Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta (left) in a duel with Burak Yilmaz, of Galatasaray, during the midweek Champions League match.

Chelsea have a difficult task to return to winning ways following the upset to Aston Villa last week as they play fellow Londoners and title challengers Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in today’s early kick-off.

The defeat at Villa Park did not go down well with Blues boss Jose Mourinho who was dismissed by the match official late in the match as the league leaders also had two players – Willian and Ramires – also sent off.

Perhaps, the Portuguese coach will be more loved by the neutral fans if he had to talk and act more properly. Everyone knows he is a football genius, yet his tantrums are not liked.

The Blues, who lead Liverpool and Arsenal by four points, have not lost a derby in the league this season and in their last London clash they trounced Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 at home.

With his appearances in Chelsea’s starting XI becoming less and less frequent, many are predicting that this will be Frank Lampard’s last season at Chelsea.

The possibility of a move to the US is becoming more likely with LA Galaxy reportedly looking to lure the 35-year-old midfielder to Los Angeles in summer.

This week, Chelsea did well to beat Galatasaray 2-0 at home and advance to the last eight of the tournament where they play Paris SG.

The Gunners are coming from a massive morale booster after beating Tottenham 1-0 at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Match-winner Tomas Rosicky admitted that victory over Tottenham was a very important result for Arsenal who produced a great performance in defence to beat their north London rivals.

In the last decade of Premier League results at Stamford Bridge, the Blues won five to the Gunners’ three.

2013: Chelsea-Arsenal 2-1
2011: Chelsea-Arsenal 3-5
2010: Chelsea-Arsenal 2-0
2010: Chelsea-Arsenal 2-0
2008: Chelsea-Arsenal 1-2
2008: Chelsea-Arsenal 2-1
2006: Chelsea-Arsenal 1-1
2005: Chelsea-Arsenal 1-0
2005: Chelsea-Arsenal 0-0
2004: Chelsea-Arsenal 1-2

Manchester City, who play Fulham today, are currently fourth in the standings, six points adrift of Chelsea but they have three matches in hand.

After their eliminations from the FA Cup and Champions League, City won at Hull to send a warning that they are still in the hunt for the league crown.

City had skipper Vincent Kompany red-carded very early in the match against Hull but the side was still good enough to beat the league strugglers 2-0 with goals from David Silva and Edin Dzeko.

In their last outing, Fulham chalked up their first win under new manager Felix Magath after beating Newcastle 1-0 at home.

Manchester United could not believe how Liverpool had beaten them so easily (3-0) at Old Trafford on Sunday.

The Reds will be on their travels again as they play Cardiff in Wales this afternoon.

Wayne Rooney described United’s setback at home to Liverpool as one of the darkest days in his career.

United, who play away at West Ham today, did make up for that poor showing after they ousted Olympiakos from the last 16 of the Champions League with a 3-0 win at Old Trafford, giving them a 3-2 aggregate success over the Greeks.

Meanwhile, at White Hart Lane manager Tim Sherwood can start counting his days as more negative outcomes persisted against clubs in the top four and Europe.

Tomorrow, Tottenham play Southampton who had midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin saying this week that he would not say no to a possible England call-up in future.

Fixtures and forecast

Premier League
Cardiff-Liverpool 2
Chelsea-Arsenal (13:45) X
Everton-Swansea 1
Hull-West Brom 1
Man. City-Fulham 1
Newcastle-Crystal Palace 1
Norwich-Sunderland 1
West Ham-Man. United (18:30) 2

Tomorrow:
Aston Villa-Stoke (17:00)X
Tottenham-S’thampton (14:30)1

Standings: Chelsea 66; Liverpool, Arsenal 62; Man. City 60; Tottenham 53; Everton 51; Man. Utd 48; South-ampton 45; Newcastle 43; A. Villa, Stoke 34; W. Ham 31; Hull 30; Swan-sea, Norwich 29; WBA, C. Palace 28; Sunderland, Cardiff 25; Fulham 24.

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

League One
Brentford-Coventry 1
Colchester-Bristol City X
Gillingham-Crewe 1
Notts County-Carlisle 1
Oldham-Crawley 1
Peterborough-Rotherham X
Port Vale-Tranmere 1
Sheffield Utd-Wolves (14:25)X
Shrewsbury-Bradford X
Stevenage-MK Dons X
Swindon-Preston 2
Walsall-Leyton Orient X

League Two
Accrington-Plymouth X
Wimbledon-Cheltenham 1
Bury-Dagenham 1
Exeter-Fleetwood X
Mansfield-Chesterfield (14.00)2
Morecambe-Northampton 1
Portsmouth-York X
Scunthorpe-Burton 1
Torquay-NewportX
Wycombe-Rochdale 2

Monday:
Southend-Oxford (20:45) X

Hot Four
Everton, Manchester City, Brighton, Wigan.