LONDON (AP) In less than two weeks, Chelsea has damaged both its Premier League and Champions League chances. After a triumphant 6-0 drubbing of Arsenal last month, Jose Mourinho's team looked set for a strong finish and was expected to fight toe to toe with Manchester City and Liverpool in a three-way battle for the league title.
But Chelsea then slumped to a surprise 1-0 loss at the hands of Crystal Palace before poor defending led to a 3-1 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinals. The Blues are facing a tricky domestic encounter on Saturday as a resurgent Stoke side travels to Stamford Bridge on the back of three consecutive wins.
Ahead of Sunday's match at West Ham, Liverpool leads second-place Chelsea by two points while Manchester City is four points off the pace, with two games in hand.
Here are five things to know about this weekend's Premier League matches:
1. MISFIRING CHELSEA
Chelsea is slowing down, having lost three of its last five games after just one defeat in the previous 17 matches. The defeats against Crystal Palace and PSG have exposed Chelsea's defensive weakness and the lack of quality in Mourinho's current strike force.
Following his poor display against Palace, Fernando Torres did not start the match in Paris as Mourinho picked Andre Schurrle to play in a central role rather than Demba Ba. On the other half of the pitch, PSG coach Laurent Blanc displayed a lineup featuring Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi, who scored the opening goal.
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Chelsea's manager Jose Mourinho watches his team …
Chelsea's manager Jose Mourinho watches his team plays from the technical area during a Champion …
"I'm not happy with my strikers' performances, so I have to try things," Mourinho said. "With Andre at least I know we have one more player to have the ball, we have one more player to associate with the other players. Football is also about scoring goals. That is for strikers, for real strikers. I had to try."
2 RESURGENT STOKE
Tenth-placed Stoke is seven points from equaling its best Premier League points tally and is aiming to finish in the top half of the table for the first time since gaining promotion in 2008.
"We can go to Chelsea with their confidence knocked and ours sky high, and we have to take advantage of that," said in-form midfielder Stephen Ireland. "Hopefully we can capitalize and win there as well."
Stoke has not lost since a 1-0 defeat at Manchester City at the end of February and Mark Hughes's team beat the Blues 3-2 last December.
"Looking at the games we have left, it's a real opportunity to pick up as many points as we possibly can," Ireland said. "We can't take our foot off the gas and hopefully we can break the records we have been set out to do."
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West Ham United's Andy Carroll, left, vies for …
West Ham United's Andy Carroll, left, vies for the ball with Sunderland's captain Wes Brown, …
3. AGUERO SET FOR RETURN
Manchester City's hopes of winning the title is in its own hands. But before wrapping up a second Premier League crown in the space of three seasons, Manuel Pellegrini's team is facing two hard tests. The first comes on Saturday at home against Southampton before a trip to Liverpool for the most crucial match City faces until the end of the season.
City has lost only one game at the Etihad this season, scoring 43 goals and conceding only nine, but Pellegrini will be wary after his side was held to a 1-1 draw by the Saints in their first clash this season.
"We have eight games more, so there are a lot of points to fight for, so the most important thing for us is to win the next match against Southampton," Pellegrini said.
According to the Manchester Evening News, City striker Sergio Aguero is set to return to the squad against Southampton after three weeks out with a hamstring injury. Aguero is unlikely to start against the Saints but Pellegrini is hoping to put him on the bench before including him in the starting lineup at Anfield.
4. BERAHINO WON'T SUE MORRISON
West Brom striker Saido Berahino has ruled out legal action against teammate James Morrison after being punched by the midfielder during a dressing room brawl.
The England Under-21 striker considered pressing charges after the row which followed their 3-3 draw with Cardiff last weekend but the Baggies said Berahino is now focusing on Saturday's match at Norwich that could prove crucial in the fight against relegation. No disciplinary action has been taken by the club but the fight left Berahino with facial injuries.
West Brom is currently one place above the relegation zone, trailing Norwich by three points.
