Alan Pardew's infamous headbutting incident would surely haunt him for the rest of his career, as Newcastle begin a stretch of seven games without him at the touchline.

A match against Fulham, which has the worst defensive record in the League, might not expose the loss of Pardew, but tough upcoming games against Everton, Manchester United and Swansea might find the team drifting further away from the current position in the table.

Manchester City exited out of the FA Cup and the Champions League in consecutive matches, as the team's lofty dream for a quadruple crashed spectacularly.

With only the League title to play for now, it would be interesting to see how Manuel Pellegrini motivates his (jaded) squad to catch up with Chelsea at the top of the table.

Having games in hand is convenient, but City might ultimately succumb to mounting pressure.

Chelsea travel to Villa Park to face a team with a dismal home record. But there is no doubt that the "Special One" will stop heaping the pressure on City, even if his men overcome Aston Villa with ease.

Luis Suarez is sure to lead his team to a fine victory over a struggling United squad at Old Trafford.

With the current form of the champions nobody would argue with this prediction. But United has a great chance to play spoilers, and Wayne Rooney & Co. would be raring to peg back Brendan Rodgers' team's momentum.

The North London Derby between Tottenham and Arsenal at White Hart Lane pips the United-Liverpool match for the MOTD.

Arsene Wenger's squad came back from Bayern Munich with their dignity intact, but the Spurs have suffered two damaging losses in the last week and could be ripe picking for the Gunners even with the absence of talisman Mesut Ozil.