EPL Big Bet Preview: Arsenal to stumble in North London Derby, United to struggle at Norwich

All eyes will be on Andre Villas-Boas this weekend as he will almost certainly need a victory to retain his ever-fleeting grip on the Chelsea managerial role. The Blues were humbled by Napoli mid-week in Europe and are without a win in their last four league games which has seen Arsenal leapfrog them to fourth.

To make matters worse skipper John Terry must undergo knee surgery and Jose Bosingwa may be out with a hamstring problem. They face a struggling Bolton, who despite overcoming Milwall in the FA Cup are also winless in their last four league outings. Chelsea’s defence must be tightened without the talismanic Terry, and if so they will give their desperate manager a precious three points.

Nearly two weeks on from a 5-0 thrashing at Tottenham, Newcastle will be raring to bounce back with a top four spot still well within reach. Alan Pardew will happily welcome Yohan Cabaye and Cheik Tiote back into this squad after the pair were missing through suspension and international duty respectively.

Relegation battlers Wolves have won just one of their last eleven in the league, and have gone with Terry Connor to turn their fortunes around. Newcastle will surely pick up the win at home.  

Despite an initial mini-revival under Mark Hughes, QPR have lost their last two matches and sit above the relegation-zone on goal difference alone. New signing Bobby Zamora will be hoping to impress against his former employees whilst Mark Hughes’ other new striker Djibril Cisse remains out following his suspension.

Fulham’s good home form continued last time out with Pavel Pogrebnyak’s debut goal helping the Cottagers to victory over Stoke. Their record away from home however remains suspect, so this London derby could end in a draw.         

West Brom go into this one following a 5-1 drumming of Wolves at the Molineux, with star man Peter Odemwingie looking to push on from his hat-trick in that match. While the Baggies’ away form has been far better this season, they have won a mere two games at home.

This weekend they host Martin O’Neill’s Sunderland who are fresh from eliminating Arsenal in the FA Cup and have won four of their last five. Front man Nicklas Bendtner is also in contention to return from a facial injury that has kept him out since January. Form says that Sunderland could just get over the line.

Villa's miserable run of form has seen them win just two of their last nine and it gets worse for Alex McLeish, after losing defensive duo Richard Dunne and Ciaran Clark to injury for several weeks.

Bottom placed Wigan scored a crucial win in their last match at Bolton which brought them within just three points of exiting the relegation zone. Roberto Martinez's men will probably get a point here against a struggling Villa side.       

Roberto Mancini once again has a full squad at his disposal and it showed in mid-week as his troops trounced Porto 4-0 to knock the defending champions out of the Europa League.

The outstanding Yakubu helped Blackburn to an encouraging win over QPR on his return, a result that sees Rovers sitting just above the drop zone. But don't expect City to drop any points in this one as they push for the title.                                                      

A massive game for Arsenal, and not just because it will be another ferocious North London derby. They were knocked out of the FA Cup by Sunderland and are effectively out of the Champions League after going down 4-0 to AC Milan.

Arsene Wenger is desperate to hold on to fourth spot, but Johan Djourou and Thomas Vermaelan are his only fit centre backs going into this one. For Spurs, Rafael Van der Vaart and former Gunner Emmanuel Adebayor are both confident of returning from injury. Louis Saha is proving another dangerous attacker. Tottenham may sneak a win here.

Despite being eliminated from the FA Cup by Leicester, Norwich have lost just one of their last seven league games. They remarkably have just four points less than Liverpool, with Grant Holt and Anthony Pilkington in hot scoring form.

Meanwhile, Manchester United only just progressed in the Europa League on aggregate after losing 2-1 to Ajax. Star striker Wayne Rooney sat that match out through illness, but is hoping to return to the starting line-up on Sunday. The Canaries were unlucky to leave Old Trafford with nothing earlier this season, but at home they might just be able to hold the Champions. 

Stoke's valiant run in the Europa League came to an end on Thursday as they were edged out by Valencia. The Potters will have Rory Delap available after a successful appeal against his sending off during the FA Cup win over Crawley.

They are level on league points with this weekend's opponents Swansea, who have just given manager Brendan Rodgers a new-three year contract. The Swans have been solid this season, but will face a tough test as always at the Britannia Stadium.