All eyes will be on the Etihad Stadium tomorrow afternoon as Manchester rivals City and United go head-to-head in a top-of-the table showdown.
United are currently three points clear of City and the latter will be keen to emerge victorious and cancel the leaders’ early advantage in the title race.
In the past 15 league matches at the Blues’ territory, the outcome reads: City wins – five; draws – two; United wins – eight.
Although these are still early days, it seems that the Manchester clubs will be engaged in a two-horse race for the crown.
In their past six outings in the league, City dropped six points following draws to Everton (home), Chelsea (away) and West Ham (away). United lost once, away to Norwich, in the same period.
United defender Nemanja Vidic is nearing his return from injury although he is unlikely to feature tomorrow afternoon.
The Serbian’s presence in defence could be the right addition for Alex Ferguson who saw some shambolic play from his rearguard in the 4-3 win over Reading last weekend.
Meanwhile, this week United completed their group commit-ments in the Champions League with a 0-1 upset at home to Cluj.
However, the Red Devils were already through to the last 16.
In midweek, Man. City lost to Borussia Dortmund 1-0 and got dumped out of European football.
Chelsea’s miserable campaign continued this week despite a 6-1 rout of Nordsjaelland at Stamford Bridge.
The holders are out of the Cham-pions League and ‘relegated’ to the Europa League.
Today, the Blues travel to the north east to play guests to Sunderland with coach Rafa Benitez admitting he was looking at the return of Frank Lampard to lift his Chelsea’s gloom in the league but skipper John Terry is set to miss his team’s participation in the Club World Cup in Japan with a knee injury.
Three successive victories over Fulham (away), Liverpool (home) and West Ham (home) have lifted Tottenham to fourth place, level on points with Chelsea and WBA.
Tomorrow, Tottenham have a tricky trip to Goodison Park to face Everton.
West Brom come into the weekend programme on the back of two defeats to Swansea and Stoke. Today, they travel to the Emirates Stadium to play Arsenal who are also passing through a difficult patch.
On Tuesday, the Gunners were beaten by Olympiakos in the Champions League to go through to the knock-out stages in second place behind Schalke.
Swansea are passing through a rich vein of form lately and a run of six matches without defeat has lifted them to seventh place in the standings.
This afternoon, the Swans entertain Norwich at the Liberty Stadium.
Fixtures and forecast
Premier League
Arsenal-West Brom X
Aston Villa-Stoke City 2
Southampton-Reading X
Sunderland-Chelsea 2
Swansea-Norwich 1
Wigan-Qpr X
Tomorrow:
Everton-Tottenham (16:00) 1
Man. City-Man. United (14:30) X
West Ham-Liverpool (17:00) X
Monday:
Fulham-Newcastle (21:00) X
Standings: Man. United 36; Man. City 33; Chelsea, Tottenham, West Brom 26; Everton, Swansea 23; West Ham, Stoke 22; Arsenal 21; Liverpool, Norwich 19. Fulham, Newcastle 17; Aston Villa, Wigan 14; Sunderland 13; Southampton 12; Reading 9; Qpr 6.
The Championship
Charlton-Brighton X
Crystal Palace-Blackpool 1
Derby-Leeds (14:00) X
Huddersfield-Bolton X
Ipswich-Millwall X
Leicester-Barnsley 1
. Forest-Burnley 1
Peterborough-M’Boro 2
Sheffield Wed.-Bristol City 1
Watford-Hull 1
Wolves-Birmingham (18:20) 1
League One
Brentford-Mk Dons 1
Bury-Leyton Orient 1
Carlisle-Sheffield United 2
Colchester-Oldham 1
Oventry-Walsall 1
Crawley-Shrewsbury 1
Hartlepool-Stevenage 2
Preston-Crewe 1
Scunthorpe-Bournemouth 2
Swindon-Doncaster 1
Tranmere-Portsmouth 1
Yeovil-Notts County X
League Two
Barnet-Afc Wimbledon 1
Bradford City-Torquay 1
Bristol Rovers-Dagenham X
Fleetwood-Southend X
Northampton-Cheltenham X
Oxford-Aldershot 1
Plymouth-York City X
Port Vale-Chesterfield 1
Rochdale-Exeter 1
Rotherham-Gillingham 1
Wycombe-Morecambe 1
Tomorrow:
Burton-Accrington 1
Hot Four
Crystal Palace, Leicester, Coventry, Preston Ne.