Second duel between Ancelotti and Ferguson

The Stamford Bridge clash of heavyweights, between Chelsea and Manchester United, is not an occasion for the faint-hearted as the two leadings teams in the Premiership will play until they drop.

The two sides met in the curtain-raiser of the campaign in the Community Shield at Wembley in August and figured in a 2-2 draw (Carvalho, Lampard − Nani, Rooney).

The Blues went on to lift the prize after their 4-1 triumph in the penalty shoot-out. That match marked the official debut of Carlo Ancelotti on the Chelsea bench.

In the Premier League, Chelsea have scored in every game they played and enjoy a perfect record at home of five wins in which they scored 15 and conceded one goal. United have lost twice on their travels and have a 13-7 score aggregate.

This week, United midfielder Michael Carrick stated that his side would not want to lose the pace with the big teams and urged his team-mates to give a better performance than they did at Liverpool.

Chelsea's Frank Lampard talked about how much he relished the pressure of chasing glory ahead of tomorrow's clash.

The last occasion that the Mancunians won at Stamford Bridge was in 2001-02 when they won 3-0. Since then, Chelsea have won four times and three games were drawn.

In the Champions League both sides qualified for the knock-out stage. The Blues drew 2-2 away at Atletico Madrid and United were held 3-3 by CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford.

Arsenal's relentless march continued with a 3-0 thumping of North London rivals Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium last week.

Cesc Fabregas had another great game and Robin van Persie scored his sixth and seventh goals of the league campaign. The last time the Gunners lost in the Premier League was on September 12 in the 2-4 upset at Manchester City.

In their win over Spurs, Arsene Wenger marked out his 1,000th point of his career in league commitments for Arsenal. In Europe, the Gunners thrashed AZ Alkmaar 4-1 at home to move closer to qualification.

This afternoon, the Gunners travel to the Midlands to play guests to Wolves at Molineux.

Although the gold-and-blacks have not won in their last five matches, they chalked up significant draws against Everton (away), Aston Villa (home) and Stoke (away).

At the City of Manchester Stadium, Mark Hughes's Sky Blues cross swords with Burnley. City have drawn their last four matches, dropping eight points that could have lifted them among the front runners.

Burnley returned to winning form last week after beating Hull City 2-0.

The last time Man. City and Burnley met in the top flight was in October 1998 when the spoils were shared at Maine Road - 2-2.

The setback to Arsenal must have hurt Tottenham who will be all out to redeem themselves against Sunderland at White Hart Lane today.

Jermain Defoe returns to the Spurs attack after he missed three matches through suspension in which the Londoners lost two league games without netting a goal − 0-1 at home to Stoke and 0-3 away to Arsenal.

The Black Cats are also going through a lean spell, having won once in four league outings.

Rafa witch-hunt

The witch-hunt against Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has become rather tedious now but the negative showings persisted even though the Reds had five players out with flu in the loss at Fulham.

After the Champions League 1-1 draw in Lyon, the Reds entertain Birmingham City at Anfield on Monday. At present, former Liverpool players, now pundits in the media, are having a field day criticising the team that has given them so many honours in their heyday.

Birmingham, meanwhile, are still kicking themselves after they failed to attain back-to-back wins for the first time this season due to that penalty miss by James McFadden at home to Man. City.

This afternoon, Aston Villa will play hosts to Bolton after a 1-2 upset at West Ham in midweek.

Manager Martin O'Neill has sent James Collin, Eric Jihad and Nathan Baker on loan to gather experience at Football League clubs.

Bolton lost twice in succession to Chelsea in the league and League Cup and conceded eight goals in the process. Today, they will be without suspended defender Jlloyd Samuel.

In their last five visits to Villa Park, the Wanderers earned a win and two draws.

Wigan were not expected to ship in four goals at bottom-placed Portsmouth last weekend. Tomorrow, they have the chance to make up for that setback by beating Fulham at home.

West Ham are out of the relegation zone thanks to their three points at the expense of Aston Villa on Wednesday.

The Hammers remain at Upton Park this weekend for the clash with Everton who will be without Russian Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, banned for three games.