The Merseyside derby takes centre-stage today as Everton host Liverpool at Goodison Park in the early kick-off.
The two rivals have experienced a bright start to the season with both teams currently in the top six of the league standings.
Roberto Martinez, the man who stepped in for David Moyes, is predicting a close encounter in his first clash against the Reds as Everton look to bridge the gap with the front-runners.
This season Martinez has introduced a number of young players to his first team including Shane Duffy, Luke Garbutt and Francisco Junior.
Liverpool have enjoyed an aus-picious start to the cham-pionship, dropping 10 points en route to a second-place position behind leaders Arsenal.
Manager Brendan Rodgers has high hopes star striker Luis Suarez will prolong his stay at the club beyond the end of the season, especially if they qualify for the Champions League.
Everton and Liverpool are two original members of the Premier League and met 21 times at Goodison Park since the championship was revamped in the early 1990s.
The Reds hold the upperhand over the Blues with nine wins, five draws and seven losses.
Two other top-six clubs will be clashing against each other today as Arsenal cross swords with Southampton at the Emirates.
Arsenal have lost one game at home so far and the Saints have only been beaten once on their travels.
This week Arsenal confirmed that young Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will not play for them until the end of the year as his knee injury is taking longer than expected to heal.
This evening, Chelsea will be involved in a London derby at West Ham.
This will be a third derby for the Blues, having beaten Fulham at home and drawn with Tottenham Hotspur away.
West Ham beat Tottenham 3-0 in their last clash with another London team. Yet, the Hammers are just two places off the relegation zone.
Tomorrow, Cardiff entertain Manchester United with high hopes of giving the champions the same treatment they handed to United neighbours Man. City.
Moyes has shaken up the Old Trafford scouting department with two new appointments as he is probably preparing for a big transfer splash in January.
Also tomorrow, Manchester City play Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium where they have a 100 per cent record so far in the league.
Tottenham lost only once on their travels.
City keeper Joe Hart is struggling for form for club and country but Blackburn shot-stopper Paul Robinson told reporters this week Hart remains England’s best.
Meanwhile, QPR’s Julio Cesar has appeared on the radar of City manager Manuel Pellegrini who is seeking a new keeper after seem-ingly losing confidence in Hart.
Mousa Dembele, Tottenham’s Belgium international, could consider a move elsewhere in January if he does not start to feature regularly with the World Cup coming up next summer.
Newcastle, now in ninth place, are favourites to maintain their current fine form with a win over Norwich at St James’ Park as Stoke and Sunderland, who have shown improvement in their latest outings, clash against each other at the Britannia Stadium.
Sunderland winger Emanuele Giaccherini told reporters this week that manager Gus Poyet has quickly changed the spirit within the camp while Steven Fletcher is confident that his Sunderland team-mate, US international Jozy Altidore, will soon find himself among the goal scorers for the relegation-haunted club.
Fixtures and forecast
Premier League
Arsenal-Southampton 1
Everton-Liverpool (13:45) X
Fulham-Swansea 1
Hull-Crystal Palace 1
Newcastle-Norwich 1
Stoke City-Sunderland X
West Ham-Chelsea (18:30) 2
Tomorrow:
Cardiff-Man. United (17:00) 2
Man. City-Tottenham (14:30) 1
Monday:
West Brom-Aston Villa (21:00) 1
Standings: Arsenal 25; Liverpool 23; Southampton 22; Chelsea 21; Man. United, Everton, Tottenham 20; Manchester City 19; Newcastle 17; West Brom, Aston Villa, Hull City 14; Swansea, Cardiff 12; Norwich City 11; West Ham, Stoke City, Fulham 10; Sunderland 7; Crystal Palace 4.
The Championship
Birmingham-Blackpool 1
Blackburn-Reading 1
Bournemouth-Derby X
Ipswich-Leicester 1
Leeds-Middlesbrough 1
Millwall-Barnsley 1
Nottm Forest-Burnley 1
QPR-Charlton 1
Sheff. Wed.-Hud’sfield (13:15) 1
Watford-Bolton 1
Wigan-Brighton 1
League One
Bristol City-Sheffield United X
Coventry-Tranmere (15:00) 1
Crawley-Walsall X
Crewe-Port Vale 2
Gillingham-Oldham X
MK Dons-Bradford City 1
Peterborough-Stevenage 1
Preston-Colchester 1
Rotherham-Carlisle 1
Shrewsbury-Notts County X
Swindon-Leyton Orient1
Wolves-Brentford1
League Two
Accrington-Torquay X
Burton-Bristol Rovers 1
Bury-Wimbledon 1
Cheltenham-Newport 1
Chesterfield-Wycombe 1
Fleetwood-Mansfield 1
Hartlepool-Northampton 1
Oxford-Morecambe 1
Plymouth-Dagenham X
Portsmouth-Scunthorpe 1
Rochdale-Exeter 1
Southend-York1
Hot Four
Millwall
Queen’s Park Rangers
Coventry City
Wolves