The English Premier League returns after a busy midweek of European action, and Manchester City have the opportunity to build on a 3-0 victory against Villarreal in the UEFA Champions League when they travel to the capital to face Queens Park Rangers.

City are currently five points clear and go to Loftus Road on the back of five consecutive league wins, although QPR recently disposed of Chelsea at their home ground.

Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool all have home matches that they will expect to take maximum points from, while Chelsea face lowly Blackburn.

Tottenham, along with City and Liverpool, are the in-form side in the top flight and they come up against London rivals Fulham tomorrow.

Manchester City are sitting pretty at the top of the league table and appear to be getting stronger with each week. Having accustomed themselves to life in the Champions League, Roberto Mancini’s charges have won every match since their defeat to Bayern Munich in September. It all sounds very ominous for Neil Warnock and QPR, who host City. However, Rangers are tough to beat at home.

Newcastle play Everton at St James’ Park, with the Magpies still on a remarkable run - third in the table and unbeaten this season. Few would have predicted such form at the beginning of the campaign, and praise must go to Alan Pardew and his players who have been the revelation this term.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson played Wayne Rooney in midfield during the Champions League meeting with Otelul Galati on Wednesday night, and while he described the attacker as United’s ‘best player’, Rooney is likely to be back in attack for the clash with Sunderland at Old Trafford. Steve Bruce returns to the club where he made a name for himself as a player and he has seen an upturn in form for the Black Cats in recent games. Ferguson has been celebrating 25 years at United this week and a win would cap off the milestone in fitting fashion.

Andre Villas-Boas is certainly making his mark at Chelsea, but the Blues’ attempts to be more adventurous going forward have somewhat backfired of late. A 5-3 defeat to Arsenal last weekend was a stunning result which was in no small part down to some woeful defending from Chelsea. They go to Blackburn, where Steve Kean appears to be leading a charmed life, and anything less than a win will increase the pressure on the Portuguese coach.

Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham face Fulham tomorrow afternoon and go into the London derby in fine form. The Cottagers also played on Thursday night against Wisla Krakow, but were at home and spared an arduous trip across Europe.

Liverpool are unbeaten in seven matches and go into their clash with Swansea full of confidence. It was a victory at West Brom last time out for the Reds but they will once again be without their captain, Steven Gerrard, who faces a spell on the sidelines with an ankle infection. A win for Liverpool would see them, at least temporarily, move into fifth above Spurs as the league takes shape and front runners in the race for a top-four finish emerge.

West Brom will be facing Arsenal and a positive result will be hard to come by at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners have not been beaten since their derby reverse at the hands of Tottenham at the start of October and in Robin van Persie they have a striker in red-hot form. The Dutchman came off the bench in the 0-0 draw with Marseille in midweek but is sure to start today following his exploits during the victory over Chelsea.

The Wigan-Wolves match tomorrow looks like a relegation clash though it is still too early in the season.

In the other matches, Aston Villa face Norwich City while Bolton Wanderers host Stoke City.