Chelsea welcome Premier League champions Manchester City to Stamford Bridge in the pick of the weekend action on Saturday.
The Blues are hurting from a shock 2-1 midweek loss at Wolves, which saw them throw away an early lead.
That was Chelsea’s second league defeat in three outings and sees them fall to fourth in the table as City arrives on the back of a six-game winning run and a lead of 10 points over their hosts.
City, meanwhile, wants to stamp their authority on their title defence with a big win.
Defender Nicolas Otamendi says: “We’re entering into a very demanding month, with games every three or four days.
“The most important thing is trying to recover well after the games.
“If a team manages to get a big amount of victories and points increases heavily their chances to be champions at the end of the season.”
Second-placed Liverpool kicks off the action on Saturday at 2.30 pm when they travel to Bournemouth.
Struggling Manchester United, down in seventh place, will take confidence from two consecutive fighting draws when they welcome bottom-club Fulham to Old Trafford looking for a first win in five league outings.
Arsenal also hosts a bottom-three side this weekend in Huddersfield, as Unai Emery’s manne look to reel in the top four.
Tottenham goes to Leicester for Saturday having bounced back from Sunday’s 4-2 derby pak from Arsenal with an impressive midweek 3-0 over Southampton, who go Cardiff looking for a winning start to life under new boss Ralph Hasenhuttl.
WEEKEND PREM FIXTURES
Saturday
Bournemouth v Liverpool (2.30 pm)
Man United v Fulham (5 pm)
West Ham v Crystal Palace (5 pm)
Burnley v Brighton (5 pm)
Cardiff v Southampton (5 pm)
Arsenal v Huddersfield (5 pm)
Chelsea v Man City (7.30 pm)
Leicester v Tottenham (9.45 pm)
Sunday
Newcastle v Wolves (6 pm)