Five things to watch in the Premier League this weekend

FRANK LAMPARD MEETS HIS MAKER

Easily the game of the weekend is at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon as Chelsea travel to Manchester City. There will be added spice this to this fixture this year as former Chelsea legend Frank Lampard will be playing in blue, but the light blue of City following his loan move from New York City.

Lampard is Chelsea’s all-time leading goalscorer having racked up 211 goals in 648 appearances. His glittering 13-year career coincided with 11 major trophies being added to the Stamford Bridge trophy cabinet.

It will most likely be an emotional occasion for Lampard, who has only played one game so far this season. Chelsea’s other favourite son, Didier Drogba, who returned to the Bridge this season, has said "I think he still belongs to us" showing the respect is reciprocated on both sides.

Coming into the game, Chelsea have the only 100 per cent winning record left in the league and top goalscorer Diego Costa has been deemed fit by manager Jose Mourinho.

City have not looked too convincing so far this season, other than the rumbling of Liverpool at the Etihad, and disappointed midweek against Bayern raising questions of Yaya Toure’s commitment to the club.

I can see a win for the boys in blue this week, but unfortunately for Frank it will be for the London-based version rather than the his new adopted Manchester one.

HAVE MAN UNITED TURNED A CORNER?

Manchester United head to newly promoted Leicester on Sunday hoping to continue on from their 4-0 thrashing of QPR last week.

They may find Leicester a different beast to Rangers however as the Foxes have had a steady start to the season, only a narrow defeat to Chelsea the blot on their record.

Tottenham fans will concur that a big win over QPR does not mean you have “turned the corner” as they followed up their big win over Rangers with a thumping defeat at home from Liverpool.

The signs are good for United however as Angel Di Maria has look inspired with the ball in midfield and the possibility of Radamel Falcao starting up front could be a dream combination.

With all the focus on United’s £150m new signings it may be Leicester’s big summer signing Leonardo Ulloa who is the star of the show though. With three goals this season so far, teams have struggled to deal with the strength of the Argentine.

NO STURRIDGE, NO GOALS?

Aside from the dismantling of Spurs, Liverpool have looked very ordinary so far this season. They head to West Ham on Saturday evening hoping for another win in the capital.

Defeat at home to Aston Villa followed by an even more unconvincing performance at home to Bulgarian Champions Ludogrets in midweek has started to raise question marks on their ability to continue last season’s great form.

The situation has seemed to go from bad to worse with Daniel Sturridge getting injured on international duty, which Brendan Rodgers has been very vocal about his dismay with, as Liverpool struggle for goals.

New signing Mario Balotelli inevitably will take time to settle and Raheem Sterling not always being deployed behind the forwards means the threat is not quite as it was with Sturridge and Luis Suarez last year.

However, Liverpool fans can take solace in the fact that in these same four fixtures last season they gained four points and have gained six this season whilst not looking near their best.

West Ham are having problems of their own, with no win so far at Upton Park, but put in an encouraging display at Hull in midweek. New signing Enner Valencia scored a wonder strike which his manager, Sam Allardyce, will be hoping he can repeat in front of his home fans.

CAN VILLA KEEP THE EFFICIENCY UP?

It’s quite amazing that a team who has had six shots on target so far this season is second in the league. The question, which will be answered in the coming weeks, is whether this is pure luck or faultless tactics and efficiency.

Arsenal visit Villa Park on Saturday on the back of three straight draws hoping to get into their stride before Chelsea make an even bigger gap at the top.

There are lots of question marks over a number of Arsenal’s big players, mostly Mesut Ozil. After his surging start to last season he dwindled towards the end and has continued the form into this season putting in some lacklustre performances.

Even new signing Alexis Sanchez has come under fire as it was widely expected he would set the Premier League alight from the off. He may have cooled the circling vultures for now with a great finish against Manchester City last week, but in the Premier League it doesn’t take much of a dip in form for the pitchforks to re-emerge.

A similar display to the one they put in last week at Anfield could see Villa stifle the Gunners and continue their solid start to the season.

THE UNDERDOGS

Southampton visit Swansea on Saturday in what is a top of the table clash (fourth and third respectively) with both camps being pleasantly happy with their starts to the season.

Southampton had a well-publicised squad exodus with Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal taking at least one player each. Also a new manager was installed in Ronald Koeman and a real struggle this season was expected to ensue.

However, since a narrow defeat at Anfield, the Saints have gone unbeaten and scored seven goals in their last two games.

Swansea have won three out of four only being defeated by league leaders and title favourites Chelsea last weekend. Manager Gary Monk was not as active in the market as the new Saints boss but captain Ashley Williams says: "I think the squad is a lot stronger to be honest" than it was last season.

Both teams play attractive football and could rival the clash at the Etihad as game of the weekend.