The football weekend ahead

What an exciting weekend of football there is ahead.

Starting at the top, it's third versus fourth in the Premiership as Aston Villa take on Chelsea in a 12.45pm kick-off at Villa Park.

Although it will not be easy for Chelsea, I am backing the Blues to win this one. They will have been well-prepared by Guus Hiddink during the week and, though it has not been a good idea to bet against Martin O'Neil's Villa side very often this season, they have had a busy time of late.

There were many Villa players who flew out to Spain for England friendly just over a week ago. They may have only had to play on the Sunday afterwards, but this week they have then had a tough UEFA Cup home tie with CSKA Moscow and face an early kick-off on Saturday. How Martin O'Neil must be loathing the television schedules right now. His side will be tired an I expect that to be a factor in why they will lose to Chelsea tomorrow.

Elsewhere, I expect Arsenal to beat Sunderland, on-form Manchester United to beat Blackburn at Old Trafford and for Liverpool to beat Man City, another side who played in Europe, at Anfield on Sunday.

Towards the bottom, Bolton will prove tricky for West Ham and should win their home game, Wigan are capable of a win at Middlesbrough and, though Portsmouth should be an improved side now that Adams has left, they will achieve a draw at most with Stoke.

My 'tip of the day' in The Championship is Preston to win at Southampton. Despite North End's away form being far inferior to home form this season, I expect them to beat the Saints, who have won only once at St Mary's Stadium and have not won in their previous five matches.

I also forecast Burnley to win at struggling Norwich, QPR to beat Ipswich, Birmingham to win at Coventry and Nottingham Forest to avenge their loss earlier this month against Derby.

In League One, in-form Huddersfield will win at Crewe, Leeds will recover from two successive losses to beat Cheltenham, and Peterborough will win at Hereford.

In League Two, Bradford will continue their good form, after two impressive win at Gillingham and at home to my beloved Wycombe, as they win at Barnet. Brentford will not be able to stop Rochdale scoring, but the Bees have luck on their side at the moment and will scrape a two-one victory and Darlington and Gillingham will beat Grimsby and Macclesfield respectively.