All games 3pm unless stated

Saturday

Arsenal v Aston Villa

The Premier League leaders will not rush striker Robin van Persie back from his thigh injury ahead of tomorrow's game at the Emirates Stadium. Nicklas Bendtner is in line to partner leading scorer Emmanuel Adebayor in attack following Eduardo's season-ending injury.

Abou Diaby should return to the squad following three weeks out with a calf problem, while Kolo Toure (knee) is still out but could return against AC Milan in the Champions League next week. Emmanuel Eboue is suspended tomorrow, while Alex Song (knee), Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) and Johan Djourou (groin) remain sidelined.

Olof Mellberg could give Martin O'Neil the perfect birthday present by winning his battle to be fit. The Swedish international has returned to training following an ankle injury which forced him to miss the win at Reading.

Mellberg was the first player to score at the Emirates Stadium in Villa's 1-1 draw on the opening day of last season at the beginning of O'Neill's reign.

The Juventus bound defender is likely to replace Craig Gardner at right-back, while Patrik Berger has recovered from a hamstring problem and could challenge for a place on the substitutes' bench.

Arsenal (from): Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Senderos, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, Flamini, Hleb, Bendtner, Adebayor, Lehmann, J Hoyte, Denilson, Gilberto, Traore, Lansbury, G Hoyte.

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

Birmingham City v Tottenham Hotspur

Birmingham will be without Martin Taylor who begins a three-game ban following his red card against Arsenal.

Radhi Jaidi is favourite to replace the former Blackburn player and play alongside Liam Ridgewell, who is expected to shake off an ankle injury. Joint leading scorer Olivier Kapo is definitely ruled out with a hamstring injury with Gary McSheffrey expected to replace him on the left flank.

Cameron Jerome will have a late fitness test on his hip problem but Alex McLeish is likely to start with James McFadden and Mikael Forssell up front.

Jonathan Woodgate is a doubt for Tottenham after picking up a sprained ankle in the Carling Cup final last weekend.

Ledley King could be rested at St Andrews, while left-backs Benoit Assou-Ekotto (knee) and Gareth Bale (foot) have been ruled out for the season.

Michael Dawson (hamstring) and Gilberto (calf) are edging closer to full training.

Birmingham (from): Maik Taylor, Kelly, Ridgewell, Jaidi, Schmitz, Murphy, Queudrue, Parnaby, Larsson, Muamba, Johnson, Nafti, McSheffrey, McFadden, Forssell, Jerome, Doyle, De Ridder.

Tottenham (from): Robinson, Cerny, Chimbonda, Hutton, Lee, Gunter, Rocha, Kaboul, Zokora, Tainio, Jenas, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Boateng, Taarabt, O'Hara, Lennon, Berbatov, Bent, Keane.

Derby County v Sunderland

Giles Barnes looks certain to miss out after he picked up a knee injury in training this week and will undergo a scan later today to establish the extent of the problem. Paul Jewell remains without Claude Davis and Tyrone Mears due to long-term injuries, while Dean Leacock faces a late fitness test on a hip problem.

Roy Keane will be without suspended defender Danny Collins. The Welshman picked up his fifth booking of the season at Portsmouth last weekend, and his place could be taken by Danny Higginbotham, who is back in contention after surgery to repair a toe fracture.

Keane has hinted that midfielder Liam Miller could still have a role to play despite being transfer-listed this week, while Kieran Richardson is rated at 50-50 as he continues his recovery from a hamstring problem.

However, Carlos Edwards (broken leg) is yet to return to reserve-team action and Ross Wallace (knee) remains on the sidelines.

Derby (from): Carroll, Leacock, Moore, Todd, Stubbs, McEveley, Lewis, Edworthy, Savage, Fagan, Pearson, Jones, Miller, Earnshaw, Ghaly, Villa, Robert, Price, Sterjovski.

Sunderland (from): Gordon, Fulop, Bardsley, McShane, Evans, Higginbotham, Harte, Whitehead, Etuhu, Reid, Leadbitter, Miller, Richardson, O'Donovan, Jones, Waghorn, Murphy, Stokes, Chopra, Prica.

Fulham v Manchester United

Jari Litmanen has returned to full training with Fulham following a recent heart scare but will not be involved against Manchester United. Litmanen, 37, returned to Finland earlier this week after suffering heart palpitations.

Fulham are without Leon Andreasen who is suspended after being sent off in last weekend's 1-0 defeat to West Ham but Hameur Bouazza returns from a shoulder injury.

