Defending Premier League champions Manchester City travel to Liverpool while Chelsea and Newcastle meet at Stamford Bridge.
Three live games on Sky Sports HD this weekend
Defending Premier League champions Manchester City travel to Liverpool while Chelsea and Newcastle United meet among the pick of this weekend's fixtures.
Elsewhere, Robin van Persie could be given his first Manchester United start when Fulham visit Old Trafford and the Dutchman's former club, Arsenal, make the trip to Stoke City.
Manchester City last Sunday made tough work of their victory over Southampton and will know they cannot afford such a sloppy performance when they take on
Liverpool at Anfield. The Sunday afternoon game, which can be seen live on
Sky Sports 1HD and
3D, promises to be an engrossing encounter. Joe Hart's goalkeeping heroics in 2011/12 saved City when they visited the red half of Merseyside and this season they will face a similarly determined Liverpool, who will be desperate to respond from their wretched opening day defeat by West Bromwich Albion. But Liverpool, who on Thursday night narrowly defeated Hearts in the Europa League, have won just one of the last seven Premier League games against City, although four of the other six have resulted in draws. However, Merseyside is also not a happy hunting ground for Roberto Mancini and the Italian has never won in eight visits as either a manager or a player.
Chelsea have been earning widespread praise for their start to the season after wins over Wigan Athletic and, in midweek, newly-promoted Reading. But some have suggested the accolades for the Eden Hazard-inspired Stamford Bridge club are somewhat premature and so Roberto Di Matteo and his squad on Saturday evening will want to make a statement when
Newcastle United visit London. Papiss Cisse's wonder goal last season helped to give Newcastle a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge but they face a tough task to repeat that feat. Alan Pardew's side on Thursday made a gruelling trip to Greece in a sweltering Europa League 1-1 draw against Atromitos. The Magpies rested nine first-team players but Pardew will still be concerned about how his squad will cope with the fixture congestion of Europe, which is something they did not have to deal with when finishing above Chelsea in last season's table.
Rivalry
Robin van Persie on Monday made his debut as a substitute for
Manchester United but the Dutchman could not prevent the 2011/12 Premier League runners-up from losing 1-0 at Everton. The former Arsenal captain could well start on his first home game at Old Trafford and that will be a worrying prospect for Martin Jol's
Fulham. Wayne Rooney has scored four goals in his last three Premier League games against the Londoners and the combined threat of Van Persie is ominous to say the least. Fulham, without the wantaway Clint Dempsey, on the opening day of the season hammered Norwich City. But former Tottenham boss Jol has a dreadful record against Sir Alex Ferguson and after eight Premier League meetings he has drawn twice and lost six in a row, failing to score in the last five.
Van Persie's former club,
Arsenal, and
Stoke City on Sunday lunchtime renew their peculiar rivalry when the meet in front of the
Sky Sports cameras at the Britannia Stadium. Tensions have been simmering between the two clubs ever since Aaron Ramsey in February 2010 broke his leg due to a Ryan Shawcross challenge. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has also been critical of Stoke'
