Premier League preview

Arsenal face Villa; Man Utd meet Stoke; Liverpool tackle Bolton

By Lewis Rutledge   Last updated: 24th December 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Premier League preview

Wenger: Ready for Villa test

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Aston Villa v Arsenal
Chelsea v West Brom
Liverpool v Bolton
Man City v Hull City
Middlesbrough v Everton
Portsmouth v West Ham
Stoke v Man Utd
Sunderland v Blackburn
Tottenham v Fulham
Wigan v Newcastle

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The busy festive programme kicks off with a full round of compelling fixtures on Boxing Day.

Aston Villa entertain Arsenal, Manchester United travel to Stoke, Chelsea take on bottom club West Brom and leaders Liverpool meet Bolton.

Arsenal topped the Premier League table on Christmas Day last year but this season they find themselves in fifth, with their title chances already written off in some quarters.

Arsene Wenger still believes in his players but he will be without the suspended Emmanuel Adebayor and the injured Cesc Fabregas for the teatime clash with Aston Villa, which can be seen live on Sky Sports 1 and HD1.

In recent weeks Martin O'Neill has been quick to play down the expectations which rocketed at around the time of Villa's stunning win at Emirates Stadium in November, but another victory over Arsenal would strengthen the Midlands side's hold on a place in the top four.

Manchester United are currently below Aston Villa in fourth but they have games in hand and will be confident of storming through to top spot like they did last term, starting with a win against Stoke in a match which can also be seen live on Sky Sports 1 and HD1 at lunchtime.

The Red Devils were crowned world champions in Japan over the weekend and will hope they can recover from a long trip home sufficiently to see off a Stoke side they hammered 5-0 at Old Trafford last month.

Tony Pulis' Potters made a solid start to their league campaign but have slipped back towards the bottom three after a run of four games without a win and face a difficult period with fixtures against Chelsea and Liverpool coming up in the next few weeks.

Liverpool are one point clear at the summit and have still only lost once all season, but they will be keen to return to winning ways after being held in four of their last five games.

Rafa Benitez is expected to attend Anfield following an operation to remove kidney stones but ninth-placed Bolton will be eager for him to have an afternoon to forget as they aim to continue their quietly impressive form under Gary Megson.

If Liverpool do drop points then Chelsea can leapfrog them with a victory over West Brom, although Luiz Felipe Scolari's men have struggled at Stamford Bridge this term and will be without banned captain John Terry.

Opponents West Brom remain bottom of the table despite claiming a last-gasp win against Manchester City at the weekend, and the Baggies have picked up just four points on their travels.

It is fiercely competitive at the foot of the table with different teams seeming to plummet into the relegation zone every week and others jumping up several places.

Blackburn are still second bottom but they made a winning start to the Sam Allardyce era against Stoke and will be looking to move closer to safety as they visit Sunderland.

The Black Cats, however, have their own miracle worker in charge and caretaker manager Ricky Sbragia's free-scoring side are suddenly back in the mid-table shake-up after two victories in a row.

Manchester City's clash with Hull City pits a team in sixth place against a side in the bottom three, but few could have foreseen at the start of the season that it would be the Tigers in contention for European qualification and Mark Hughes' men scrapping for survival.

Man City may be the richest club in the world but they have won just one of their last nine matches and the pressure will start to build on Hughes if they cannot defeat a Hull outfit that lost 4-1 at home to Sunderland on Saturday but remains just four points behind Arsenal.

Fulham lost 5-1 to Tottenham on Boxing Day last year but visit White Hart Lane in buoyant spirits this time and with a considerably tighter defence. The Cottagers are unbeaten in their last seven games and will be setting their sights on a successful second half to the season.

Having steered Tottenham out of the drop zone in the blink of an eye, Harry Redknapp has found it more difficult to push his team towards a much more secure position and Sunday's agonising defeat to Newcastle left them back in trouble.

Newcastle have shown plenty of resilience since Joe Kinnear took over and they will fancy their chances of extending their own unbeaten streak, which currently stands at six matches, when they journey to Wigan.

Wigan should be the freshest side in action on Boxing Day, having not played over the weekend, and they are also in decent form with just one defeat in their last seven.

Two teams who are out of form cross swords at Fratton Park as Tony Adams' Portsmouth take on West Ham.

The Hammers are hovering just outside the relegation zone after picking up two points from their last four games, while successive defeats have left Portsmouth in 10th-placed limbo, four points adrift of Hull but just five ahead of Manchester City.

The final game of the day sees lowly Middlesbrough looking to get back on track as they tackle seventh-placed Everton at The Riverside.

Boro have slumped to 14th on the back of a six-game winless run, while Everton maintained their quest for European football with a goalless draw against Chelsea on Monday.