Ryan Giggs could miss out for Manchester United, after failing to shake off a calf strain. The former Wales midfielder looks likely to sit out the game with a Tuesday's crucial Champions League second leg match with Lyons on the horizon.

Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra have recovered from a calf strain and a stomach virus respectively, but Gary Neville and Mikel Silvestre remain sidelined as United aim to close a three-gap on leaders Arsenal.

Fulham (from): Niemi; Stalteri, Hangeland, Hughes, Konchesky, Murphy, S Davies, Bullard, Bouazza, Nevland, Stefanovic, Kamara, Bocanegra, Volz, McBride, Smertin, Seol, Healy, Keller.

Manchester United (from): Van der Sar, Brown, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Ronaldo, Carrick, Fletcher, Hargreaves, Nani, Rooney, Tevez, Scholes, O'Shea, Saha, Kuszczak, Anderson, Park, Simpson, Eagles.

Manchester City v Wigan Athletic, 5.15pm

Sven-Goran Eriksson, the Manchester City manager, is forced to make at least two changes to his side. Micah Richards is recovering from a knee operation while Martin Petrov starts a three-match ban. Vedran Corluka and Elano are poised to return to the team while Michael Johnson comes into contention following an abdominal strain.

Steve Bruce has virtually a full-strength squad to choose from for the trip to Eastlands. Bruce's only absentee is right-back Ryan Taylor who has a rib injury, with fears he may have stripped part of a muscle away from a bone.

Following last week's 2-0 home victory over rock-bottom Derby, there is every likelihood Bruce will name an unchanged side.

Manchester City (from): Hart, Onuoha, Corluka, Dunne, Ball, Ireland, Hamann, Johnson, Fernandes, Elano, Benjani, Vassell, Isaksson, Castillo, Caicedo, Garrido, Jihai, Geovanni, Sturridge.

Wigan (from): Kirkland, Edman, Granqvist, Palacios, Sibierski, Kilbane, Heskey, Koumas, Brown, King, Aghahowa, Valencia, Boyce, Scharner, Bramble, Olembe, Bent, Skoko, Melchiot, Pollitt.

Middlesbrough v Reading

David Wheater will celebrate signing his new three-and-a-half-year contract by returning from suspension for tomorrow's clash with Reading.

Gareth Southgate has a minor doubt over Afonso Alves, who suffered a head clash early in the midweek FA Cup replay win over Sheffield United, and Fabio Rochemback (calf).

Mohamed Shawky (hamstring), Lee Cattermole and Matthew Bates (knee) and Andrew Taylor continue to get closer to a return to fitness but remain on the injury list.

Reading will be without defender Michael Duberry (knee), midfielder Brynjar Gunnarsson (groin) and winger Glen Little (heel). Duberry and Gunnarsson are back in training but will not be included in the travelling party as Reading seek to end a run of eight Barclays Premier League defeats.

Steve Coppell has vowed to make changes so defensive duo Ivar Ingimarsson and Andre Bikey stand by for recalls and recent signing Jimmy Kebe a first start.

Middlesbrough (from): Schwarzer, Turnbull, Young, Grounds, Pogatetz, Huth, Hines, Arca, Rochemback, Boateng, O'Neil, Downing, Tuncay, Johnson, Alves, Mido, Lee.

Reading (from): Hahnemann, Federici, Murty, Rosenior, de la Cruz, Ingimarsson, Bikey, Sonko, Cisse, Shorey, Golbourne, Oster, Kebe, Harper, Matejovsky, Hunt, Fae, Doyle, Kitson, Lita, Long, Bennett.

Newcastle United v Blackburn Rovers

Obafemi Martins returns to Newcastle's squad for the game with Blackburn. The Nigeria international is fit after returning from the African Cup of Nations with an ankle problem, although Emre (calf) and Mark Viduka (calf and hamstring) will miss out once again.

Shay Given will be sidelined for up to three weeks with the groin injury he aggravated against Manchester United last weekend and could require minor surgery during the summer, while Stephen Carr is still out with a hamstring problem.

David Dunn is a major doubt for Blackburn after injuring his calf in training. Dunn will be assessed prior to the game but Mark Hughes was not confident the player would be fit enough to feature.

Ryan Nelsen remains sidelined with a hamstring problem but fellow defender Andre Ooijer is set to return after missing last weekend's 4-1 victory over Bolton with a similar complaint.

Newcastle (from): Harper, Forster, Beye, N'Zogbia, Enrique, Cacapa, Taylor, Faye, Edgar, Butt, Smith, Milner, Duff, Barton, LuaLua, Owen, Martins, Ameobi, Carroll.

