While Manchester United and title rivals Manchester City resume their slugfest for Premier League silverware, Aston Villa and Newcastle United meet tonight in a relegation dogfight that neither would have expected to be embroiled in.
Both are mired in deep trouble and staring anxiously downwards at the clubs behind them. For beleaguered managers Paul Lambert and Alan Pardew, a victory cannot come soon enough.
Villa languish one place above the drop zone, a point ahead of Reading, after one win from their last nine league games. Newcastle sit one spot above Villa and have managed just two wins in their last 14.
Two Cup exits to lower division opponents in the space of a week have left Villa’s already shredded confidence in tatters.
Scot Lambert was tempted away from Norwich City during the close season to help revive Villa’s fortunes after a 16th place finish last season.
But the Midlands club struggled from the off, defeat in their first two games setting the tone for a first half of the season that reached a low in late December with an embarrassing 8-0 defeat at Chelsea, followed by a 4-0 home loss to Tottenham and a 3-0 reverse against Wigan.
That was until last week when Villa’s hopes of a Wembley Capital One (League) Cup final appearance were extinguished by fourth-tier Bradford City, followed by an FA Cup defeat at Championship (second division) Millwall.
Newcastle also had high expectations after a fifth place last season. But the northeast club, hindered by injuries to key players like Hatem Ben Arfa, have struggled.
Top scorer Demba Ba’s departure for Chelsea earlier this month has also left a shortage of firepower, with the onus now on Papiss Cisse to consistently deliver.
Pardew’s remedy has been to look across the English Channel to France, adding to the Gallic flavour at Newcastle by signing Mathieu Debuchy, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Yoan Gouffran, Massadio Haïdara and Moussa Sissoko.
Manchester City have the chance to narrow the gap on United to two points, albeit for 24 hours, when they travel south to face bottom side Queens Park Rangers.
Roberto Mancini’s team have hit top form, taking 18 points out of 21, but will be missing captain Vincent Kompany who is out with a calf injury.
United, who like City eased into the FA Cup fifth round at the weekend, host Southampton tomorrow. The south coast side were minutes away from beating United at home in September until Robin van Persie scored twice at the death to win 3-2.
In other matches, Arsenal host Liverpool at the Emirates tomorrow while third-placed Chelsea visit Reading.
Fixtures
Playing today (20.45)
Aston Villa vs Newcastle
QPR vs Manchester City
Stoke vs Wigan
Sunderland vs Swansea
Tomorrow
Arsenal vs Liverpool - 20.45
Everton vs West Brom - 20.45
Norwich vs Tottenham - 20.45
Fulham vs West Ham - 21.00
Man. Utd vs Southampton - 21.00
Reading vs Chelsea - 21.00
Current standings
Man. United 56; Man. City 51; Chelsea 45; Tottenham 41; Everton 38; Arsenal 37; Liverpool, West Brom 34; Swansea 33; Stoke 29; Sunderland 28; West Ham 27; Norwich 26; Fulham 25; South-ampton 23; Newcastle 21; Aston Villa 20; Reading, Wigan 19; QPR 15.