Top Versus Bottom Battles in Premier League

Arsenal host Wigan, Birmingham go to Old Trafford and Manchester City play Aston Villa in three top versus bottom clashes in the Premier League this Saturday afternoon.

Manchester United negotiated a tricky trip to White Hart Lane last weekend and came away with their unbeaten record still intact despite going down to 10 men midway through the second half. It was yet another away draw for The Red Devils that allowed the chasing pack to close on the league leaders and they’ll be happy to return to home soil this week.

United have picked up 33 of their 45 points at Old Trafford this season dropping just two points in 11 games. Birmingham have won just one away league game this season but did manage to take a point from this weekend’s opponents when they met in late December.

Arsenal look to have recovered from a minor blip in form that saw them go three games in all competitions without a win. They’ve now scored three in each of their last two wins over West Ham and Leeds and look to be back to playing their free flowing natural game once again.

Wigan though have proved to be something of a bogey team for The Gunners in recent years. Derailing their title challenge towards the end of last season and taking a 2-2 draw from their meeting at The DW Stadium last month.

If Arsenal and Manchester Untied do pick up the expected three points then the pressure will be on Manchester City for their evening fixture against Aston Villa.

City manager Roberto Mancini has called for his defence to tighten up if they are going to win anything this season. And with Villa likely to give new signing Darren Bent his debut they may well need to do so sooner rather than later.

Although these top versus bottom clashes can often have an air of inevitability about them we have seen on numerous occasions already this season that anybody can beat anybody in this league.