Blackburn (from): Friedel, Emerton, Samba, Rigters, Khizanishvili, Warnock, Tugay, Dunn, Pedersen, Reid, Mokoena, Bentley, Roberts, Berner, Santa Cruz, McCarthy, Derbyshire, Brown.

West Ham United v Chelsea

Bobby Zamora suffered a blow to the knee during Monday's reserve team game against Tottenham and is doubtful. Midfielders Lee Bowyer and Matthew Etherington (both groin) are still out after missing the 1-0 win at Fulham last weekend.

Henri Camara is in contention for a place while England Under-19 striker Freddie Sears is on the verge of breaking into the first team squad after a series of impressive reserve-team performances.

Scott Parker is back in full training after recovering from a knee injury and close to a return, though this weekend is too soon.

Chelsea have no fresh injury worries. Andriy Shevchenko continues to return to match fitness after a prolonged back problem and should be included in the squad.

Avram Grant has allowed Scott Sinclair to go to Charlton on loan, with his squad is at its strongest since he replaced Jose Mourinho in September.

West Ham (from): Green, Wright, Pantsil, Neill, Spector, Upson, Ferdinand, McCartney, Faubert, Ljungberg, Noble, Mullins, Solano, Boa Morte, Cole, Ashton, Camara, Sears.

Chelsea (from): Cech, Cudicini, Hilario, Ferreira, Belletti, Terry, Carvalho, Alex, Ben-Haim, A Cole, Bridge, Lampard, Makelele, Essien, Sidwell, Obi, Malouda, Wright-Phillips, Drogba, Shevchenko, Pizarro, Kalou, J Cole, Ballack, Anelka.

Sunday

Bolton Wanderers v Liverpool, 1.30pm

Gary Megson is able to select from a virtually full strength squad for the visit of Liverpool on Sunday.

The one player definitely unavailable is on-loan midfielder Danny Guthrie, who is ineligible to play against his parent club.

Megson is looking for a reaction from his players after the 4-1 defeat to Blackburn last weekend but may decide to change his line-up by bringing a couple of fresh faces.

Jamie Carragher returns for Liverpool after suspension and will play his 350th league game for the club.

However, Rafael Benitez is unlikely to include defender Daniel Agger in the squad despite the Dane made his comeback from a metatarsal problem in the reserves this week after five months out. Andriy Voronin is back in training after his lengthy spell out with an ankle problem - but is also short of full fitness.

Bolton (from): Jaaskelainen, Hunt, A O'Brien, Cahill, Meite, J O'Brien, Steinsson, Gardner, Stelios, Nolan, Campo, Cohen, Taylor, Diouf, Davies, Helguson, Samuel, McCann, Al Habsi, Alonso, Teymourian.

Liverpool (from): Reina, Finnan, Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Aurelio, Riise, Babel, Kewell, Gerrard, Mascherano, Alonso, Benayoun, Torres, Kuyt, Crouch, Lucas, Itandje.

Everton v Portsmouth, 4pm

Everton are likely to be without Mikel Arteta for the visit of Portsmouth. The Spanish midfielder has this week been in his homeland receiving treatment on a groin injury for the second time in a fortnight and, although manager David Moyes hopes he can play with an injection, it is still proving painful.

Lee Carsley is available as his suspension for accumulated bookings does not come into effect until Monday. But a sickness bug, which has hit Stephen Pienaar and Joseph Yobo in recent weeks, has affected a number of players in training.

Jermain Defoe, Nwankwo Kanu, Milan Baros and winger John Utaka are all in contention for Portsmouth.

Harry Redknapp's concern is that new signing Defoe is ineligible next week for the FA Cup quarter final against Manchester United and may not want to put injury-prone Kanu at risk ahead of the tie in which he could be given a lone role up front.

Utaka, who can also play down the centre, has been on African Cup of Nations duty and has not started a league game since January 1 and David Nugent is still out with a groin injury and looks set to join Ipswich on loan. Pedro Mendes is still out after a minor foot operation.

Everton (from): Howard, Hibbert, Neville, Lescott, Yobo, Jagielka, Baines, Valente, Carsley, Cahill, Osman, Fernandes, Pienaar, Arteta, Johnson, Yakubu, Vaughan, Anichebe, Wessels, Gosling.

Portsmouth (from): James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Diop, Diarra, Muntari, Kranjcar, Kanu, Defoe, Baros, Utaka, Lauren, Davis, Hughes, Aubey, Ashdown.