ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Today Leicester City v Sunderland Manchester City v Swansea City Newcastle United v Queens Park Rangers Stoke City v Burnley Chelsea v West Bromwich Albion Everton v West Ham United Arsenal v Manchester United Sunday 23 November 2014 Crystal Palace v Liverpool Hull City v Tottenham Hotspur Monday 24 November 2014 Aston Villav Southampton Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck’s reunion with former club Manchester United supplies one of the sub-plots as the Premier League resumes this weekend following the international break. Arsenal welcome United to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening for a match that will see both teams attempt to avoid conceding further ground to early-season pace-setters Chelsea. Beaten 2-1 at Swansea City on their last outing, Arsenal approach the weekend in sixth place, 12 points behind leaders Chelsea and a point above United, who edged Crystal Palace 1-0 in their most recent encounter. Welbeck has excelled at centre-forward for both Arsenal and England since leaving United on transfer deadline day in a £16 million ($25.1 million, 20 million euros) transfer. The Manchester-born striker, 23, came through the youth ranks at Old Trafford and his departure prompted former assistant coach Mike Phelan to declare that United’s identity had been “broken”. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has also been boosted by the news that France striker Olivier Giroud is ready to return to action after making a speedy recovery from a broken leg. United received a blow during the international break when Dutch midfielder Daley Blind sustained a knee ligament injury likely to sideline him for several weeks. But although they face ongoing injury problems in defence, goalkeeper David de Gea and midfielders Michael Carrick and Angel di Maria should all be fit to face Arsenal despite sustaining knocks on international duty. The season may be only 11 games old, but complacency and rank misfortune already seem the only factors capable of preventing Chelsea from romping to a first league title since 2010. A 2-1 win at Liverpool enabled Jose Mourinho’s side to open up an eight-point lead over reigning champions Manchester City prior to the international window, and Arsenal, United and Liverpool are even further back. Chelsea host West Bromwich Albion on Saturday and will hope to see top scorer Diego Costa firing on all cylinders after he was left out of the Spain squad to rest his troublesome hamstrings. The only team who have threatened to keep pace with Chelsea are Southampton, who trail the leaders by four points ahead of their trip to Aston Villa in the Monday night game.
