Arsenal hope to give crown chasers a lift

The London derby at Highbury tomorrow is a potential banana skin for long-time league leaders Chelsea. A drop of points for them would see the other title pretenders rubbing their hands with glee.

Arsenal have won all their home league fixtures so far. Following the away upset to Newcastle, Arsene Wenger will be more than glad if Arsenal were to give the fans a Christmas treat with another three-pointer at home. Rumours had it this week that Wenger was offered the vacant job at Real Madrid with the Spaniards dangling a £15m carrot for the Frenchman.

In their last two home outings, Chelsea had to rely on skipper John Terry to win all points against Middlesbrough and Wigan. The west London club have won 14 of 16 league games this season and lost just two of 54 Premiership games under Jose Mourinho (won 43).

Arsenal's back-to-back upsets, to Bolton and Newcastle, arrived after 118 Premiership matches. The last time the Gunners suffered successive defeats was against Everton and Blackburn in October 2002.

Arsenal have not scored in league and cup football in the last 295 minutes of play. Although Chelsea have defeated their London neighbours twice this season (2-1 in Community Shield and 1-0 in the Premiership at home) they have not beaten them at Highbury in their last 15 visits (including 13 in the Premiership).

The Blues' last triumph came in March 1990 (1-0) through a Bumstead netting.

Aston Villa vs Man. United. The Red Devils' failure to win against Everton (1-1) came just after their unexpected Champions League exit.

While critics see Alex Ferguson as a non-starter at Old Trafford next season, the supremo still continues to receive the backing of fellow managers and former players.

Following the 4-0 home win over Wigan in midweek, United are still more successful on the away front so far having gained 19 points to their 16 at Old Trafford from the same number of outings (8).

Following the humiliation at Doncaster in the League Cup, Villa pulled their socks up to claim draws against Newcastle and Bolton away.

M'boro vs Tottenham. For the first time this season M'boro finished on the losing end for two matches on the trot (away at Chelsea and Liverpool) and also failed to find their opponents' net.

The Spurs will be keen to leave the Teessiders reeling and inflict another defeat. The last time Boro were toppled three times on the bounce in the league was in April-May 2004.

On Thursday, they secured their place in the UEFA Cup after a 2-0 win at home over Litex Lovech.

After their 3-1 home win over Portsmouth, Tottenham have high hopes of consolidating on their away form of one loss in seven.

Everton vs Bolton. The Toffees can't find a solid patch of consistency. After their impressive draw at Man. United, Everton failed to bank on home advantage, losing 1-2 to West Ham at Goodison Park in midweek.

The Wanderers, who dropped five points in their last three league excursions, can find it tough to return to winning form. In the UEFA Cup they drew 1-1 at home to Sevilla to move into the next round.

West Ham vs Newcastle. Alan Shearer led his team-mates to a battling 1-0 win against Arsenal to give beleaguered manager Graeme Souness a deserved break.

Souness has been very unlucky with injuries. He should not be pressurised as if every game is a cup final.

The Hammers, who carved out a fine 2-1 victory at Everton, won five of their ten Premiership duels with Newcastle at Upton Park.

Wigan vs Charlton. While Wigan's depressing run continued as they finished among the losers for the fifth straight time at Manchester United, Charlton succeeded in adding to their winning column in the classification (against Sunderland) sequel to a run of five consecutive losses.

If Wigan score today it will be the 5,000th goal Charlton would have conceded in regular League football that began in 1905 in Division II.

Man. City vs Birmingham. Bir-mingham were over the moon following their home victory over Fulham. That clash was billed by chairman David Gold as one of the most important games in the club's history, one that could serve as a platform to emerge from the red zone.

Man. City will offer Norwich £7m for attacker Dean Ashton. Striker Andy Cole will miss the match through suspension.

Fulham vs Blackburn. The Cottagers gained only one point from their last two outings (away vs West Brom and Birmingham) and failed to score in the process.

Chris Coleman will have Luis Boa Morte back from suspension.

The Rovers, having seen off other Londoners West Ham by the odd goal in five at Ewood Park last week, will be confident of another good result following three wins on the trot in their last same number of calls at Fulham: 2-0, 4-3, 4-0.

Portsmouth vs West Brom. Harry Redknapp, the man who played musical chairs with the two south coast clubs in the last two seasons, started off at Pompey with a defeat at Tottenham.

West Brom are buoyed by their fine victory over Manchester City, even if they are in search of their first win on their travels.