Manchester United’s face-off with Chelsea takes centre-stage this weekend as the teams in first and second place meet at Old Trafford.
Third-placed Arsenal will be hoping to make up ground on one or both teams as they host Wolverhampton Wanderers.
In the battle to secure the fourth Champions League place, Tottenham Hotspur travel to Sunderland and Manchester City meet Burnley in the late match.
Aston Villa’s hopes of achieving that goal appear to be fading and they will surely have to win at Bolton Wanderers if they are to stand any chance.
Hull City travel to Stoke City looking to build on last weekend’s win over Fulham, while bottom club Portsmouth host Blackburn Rovers.
Man Utd v Chelsea
The Red Devils can open up a four point lead over their rivals with a win at Old Trafford.
But if they are to do so they will have to manage it without the injured Wayne Rooney.
Chelsea beat United 1-0 earlier in the season but have lost three of their last four matches at Old Trafford, failing to score on three occasions.
Arsenal v Wolves
The Gunners enter this match off the back of a tiring 2-2 Champions League draw against Barcelona on Wednesday.
They will be confident of success after defeating Wolves 4-1 in the reverse fixture at Molineux earlier in the season.
Mick McCarthy’s Wolves have climbed to 12th in the form table after going four matches unbeaten. A credible 0-0 draw with Everton last weekend was a pleasing result for McCarthy four days after he had watched his side win 3-0 at West Ham United.
In 2003, Cesc Fabregas became Arsenal’s youngest ever scorer when he netted in a 5-1 League Cup win over Wolves, but the Arsenal captain will not play in this match after being ruled out of action for the rest of the season with a broken leg.
Bolton v Aston Villa
Owen Coyle knows a win here against Aston Villa will go a long way towards securing survival for Bolton.
With home advantage against an Aston Villa side who have not won in their last three matches, the Trotters will be hopeful of ending a two-match losing run of their own.
The two sides have picked up nine points from their last six matches, but while that has been good enough to lift Bolton away from the drop zone, it has dented Villa’s hopes of securing Champions League football. They are now seven points off fourth placed Tottenham with seven matches left to play.
Portsmouth v Blackburn
Portsmouth are 14 points adrift of safety with only 18 to play for as they go into this match with Blackburn Rovers.
But manager Avram Grant has vowed not to give up, and despite many injuries, he will send his side out aiming for all three points against a Blackburn team with just two away wins all season.
Rovers completed the league double over their East Lancashire rivals Burnley last Sunday, with David Dunn scoring his third goal in two matches.
Stoke City v Hull City
Hull City are bidding to complete the double over Stoke, after defeating the Potters 2-1 in November.
After the shock of losing to Portsmouth late on two weeks ago, Hull earned a precious 2-0 win over Fulham last weekend and they are now only in the relegation zone on goal difference.
Stoke have been strong at home since their promotion to the Barclays Premier League in 2008, but unusually for them, they have not won in four matches at the Britannia Stadium.
Sunderland v Tottenham
Tottenham Hotspur cannot afford to let up in their chase for fourth place as Manchester City are just two points behind them.
Spurs, though, have coped well with a recent spate of injuries, churning out five successive victories.
Sunderland were outclassed in their 3-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield last weekend, but their home record against Spurs is good as they have not tasted defeat since the 2001/02 season when Christian Ziege and Teddy Sheringham scored in a 2-1 away win.
Burnley v Man City
Burnley know that time is running out in their quest to stay in the Barclays Premier League.
They are three points adrift of safety having lost 11 of their last 13 matches.
They came back to earn a 3-3 draw at Eastlands earlier in the season thanks to Kevin McDonald’s 87th minute equaliser.
City have drawn seven away matches this season, the joint highest total in the Barclays Premier League.
Barclays Premier League fixtures
Click on a fixture below to view the match preview
Manchester United v Chelsea (Referee: Mike Dean)
Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers (Andre Marriner)
Bolton Wanderers v Aston Villa (Mike Jones)
Portsmouth v Blackburn Rovers (Steve Bennett)
Stoke City v Hull City (Lee Probert)
Sunderland v Tottenham Hotspur (Lee Mason)
Burnley v Manchester City (Alan Wiley)
“Man Utd can open up a four point lead over Chelsea” .
Credits: PremierLeague.com
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