5. CARROLL OUT FOR REVENGE
Former Liverpool striker Andy Carroll can ruin his former club's title ambitions as the Reds travel to West Ham on Sunday. Carroll will be playing against Liverpool for the first time since he signed a a six-year deal with the Hammer last summer after spending the previous season on loan in east London.
Carroll is enjoying a good spell of form and scored the opening goal with a powerful header in a 2-1 win over Sunderland on Monday.
6. TITLE CHELSEA'S TO LOSE
A win for Chelsea at Aston Villa on Saturday would lift Jose Mourinho's team to 69 points and 10 points clear of Liverpool and Arsenal, who don't play until Sunday.
Whatever the Portuguese manager says about preferring to be in Manchester City's position nine points behind Chelsea in fourth place but with three games in hand there is no doubt that the South London club is ideally placed to win its first title in four years.
Mourinho, though, keeps pretending his team is the one under pressure, despite evidence that City's form is dipping. After dropping points at Norwich and losing to Wigan in the FA Cup, Manuel Pellegrini's side has been knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona.
"Our next objective is top three, as that gives us direct qualification (to the Champions League group stage). If at a certain point our distance to fourth is big, I will say we will think a bit more, but objective now is top three. If Man City win three games in hand, which they can, they are top," Mourinho said.
7. RED ALERT AT LUNCHTIME
Liverpool has not finished above Manchester United in the Premier League for 12 years, but the Reds' agony looks about to end. For once, Brendan Rodgers' players are travelling to their bitter rivals as favorites, having played a superb attacking football the whole season.
The Reds are 11 points ahead of United in the standings and have scored 73 goals in the league this season, 27 more than David Moyes' team and more than any other club. United has shown signs of improvement recently but a first loss at Old Trafford against Liverpool since a 4-1 drubbing five years ago would not be a surprise.
"To see Man City doing well, and particularly Liverpool, is really difficult," United striker Wayne Rooney told Inside United magazine. "It's not nice when we know we are capable of being up there challenging and we haven't been doing that this season. However, it means we have to step up and get back up there because the feeling we've had this season is not a nice feeling at all to have"
8. SPURS LOOKING FOR REDEMPTION
Another fierce local rivalry is taking center stage as Tottenham hosts third-place Arsenal in North London. The derby at White Hart Lane is crucial for both teams as they can't afford to lose more points in the pursuit of their respective goals this season: the title for Arsenal and a Champions League berth for fifth-place Tottenham.
But pride will also be at stake. Spurs' hopes of finishing in the top four have been damaged by their 4-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge last weekend, when coach Tim Sherwood criticized his players for their lack of character. Sherwood has told his players they need to show a better face if they want to commit their future to the club.
"We spent more than two hours in a meeting amongst the players and we said what we had to say," midfielder Sandro said. "Every player had their fair share to say, put it that way. I think that is positive from ourselves and we have to show in the next match that we can do much better. And we will prove that. I am sure we will show much more character in the next matches."
9.. BENDTNER INCIDENT
Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner is facing disciplinary actions for another off-field issue, in a season that has seen highly limited playing time for the Dane. Inconsistent performances have marred the 26-year-old striker's career in recent years and he has not played for the Gunners since early February.
Bendtner is now also facing a club fine for an alleged drunken incident in Copenhagen earlier this week.
British news agency Press Association reported that Bendtner threatened a taxi driver in Copenhagen on the night his teammates exited the Champions League to Bayern Munich in Germany. The forward is claimed to have unbuttoned his trousers and rubbed against the taxi.
10, 2008 SPIRIT
Fulham's classic stadium Craven Cottage is in danger of losing Premier League football next season as the London club is three points adrift at the foot of the table, four points from safety.
With nine matches remaining before the end of the season, the Cottagers have no room for mistake against Newcastle at home on Saturday. Team captain Brede Hangeland has warned his teammates they need to battle harder to recapture the spirit of 2008, when they escaped relegation in the closing stages of the season.