This weekend's action gets under way on Saturday lunchtime when Chelsea travel to fellow high-fliers Newcastle, live on Sky Sports.
Toon entertain Chelsea; City still unbeaten; Spurs in storming form
This weekend's Premier League action gets under way on Saturday lunchtime when Chelsea make the trip to fellow high-fliers Newcastle, live on
Sky Sports 2 and
HD2.
Andre Villas-Boas' men got their league campaign back on track with victory over Wolves last time out and will look to make it back-to-back wins when they travel to the North East.
Elsewhere, Manchester United will hope to bounce back from their deflating Carling Cup exit when they visit Aston Villa, while neighbours City remain unbeaten in the top spot as they prepare to host promoted Norwich.
Tottenham will look to maintain their storming form at home to Bolton while the weekend's other televised clash sees Sunderland start life without sacked manager Steve Bruce with a trip to Wolves, live on
Sky Sports 1 and
HD1 on Sunday.
Relief
Chelsea enjoyed some relief against Wolves last weekend with a 3-0 win to ease the pressure on manager Villas-Boas but the Blues will be wary of a
Newcastle side who fought hard for a 1-1 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford in their last encounter. The West Londoners sit just a point behind the Magpies and will be hoping to leapfrog them into fourth place with a good result in front of the Sky cameras, but could be lacking confidence after they were dumped out of the Carling Cup at home to Liverpool in midweek. The hosts have added incentive as they look to pay tribute to their former midfielder Gary Speed with a win after his tragic death last weekend.
Still sitting pretty at the top of the table are
Manchester City, who boast a five-point lead despite only managing a 1-1 draw at Liverpool last time out. Premier League newcomers
Norwich will not be relishing the prospect of facing the undefeated leaders on their own turf despite having made an impressive start to their own campaign to sit mid-table. The Canaries enjoyed a 2-1 win over QPR last weekend to halt a run of back-to-back defeats but could endure a tough afternoon against a City side buoyed by their progression to the Carling Cup semi-finals in midweek.
City's local rivals
Manchester United travel to
Aston Villa desperate to recover from their Carling Cup upset. A largely second-string Red Devils side were beaten 2-1 by Crystal Palace after extra-time at Old Trafford to oust them from the competition. Sir Alex Ferguson apologised to the United fans after that defeat and will be keen to get things back on track at Villa Park to close the gap on City. Villa were held to a goalless draw at Swansea last weekend in an encounter overshadowed by the death of Wales manager Speed and will be hoping to take advantage of a wounded United side to claim their first win in three games.
Tottenham are in blistering form having stormed to five consecutive wins to leave them third in the table and in prime position to overthrow second-placed United. Spurs have never won six Premier League games on the bounce in their history but will be looking to do just that when they entertain beleaguered
Bolton at White Hart Lane. The North Londoners have won six and lost none of their last seven home games against the Trotters in all competitions and will host a Bolton side stinging from back-to-back defeats and languishing in the drop zone.
A midweek Carling Cup exit to
