Sunday promises to be a footballing feast with two tasty matches pitching Manchester’s best against the cream of London.

Man City begin proceedings at Eastlands at lunchtime, where they are still unbeaten in the league, ten out of ten wins this season, 31 goals scored and incredibly only four conceded. City’s successive home win run is now 15 league matches.

Tottenham are the only team in the Premiership who are unbeaten in their last 6 league matches, an unbeaten run that currently extends to 7.

Spurs will be looking for some payback for their 1-5 home defeat to City back in August, and Man City won this fixture 1-0 at the end of last season. Before these two City victories, Man City had only won one of their previous 15 league fixtures going back to 2003, with Spurs winning 11 and three draws.

Both Man City and Spurs have won four and scored 9 goals and conceded three in their last 7 league games.  Spurs have scored in every one of their last 20 league matches and every one of their last 29 matches with the exception of the two games against the current top two Manchester clubs at the start of this season.

After the toughest start to any season, having to facing United and then City, conceding 8 goals and scoring one in these two games, Spurs only lost one of their next 19 league matches and have gained more points (46) over the last 19 games than any other team in the Premiership.

Balotelli and Richards return for City but the Toure brothers are still away and Kompany is suspended. Adebayor is ineligible to play under his loan terms

Although Tottenham have been and still are playing great football, City’s strength at home can not be ignored.

Weekend Football prediction – Man City Home win, correct score 3-1

Best odds for the home win, are currently 1.91 with StanJames.com and for the correct score of 3-1 the best odds are 17.00 at Ladbrokes

Worth considering more than 3 goals

Laith Amiry, weekendfootball

Norwich, who have spent 6 years out of the top flight have done remarkably well to maintain a top half position as we make our way into the second half of the season.

In 9^th place in the league, Norwich currently have the identical current form to Chelsea with a 2 3 1 and 0 GD record over the last 6, and have only lost one of their last 7 league matches. Chelsea have only lost one of their last nine.

Norwich and Chelsea have met five times in the past 10 years in the league and FA Cup. In each match, the total number of goals scored was four. Chelsea won two matches 3-1 and three matches 4-0, however only one of these matches was a home league match in 2005, Chelsea winning 3-1. In the four previous league meetings at Carrow Road, Norwich drew two and won two.  How times have changed.

Following a winless run of four league matches through December, the New Year saw Chelsea pick up 6 points out of 6, with unconvincing wins over Wolves and Sunderland.

Norwich are a much tougher opposition after six years away from the Premier League and Chelsea are nowhere near back to their best, so I don’t expect to see three or four goals from Chelsea, but do expect Chelsea to take all three points with another marginal win, just.

Weekend Football prediction – Chelsea Away win, correct score 1-2

Best odds for the away win, are currently 1.62 with Bet365 and for the correct score of 1-2 the best odds are 8.00 with Bet365

Laith Amiry, weekendfootball

A potential banana skin here for Chelsea. Martin O’Neill has had an immediate impact at Sunderland, securing two wins, one draw and suffering only one defeat in his first month at the helm.  He also started 2012 in a similar vein, taking all three points from league leaders Man City on New Years Day, followed by a 4-1 away win at Wigan 48 hours later, and a 2-0 away win over Peterboro in the FA Cup last Sunday.

As a result of the O’Neill effect, Sunderland find themselves top of the table, the 6 match form table that is, I had to double check this as it took me by surprise a little. The points dropped by the top 6 in recent weeks has allowed Sunderland to enjoy top form status in the Premier League for the first time in …….. ever!!

O’Neill picked up Premier League Manager of the month for December, which was well deserved, as before his arrival, Sunderland had only managed one league victory in seven.

Chelsea are uncharacteristically in 9^th place in the form table, ending their 4 matches without a win run with a last minute victory at Molineux, winning by 2-1 in the penultimate minute of the match, Frank Lampard their saviour. This relieves some of the pressure on AVB, but Chelsea’s recent results are a concern, drawing at home to Fulham and losing at home to Villa, poor home results against two of the Premier League’s worst away performers.

This fixture has averaged over 5 goals per game in the last three seasons at Stamford Bridge. Last season Sunderland took all three points at Stamford Bridge as well as three goals without conceding, Sunderland’s only league victory over Chelsea in 14 attempts, Chelsea winning all of the other 13 matches, with no draws.

Sunderland are much better defensively this season, conceding only 3 goals more than United this term and two less than Chelsea. In Sunderland’s three league matches against the top three clubs, City at home and Tottenham and United away, they only conceded two goals across the three games.

With Chelsea in poor form and lacking in confidence, and Sunderland in their best form and much tighter at the back, with O’Neill doing his magic, the value here is in a low scoring draw, and if you wear red and white and are feeling confident, its  9.00 with Victor Chandler for an away win and a massive 21.00 for the 0-1 away win with Bet365

Weekend Football prediction – Draw, correct score 1-1

Best odds for the draw, are currently 4.75 with Victor Chandler and for the correct score of 1-1 the best odds are 9.00 at Ladbrokes

Less than 3 goals also worth considering.