Top 5 All to Win?

As the title race hots up, as well as the battle for Champions League spots, the big teams are likely to go through the gears. This weekend the chances of all the top five winning is regarded as an 8/1 shot by Victor Chandler.

On Saturday the Manchester sides may be seen to have the easiest assignments. Leaders United travel to bottom side Wolves and cold-hearted logic would surely suggest a routine away victory. City look out of sorts but a home fixture against a West Brom team who dream of being merely out of sorts should fit the bill. The Baggies have won once in nine attempts and have gone 22 games without a clean sheet. A total of 45 goals conceded this season is the worst in the league and largely explains their tumble down the table.

Fifth-placed Spurs entertain a Bolton side who triumphed 4-2 when the sides met at the Reebok in November. But Tottenham were coming off a famous Champions League win over Inter on that occasion and tend to be much tougher at White Hart Lane. Bolton have lost their last five away fixtures - their worst sequence in over 15 years.

On paper the toughest task facing one of the top five on Saturday appears to lie with Arsenal who travel to St James’s Park. Newcastle are still coming to terms with life after Andy Carroll and the mood won’t have been helped by an injury to Shola Ameobi that could keep him out for up to six weeks. While always a difficult place for an away team to claim maximum points Arsenal will travel there with the belief that comes with six straight wins in all competitions.

So if those four games go to form then punters could head into Sunday one Chelsea win away from an 8/1 payout. This would add a little extra spice to a fixture already bubbling over with intrigue thanks to the £50m arrival of Fernando Torres who is all set to line up against his former Liverpool team-mates. The script has surely been written for the Spanish striker so the top five bonanza could really be on.