Manchester City may be five points clear at the top of the domestic table heading into this weekend's matches but their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knockout phase were dealt a huge blow by a 2-1 loss to Napoli.
Cross-town rivals and Premier League champions Manchester United will be on the lookout for a pick-me-up at home to Newcastle today. If they win, they will, at least, close the gap on City to two points.
"People can look at the season and criticise and maybe we are not in the position we would like," said United midfielder Darren Fletcher. "We had one disastrous result in the league against Manchester City and a couple of draws in the Champions League but overall it has been a solid start."
Anderson out for 3 months
Meanwhile, United must do without Brazilian midfielder Anderson until February owing to a knee injury. The Brazilian is to see a specialist in Portugal for further assessment on the problem.
Chelsea need a win
No-one, though, is more in need of a domestic tonic after a poor Champions League result than Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas.
Wednesday's 2-1 loss away to Bayer Leverkusen followed back-to-back home league defeats by Liverpool and Arsenal. Chelsea are now 12 points behind City and with Blues owner Roman Abramovich notorious for sacking under-performing managers, many feel the 34-year-old Portuguese's days with the Londoners could
already be numbered.
Failure to take maximum points on Saturday against a Wolverhampton Wolves side who have struggled away from home this season will only intensify the pressure on Villas-Boas but the Chelsea boss is well aware of what his side needs from him.
Arsenal face Fulham test
Arsenal's 2-1 defeat of Borussia Dortmund means the Gunners are the only English club already assured of a spot in the last-16 of the Champions League. They won just once in their opening five games and will host Fulham.
The turnaround has been impressive and Gunners midfielder Alex Song says the criticism directed at the club had proved a motivating force.
"We want to show everyone is wrong about us and we did very well, but we don't want to stay in the same situation now and just say, 'Everything is working and we will just keep on like this,'" said Song. "We want to push ourselves to try to look forward. We started really badly, but it is not easy when you have new players – you need to give them time."
Standings
P GD Points
Man City 12 31 34
Man Utd 12 17 29
Tottenham 11 8 25
Newcastle 12 7 25
Chelsea 12 8 22
Liverpool 12 5 22
Arsenal 12 3 22
Aston Villa 12 -1 15
QPR 12 -9 15
West Brom 12 -6 14
Norwich 12 -3 13
Everton 11 -3 13
Swansea 12 -4 13
Stoke 12 -12 12
Sunderland 12 1 11
Fulham 12 -1 11
Wolves 12 -7 11
Bolton 12 -10 9
Blackburn 12 -11 7
Wigan 12 -13 6
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2011.
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