anything to go by, Jose Mourinho will
emerge victorious, and possibly by a
big margin, when his Chelsea side
play Manuel Pellegrini's Manchester
City at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Portuguese Mourinho succeeded
Argentine Pellegrini as Real Madrid
coach in May 2010 and after
Pellegrini re-surfaced as Malaga's
manager five months later, they
faced each other seven times in La
Liga and the Kings Cup in two and a
half seasons.
Mourinho emerged on top in five of
their seven encounters, including 7-0
and 6-2 La Liga drubbings, before
they both left Spain for England at
the end of last season.
The Premier League is a far more
unpredictable competition than La
Liga and they will meet on Sunday
with little to choose between them on
current form.
Chelsea are second on 17 points, City
are fourth on 16, both have won their
last two league matches by
convincing scores and both won
away in the Champions League this
week with Chelsea beating Schalke 04
and City winning at CSKA Moscow.
Both teams have also been tipped as
potential champions and both at the
very least are targetting a top four
finish but City have the better recent
record having won four and drawn
one of their last five matches against
Chelsea including last season's
Community Shield and FA Cup
semifinal victories at Wembley.
MANAGERLESS PALACE
Chelsea could end the weekend in top
spot if they beat City and current
league leaders Arsenal slip up.
But Arsenal are making the short trip
across London to Crystal Palace who
have lost seven of their eight league
matches and parted company with
manager Ian Holloway on
Wednesday and so a Palace win
would constitute the biggest upset of
the season.
Until they were beaten 2-1 by
Borussia Dortmund in the Champions
League on Tuesday, Arsenal had
gone 12 games unbeaten since losing
their opening Premier League match
to Aston Villa in August.
Saturday's match will be the first
between them since February 2005
and the Gunners have a doubt over
midfielder Jack Wilshere who picked
up an ankle knock against Borussia
on Tuesday. Palace have far bigger
doubts over their ability to stay in the
Premier League after promotion last
season.
Palace were crushed 4-1 at home by
Fulham in another London derby on
Monday and look all set for more
capital punishment from Arsene
Wenger's in-form and free-scoring
side.
Liverpool could also move into top
spot if they win, at home to mid-table
West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal
lose, although West Brom are on a
good run, and apart from a penalty
shootout defeat to Arsenal in the
League Cup, are unbeaten in their
last six matches which includes a 2-1
win at Manchester United.
The champions, who beat Real
Sociedad 1-0 in the Champions
League on Wednesday, a scoreline
that barely reflected their dominance,
will be pleased the focus switches
back to what they do on the field at
home to Stoke City rather than the
revelations from former manager
Alex Ferguson's latest
autobiography.
Ferguson's thoughts on his 26 years
as manager made the front and back
pages this week, but the thoughts of
his successor David Moyes are firmly
focused on making former United
player Mark Hughes' return to Old
Trafford an unhappy one as the
current Stoke boss.
United have made their porest start
to a season for 24 years and are
eighth, eight points behind Arsenal
with just one win from their last four
league games having let
Southampton steal a last-gasp
equaliser for a 1-1 draw at Old
Trafford last week.
Moyes, given Ferguson's full support
this week, will be hoping that Robin
van Persie returns to action after
missing the Real Sociedad game with
toe and groin niggles. Stoke are
hovering just a point above the drop
zone after scoring one goal and
taking just two points from their last
five league matches.
Bad as that is, it is better than bottom-
of-the-table Sunderland's recent run
of six successive defeats but new boss
Gus Poyet, whose first match in
charge ended in a 4-0 hammering at
Swansea City last week, will be
hoping for a change of fortune on
Sunday.
Sunderland host arch-rivals
Newcastle United in what is bound to
be a typically passionate Tyne-Tees
derby, and a first win of the season
might just be the kick-start
Sunderland need to save a season
that seems destined to end in
relegation.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
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