Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard are both out of Chelsea's home match against Blackburn Rovers with knee and thigh injuries respectively.

All matches kick-off at 3pm unless stated

Saturday

Birmingham City v Bolton Wanderers

Damien Johnson is the only injury absentee for Birmingham. The Northern Ireland international is still sidelined with a hamstring problem but is expected to join in training with the rest of his team-mates next Monday. Borja Oubina and Wilson Palacios are in the squad, while Steve Bruce, the Birmingham manager, has to decide whether to switch Johan Djourou from midfield to defence.

Christian Wilhelmsson is expected to be fit for Bolton. The Swede injured a thigh on international duty against Denmark last Saturday but after a week of treatment he is expected to be available.

Stelios Giannakopoulos expects to return to training next week after a summer hernia operation while Ricardo Gardner (hamstring) and Joey O'Brien (knee) are still not quite fit.

Birmingham City (from): Maik Taylor, Kingson, Doyle, Parnaby, Martin Taylor, Jaidi, Schmitz, Ridgewell, Kelly, Larsson, Oubina, Palacios, Muamba, Nafti, Djourou, McSheffrey, Kapo, Forssell, O'Connor, Jerome.

Bolton Wanderers (from): Jaaskelainen, Hunt, Meite, O'Brien, Cid, Samuel, Wilhelmsson, Nolan, Speed, McCann, Alonso, Braaten, Harasayni, Diouf, Anelka, Davies, Helguson, Al Habsi, Sinclair.

Chelsea v Blackburn Rovers, 5.15pm

Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard are out of the Chelsea squad after failing to recover from knee and thigh injuries respectively.

Michael Ballack and Wayne Bridge are still out with ankle problems.

Mark Hughes, the Blackburn Rovers manager, expects to have a full-strength squad available for the trip to London. He is waiting to confirm the fitness of Roque Santa Cruz, Benni McCarthy and Aaron Mokoena after international duty, but expects the trio to be passed fit.

Chelsea (from): Cech, Cudicini, Hilario, Ferreira, Belletti, A Cole, Ben Haim, Terry, Carvalho, Essien, Mikel, J Cole, Malouda, Sidwell, Pizarro, Shevchenko, Kalou, Wright-Phillips.

Blackburn Rovers (from): Friedel, Enckelman, Emerton, Samba, Nelsen, Ooijer, Warnock, Bentley, Dunn, Savage, Pedersen, Santa Cruz, McCarthy, Derbyshire, Roberts, Tugay, Mokoena, Rigters, Khizanishvili.

Everton v Manchester United, noon

Stefan Wessels is standing by to replace Tim Howard in goal for Everton if the American fails to recover from a finger injury.

David Moyes admits to having injury problems elsewhere in his squad, but today refused to divulge them. But he will certainly be without Thomas Gravesen who has a knee problem.

Joleon Lescott, Phil Neville and Andrew Johnson have returned from England duty unscathed, but there is unlikely to be a place in the starting line-up for Scotland's goal hero in France, James McFadden.

Wayne Rooney will return to the Manchester United squad for tomorrow's trip to Merseyside. The England striker has been out since fracturing a foot in the opening day draw with Reading and while Sir Alex Ferguson has yet to decide whether the 21-year-old will play he will definitely be among the Red Devils' party which travels to his old club.

Cristiano Ronaldo returns from suspension and will start but Darren Fletcher and John O'Shea are out after picking up midweek knee injuries with Scotland and the Republic of Ireland respectively.

Skipper Gary Neville still needs a couple of reserve games before he will be considered for first team action, while Owen Hargreaves is pencilled in for Wednesday's Champions League clash with Sporting Lisbon.

Everton (from): Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Stubbs, Lescott, Yobo, Baines, Valente, Arteta, McFadden, Neville, Carsley, Osman, Pienaar, Johnson, Yakubu, Anichebe, Wessels.

Manchester United (from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Evans, Pique, Ronaldo, Carrick, Scholes, Hargreaves, Giggs, Eagles, Tevez, Saha, Rooney, Nani, Anderson, Martin.

Liverpool v Portsmouth, 12.45pm

Steve Finnan is battling to overcome a knee injury but Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, expects to have Jamie Carragher available after a broken rib. Steven Gerrard is also expected to be available, although the reaction to playing two England games with his damaged toe will be assessed.

The likes of Xabi Alonso, Yossi Benayoun and Jermaine Pennant were not involved in midweek internationals and could start the match.

Sol Campbell and Benjani Mwaruwari return from injuries and new signing Papa Bouba Diop could make his debut in midfield at home to Liverpool.

Campbell plays only his third match this season after groin and hamstring problems while Benjani has recovered from a neck injury which kept him out of the 3-1 defeat at Arsenal two weeks ago.

Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, has to check the fitness of midfielders Niko Kranjcar (Croatia) and Sulley Muntari (Ghana) returning from international duty but his early-season injury crisis seems to be over even though defender Linvoy Primus has had a setback in his recovery from a knee operation and is out for two more weeks.

Liverpool (from): Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Hyypia, Riise, Pennant, Benayoun, Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano, Sissoko, Babel, Kuyt, Crouch, Torres, Voronin, Finnan, Itandje.

Portsmouth (from): James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Utaka, Muntari, Davis, Taylor, Kanu, Benjani, Lauren, Kranjcar, Mendes, Diop, Nugent, Pamarot, Traore, Hughes, Ashdown.

Sunderland v Reading

Roy Keane, the Sunderland manager, is facing a major test of his squad for the visit of Reading to the Stadium of Light.

Kieran Richardson is out for up to three months with a stress fracture of the back, while striker Andrew Cole (calf) has joined Carlos Edwards (hamstring), Dean Whitehead and Stanislav Varga (both knee) on the casualty list.

New signings Kenwyne Jones and Russell Anderson are expected to shake off calf problems and Danny Collins (ankle) should also be fit, while Greg Halford returns from suspension.

Reading are likely to be without utility man Brynjar Gunnarsson as the Iceland international has not trained since suffering a badly-bruised knee injury in the defeat by West Ham United on September 1.

The Royals must also check on the fitness of defender Michael Duberry, who has been laid low by illness. Wingers Glen Little (Achilles) and John Oster (ankle) are still sidelined but new signing Liam Rosenior is hopeful of a debut.

Sunderland (from): Gordon, Ward, Nosworthy, Halford, Kay, McShane, Anderson, Higginbotham, Collins, Wallace, Etuhu, Yorke, Miller, Leadbitter, Chopra, Jones, Stokes, Murphy, Connolly, O'Donovan.

Reading (from): Hahnemann, Federici, Murty, de la Cruz, Ingimarsson, Bikey, Duberry, Shorey, Rosenior, Fae, Cisse, Harper, Hunt, Convey, Doyle, Lita, Kitson, Long, Golbourne, Gunnarsson.

Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal, 1.30pm

Aaron Lennon is in contention for Tottenham after recovering from knee surgery. Darren Bent (thigh), Anthony Gardner (thigh) and Michael Dawson (ankle) are also in the squad for the north London derby. Ledley King remains on the sidelines as he recovers from an operation on his knee.

Manuel Almunia is set to play in goal again for Arsenal as veteran German keeper Jens Lehmann struggles with an elbow injury.

Bacary Sagna is now fit, while Gilberto could be asked to play in the centre of defence, should he show no ill effects of being on international duty with Brazil this week.

New signing Lassana Diarra could make his debut, but Philippe Senderos is suspended, while William Gallas (groin) and Emmanuel Eboue (ankle) are also out.

Tottenham Hotspur (from): Robinson, Cerny, Chimbonda, Lee, Gardner, Rocha, Dawson, Kaboul, Bale, Malbranque, Huddlestone, Jenas, Keane, Defoe, Berbatov, Zokora, Taarabt, Bent, Lennon.

Arsenal (from): Almunia, Sagna, Gilberto, Toure, Clichy, Hleb, Fabregas, Diaby, Rosicky, van Persie, Adebayor, Fabianski, Eduardo, Flamini, Walcott, Diarra, Song, Hoyte, Bendtner.

West Ham United v Middlesbrough

Big-money summer signings Scott Parker and Freddie Ljungberg could be named in the West Ham squad. Parker (knee) is yet to make his debut and Ljungberg (thigh) was injured during the opening day defeat by Manchester City, but both are back in full training and should be involved.

Bobby Zamora (knee) is also available after missing the 3-0 win over Reading but fit-again Dean Ashton expects to keep his place in attack.

Mark Schwarzer is expected to pass a late fitness test to keep his place. The Middlesbrough goalkeeper suffered a knee injury while playing for Australia against Argentina in Melbourne on Tuesday, while his deputy, Brad Jones, was left out of Wednesday's reserve game at Wigan as a precaution.

Gareth Southgate, the manager, has the option to hand £5 million new signing Gary O'Neil his first start, though the former Portsmouth player could well be on the bench.

West Ham United (from): Green, Neill, Ferdinand, Upson, McCartney, Bowyer, Mullins, Noble, Etherington, Ashton, Bellamy, Wright, Pantsil, Gabbidon, Collins, Spector, Solano, Ljungberg, Parker, Boa Morte, Zamora, Camara, Davenport, Reid, Cole

Middlesbrough (from): Schwarzer, Jones, Young, Davies, Taylor, Wheater, Woodgate, Riggott, Boateng, O'Neil, Tuncay, Rochemback, Arca, Downing, Mido, Aliadiere, Dong-Gook.

