ampton (13:45) 2
West Ham-Newcastle 2

Tomorrow:
Chelsea-Man. United (17:00) X
Swansea-Tottenham (14:30) X

Monday:
West Brom-Everton (21:00) 2

Standings: Arsenal 48; Man. City 47; Chelsea 46; Liverpool 42; Everton 41; Tottenham 40; Man. United 37; Newcastle 33; Southampton 30; Hull, Aston Villa 23; Stoke 22; Swansea, West Brom 21; Norwich 20; Fulham 19; West Ham, Cardiff 18; Sunderland, C. Palace 17.

The Championship

Barnsley-Blackpool X
Birmingham-Yeovil 1
Bournemouth-Watford X
Burnley-Sheffield Wed. .1
Derby-Brighton 1
Doncaster-Wigan 2
Leeds-Leicester (13:15) X
Middlesbrough-Charlton 1
Millwall-Ipswich X
Nottm Forest-Blackburn 1
QPR-Huddersfield 1
Reading-Bolton 1

League One

Bristol City-MK Dons X
Carlisle-Colchester 1
Crawley-Wolves 2
Crewe-Leyton Orient 2
Gillingham-Swindon2
Peterborough-Tranmere 1
Port Vale-Oldham 1
Preston-Coventry 1
Sheffield Utd-Bradford 1
Shrewsbury-Rotherham X
Stevenage-Notts County X
Walsall-Brentford 2

League Two

Bury-Burton X
Cheltenham-Accrington 1
Exeter-Morecambe 1
Fleetwood-Hartlepool 1
Newport-Dagenham 1
Portsmouth-MansfieldX
Rochdale-Plymouth 1
Scunthorpe-AFC Wimbledon 1
Southend-Chesterfield X
Torquay-Northampton 1
Wycombe-Oxford X
York-Bristol Rovers 1

Hot Four

Arsenal, Manchester City, Burnley, Nottingham Forest.