Premier League: Chelsea fallout, team news and buildup to derby weekend – live

After several top-flight teams had their noses tweaked by lower-league sides in the FA Cup last weekend – we’re looking at you Newcastle, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest – the Premier League returns with… yes, let’s go with ‘a bang’.

Manchester United v Manchester City takes centre stage on Saturday lunchtime and it’s not the team in blue who can be described as a ‘winning machine’ at the moment. City’s ‘are they really all that?’ status seemed to strengthen after a miserable Carabao Cup defeat at the Premier League’s basement club, Southampton, on Wednesday. A day earlier, United had cruised past Charlton to stay in the hunt for four trophies.

The North London derby rounds off the weekend action. Arsenal have got a miserable recent record at Spurs but they appear to be doing things very differently this season. If City lose the Manchester derby, Arsenal can pull eight clear. Blimey. Then again, the top two haven’t even played half their Premier League games so far.

Throw in trappy fixtures for wobbling Liverpool (away at Brighton) and crisis club Chelsea (home to Crystal Palace) and there’s plenty to water the mouth. The action starts with Aston Villa v Leeds tonight. If Villa lose to Leeds having just been beaten by Stevenage, they’ll surely want to avoid Grantham, Peterborough, Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate in future matches. One for LNER fans there. Right, let’s get on board this weekend football countdown train. Choo choo!