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Premier League preview: Arsenal host Manchester City and Liverpool face Tottenham

Arsene Wenger manager of Arsenal and Manuel Pellegrini manager of Manchester City look on during the Barclays Premier League match
Image: Arsene Wenger and Manuel Pellegrini lock horns at the Emirates

The battle for Premier League supremacy intensifies as Arsenal endeavour to get their faltering title bid back on track in a home date with Manchester City and in-form Liverpool look to stretch their impressive winning run when Tottenham Hotspur travel to Anfield.

The same can be said for Swansea City, with the Welsh outfit having spent much of the campaign punching below their weight. An energy-sapping Europa League adventure and a change in the dugout have done their cause few favours, but focus now is very much on ending the season with a flourish. Plenty of positives will be taken from a 2-2 draw away at Arsenal in midweek, but there is no getting away from the fact that Garry Monk's men have gone six without a win in the league, and nine in all competitions. Norwich City, sat just one place and two points better off than the Swans, will believe that they are heading to the Liberty Stadium at a good time, but they are another side who remain infuriatingly difficult to call - with form fluctuating wildly. Also in the Jekyll and Hyde category - a position they have occupied for some years now - are Newcastle United. Having surged up the rankings to put themselves in European contention, inconsistency has returned to the St James' Park ranks. Two defeats in three have threatened to undo their good work, but Alan Pardew will be back in attendance for a home meeting with Southampton on Saturday after serving his stadium ban. He will not be on the touchline, though, and Mauricio Pochettino will be hoping that the crossed wires on the communication front continue as his Saints look to move back above Newcastle and into eighth place. The last of the seven games scheduled to be held on Saturday afternoon will be a relegation six-pointer in the Midlands as West Bromwich Albion tackle Cardiff City. Heading into the contest, it is the Bluebirds who find themselves languishing inside the bottom three - three points from safety. Positive results remain hard to come by for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side, with four defeats suffered in five, but success this weekend would take them level with the Baggies. Pepe Mel will be all too aware of that fact, with West Brom toasting just one success during his unproductive reign so far. The chances of them ending the weekend inside the relegation zone are slim - taking their goal difference into account - but there is every chance that they could be seriously sweating on their top-flight status come the full-time whistle against Cardiff. The pick of the two televised Super Sunday fixtures will be staged at Anfield, with Liverpool hoping that their title bandwagon can roll over another visitor to Merseyside. Tottenham Hotspur are the side journeying north, and they have lofty ambitions of their own this season. It is, however, Brendan Rodgers' side who are the talk of the division at present, with a free-scoring outfit securing seven successive victories in the league to suggest that a 24-year wait for top-flight glory could be coming to an end. Spurs, though, will want to play party-poopers this weekend, with Tim Sherwood's side having slipped to sixth - seven points adrift of neighbours Arsenal and the final Champions League spot. Everton have edged above Spurs in the standings and will now be thinking that a late push for a top-four finish could be on the cards. They are only six points off the pace at present, with a game in hand on fourth-placed Arsenal and a visit from the Gunners to look forward to early next month. They must maintain the standards which have delivered four wins on the bounce, though, and cannot afford to take their eye off the ball when they go to Fulham - in the first instalment of a Super Sunday double-header. The Cottagers remain rooted to the foot of the table, four points from safety and with only two Premier League wins celebrated in 2014.

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