Do or die for AVB at Chelsea, Arsenal want more RVP magic

THE TWO Manchester clubs will be centre of attention once again this weekend as United, in second place, face fourth-in-the-table Newcastle and high-flying City take on Liverpool. The rest of the chasing pack will be hoping that both sides drop points allowing them to make up some ground.

There is an intriguing match at Stamford Bridge where Andre Villas-Boas will be under intense scrutiny, while the bookies in north London may be offering pretty short odds on a certain Dutchman to score first at the Emirates, where Robin van Persie and his Arsenal team mates take on Fulham.

At the bottom Bolton, Blackburn and Wigan all face mid-table opposition and will be desperate to pick up three points.

Here's the best of the weekend action:

Man Utd v Newcastle
Last week Newcastle took on runaway league leaders Man City and lost their unbeaten record. This week they travel to Old Trafford for another massive game. But Alan Pardew's men will take heart from their performance at the Etihad, despite going down 3-1 they did not look out of place. Hatem Ben Arfa is now back from the horrific broken leg that kept him out for a year and can only improve as he gets more game time. Cheikh Tiote could also return for the Magpies. Alex Ferguson will be sweating on Wayne Rooney's fitness, the striker missed the Champions League draw with Benfica in midweek. He may also be concerned about United's ongoing defensive problems, and there have been calls for Anders Lindegaard to take over from David de Gea in goal. Newcastle would be happy with a draw and will know that a defeat could see them slip out of the top five. But Man U will be confident that they can take all three points.

Chelsea v Wolverhampton
Wolves could find themselves walking into the lions den as they take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. It is starting to feel like do or die time for Andre Villas Boas. Chelsea have lost four of their last seven games, including three of their last four league matches, and given Roman Abramovich's trigger-happy reputation AVB must know that time is short. The one thing on the young Portuguese manager's side is that the slump has come fairly early in the season, before expectations were raised too high and while there is time to turn it round. But turn it round he must, and the visit of Wolves is a real test. Chelsea should be able to dominate the visitors, but if they do not then it will indicate that there are serious problems at the Bridge.

Arsenal v Fulham
Robin van Persie welcomes Fulham to the Emirates on Saturday evening having scored ten goals in his last seven games, and hoping to increase his tally of 35 goals in 36 domestic and European games this calendar year. Presumably Arsene Wenger will draw lots among the rest of the squad to see who accompanies the Dutch goal machine. Fulham's away form is not great, but then neither is their home form, and Martin Jol's men have won only twice this season. Their chances against an in-form Gunners outfit who are on a nine-game unbeaten run look slim.

Liverpool v Man City
Arguably the biggest game of the weekend comes on Sunday afternoon when league leaders Manchester City head west along the M62 to play Liverpool. These two sides have a common enemy in Manchester United, and while both sets of fans will probably join in song to decry United, there will be little love lost on the pitch. Liverpool are still be dreaming of glory but they know that a defeat will leave them 15 points adrift of the City and will surely end their slim hopes of mounting a title challenge. City will just want to return to winning ways after another defeat in Europe. The Citizen's European woes prove that they are not unbeatable and that will give the likes of Luis Suarez hope. Kenny Dalglish is still without Steven Gerrard but the rest of the squad is fit. It will be interesting to see whether he gives £35m man Andy Carroll a run-out. The hulking forward is proving to be almost as big a flop as Fernando Torres at Chelsea and needs to make his mark sooner rather than later. As for Roberto Mancini, he, as ever, has a wealth of talent at his disposal, and Sergio Aguero is likely to get a run out for City after being rested against Napoli.

The weekend begins on Saturday lunchtime with the visit of struggling Blackburn to Stoke, and the pick of the other afternoon kick-offs is likely to be the visit of high-flying Spurs to The Hawthorns to take on West Brom. Also on Saturday afternoon Bolton entertain Everton, QPR travel to Norwich and Sunderland play Wigan. On Sunday lunchtime Aston Villa head to Wales to take on Swansea. ·