MANCHESTER (AP):

Chelsea can open up an eight-point lead over Manchester City for the second time this season by beating its Premier League title rival today, in the most pivotal match of the campaign so far.

Having worked so hard in December to get back on level terms with Chelsea, City has allowed José Mourinho's team to pull clear again after drawing at Everton and losing at home to Arsenal in their last two league games.

With question marks also hanging over the fitness of key centre midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who came off with a hamstring injury against Liverpool, Chelsea could be without arguably its two best players this season.

subplot

Another subplot is the return of City midfielder Frank Lampard to Chelsea, for whom he played for 13 years and where he is the club's record scorer with 211 goals.

Manchester United manager, Louis van Gaal, must decide whether to stick to his preferred 3-5-2 formation or go with a 4-4-2 set-up demanded by the club's increasingly frustrated fans, when the 20-time champions host Leicester.

United has won only two of its last six games in all competitions, and is reeling from being held 0-0 by fourth-tier Cambridge in the FA Cup on Friday.

A torrent of injuries has deprived Arsenal of so many of its best players this season. Now, though, manager Arsene Wenger has a very different kind of selection dilemma.

With Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey back after long-term problems and playmaker Tomas Rosicky in brilliant form, Wenger has a wealth of attacking riches at his disposal as his fifth-place team looks to climb back into the Champions League positions.

One point behind

Arsenal, with four straight wins in all competitions, is one point behind United going into the weekend, when it hosts struggling Aston Villa tomorrow.

West Brom hosts Tottenham, which is fresh off reaching the League Cup final, today.