Wigan Athletic v Fulham

Kevin Kilbane, the Wigan winger, will miss out as he serves a one-match ban for his sending-off in the 1-0 defeat at Newcastle United a fortnight ago.

Emmerson Boyce looks set to fill in at left-back with Salomon Olembe, who played for the reserves on Wednesday night, not yet fully match-fit following his recent signing.

Rachid Bouaouzan will be included in Chris Hutchings' squad for the first time since his arrival from Sparta Rotterdam, but Antonio Valencia (knee) and Denny Landzaat (fractured eye socket) are out.

Aaron Hughes is available to make his Fulham debut after overcoming an ankle injury. The defender has not figured since joining from Aston Villa during the summer.

Lee Cook's knee injury keeps him on the sidelines though, alongside Philippe Christanval, Brian McBride and Jimmy Bullard. Fulham's medical team are checking up on David Healy's recent calf complaint, but he is expected to start.

New signings Danny Murphy, Seol Ki-Hyeon and Shefki Kuqi could all make it on to the substitutes' bench.

Wigan Athletic (from): Kirkland, Melchiot, Granqvist, Bramble, Boyce, Brown, Scharner, Koumas, Sibierski, Heskey, Skoko, Bent, Aghahowa, Bouaouzan, Cotterill, Hall, Olembe, Pollitt.

Fulham (from): Niemi, Warner, Keller, Volz, Baird, Stefanovic, Bocanegra, Hughes, Davis, Smertin, Murphy, Seol, Davies, Healy, Dempsey, Konchesky, Kamara, John, Kuqi.

Sunday

Manchester City v Aston Villa, 4pm

Richard Dunne, the Manchester City defender, will miss the match against Villa as he is suspended.

Sven-Goran Eriksson has indicated that Vedran Corluka will partner Micah Richards in Dunne's absence with Nedum Onuoha likely to return at right-back.

Geovanni is expected to be available after returning to training following a calf injury.

Villa's new signing Curtis Davies is included in the squad. Davies, initially signed on loan from West Bromwich Albion, missed the victory over Chelsea a fortnight ago with a hamstring problem.

John Carew is the only injury concern after aggravating a groin injury while on duty for Norway in midweek. Martin O'Neill, the Villa manager, admits Carew would have struggled to play the City game had it been on Saturday but is hoping the additional 24 hours will allow him time to recover.

Manchester City (from): Schmeichel, Hart, Corluka, Onuoha, Sun, Richards, Garrido, Ball, Fernandes, Geovanni, Hamann, Johnson, Ireland, Petrov, Elano, Mpenza, Bianchi, Vassell, Samaras.

Aston Villa (from): Carson, Sorensen, Taylor, Mellberg, Gardner, Laursen, Davies, Knight, Cahill, Bouma, Agbonlahor, Barry, Reo-Coker, Young, Petrov, Osbourne, Carew, Moore.

Monday

Derby County v Newcastle United, 8pm

Billy Davies, the Derby manager, hopes to give Scotland striker Kenny Miller a debut against Newcastle.

The Rams were trounced 6-0 by table-toppers Liverpool in their last outing but Miller, who has been out with a hamstring injury since signing from Celtic on deadline day, could play some part in place of Craig Fagan who starts a four-game ban for stamping on Xabi Alonso.

Dean Leacock (toe) has also rejoined training this week and will be looking to earn a recall, while David Jones and Eddie Lewis are also close to match sharpness.

Giles Barnes is still two weeks away from a comeback as he recovers from a foot injury and Darren Moore is doubtful with a knee problem.

Sam Allardyce, the Newcastle manager, will make a late check on striker Michael Owen before naming his side. The 27-year-old scored three times for England against Israel and Russia and Allardyce will ensure he does not risk a fresh injury because of fatigue.

Mark Viduka (hamstring) is expected to be fit, but Emre is a doubt after picking up a knock on international duty while Peter Ramage (knee), Stephen Carr and Celestine Babayaro (both hamstring), Joey Barton (metatarsal) and Damien Duff (ankle) are all out.

Derby County (from): Bywater, Griffin, Moore, Malcolm, Teale, Davis, Camara, McEveley, Todd, Oakley, Mears, Pearson, Howard, Price, Earnshaw, Miller, Jones, Leacock, Lewis.

Newcastle United (from): Harper, Given, Enrique, N'Zogbia, Rozehnal, Taylor, Cacapa, Faye, Edgar, Beye, Milner, Geremi, Butt, Smith, Pattison, Viduka, Martins, Ameobi, Owen.