Manchester United will kick off the action on Saturday hoping to extend their advantage at the top of the table.
As ever, espnstar.com brings you all the team news ahead of Saturday's crunch encounters as the amazing race for the Premier League hots up.
Middlesbrough vs Manchester UnitedWes Brown returns to the Manchester United squad for the first time since the end of January as Sir Alex Ferguson's men look to take another step towards clinching the Premier League title by winning at Middlesbrough.
With Rio Ferdinand ruled out by a rib injury, Brown has been drafted into the United squad as cover for Jonny Evans following his recovery from a foot injury.
Ferguson is promising a number of changes, which could include the introductions of Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney, although more senior players could be involved than he first indicated immediately after United's Champions League win over Arsenal.
Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate will check on a series of minor knocks before naming his side.
Only Emanuel Pogatetz (knee) and Chris Riggott (ankle) have been ruled out of the game at the Riverside and Southgate is hopeful they will be the only absentees.
French midfielder Didier Digard, who was used as a substitute in the 2-0 defeat at Arsenal last Sunday after a lengthy lay-off, will once again be in contention, although he is short of full match-fitness.
Teams:
Middlesbrough (from): Jones, Turnbull, Hoyte, McMahon, Taylor, Grounds, Wheater, Huth, Hines, Aliadiere, Tuncay, Bates, O'Neil, Walker, Shawky, Downing, Johnson, Digard, Alves, King.
Manchester United (from): Van der Sar, Foster, Kuszczak, O'Shea, Rafael, Brown, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Ronaldo, Nani, Scholes, Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson, Park, Giggs, Rooney, Tevez, Berbatov, Macheda, Welbeck.
Chelsea vs FulhamChelsea are without midfielder Deco and defender Ricardo Carvalho for the visit of Fulham.
The pair are struggling to regain fitness following hamstring problems.
Joe Cole and Paulo Ferreira are out for the season with knee ligament injuries.
Fulham striker Andrew Johnson is unavailable for the trip to due to the knee injury he suffered in last weekend's 1-0 win over Stoke.
The former Everton striker has slight damage to knee ligaments, however, he is expected to be fit in time for next weekend's visit of Aston Villa.
Bobby Zamora will start in Johnson's place after he was passed fit after suffering a back spasm against the Potters and will partner Erik Nevland, who scored last week's winner after replacing him, up front.
Simon Davies will miss the remainder of the season as he needs surgery on a foot problem while Giles Barnes will miss the trip to Stamford Bridge with an Achilles injury. The midfielder is expected to return to training next week.
Teams
Chelsea (from): Cech, Hilario, Belletti, Alex, Ivanovic, A Cole, Bosingwa, Mancienne, Terry, Lampard, Ballack, Obi, Kalou, Essien, Malouda, Di Santo, Anelka, Stoch, Drogba.
Fulham (from): Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Baird, Dempsey, Murphy, Etuhu, Gera, Zamora, Nevland, Kamara, Dacourt, Gray, Stoor, Zuberbuhler.
Manchester City vs Blackburn
Mark Hughes will give Micah Richards every chance to recover from a knee injury as Manchester City bid to record a third successive Premier League win at home to Blackburn.
With Shaun Wright-Phillips (ankle) almost certainly ruled out, Hughes is set to name an unchanged line-up if Richards can prove his fitness.
Gelson Fernandes stands by to replace the England defender as the Blues look to close the gap on seventh-placed Fulham.
Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce has confirmed that David Dunn will miss the remaining four games of the season after an operation on his Achilles.
Allardyce said: "David has not been able to overcome the pain he has suffered in recent weeks, so we have had to make the big decision to let him have an operation."
Blackburn will again be without strikers Roque Santa Cruz (knee) and Jason Roberts (fractured metatarsal) in their bid to avoid relegation.
Teams:
Man City (from): Given, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Bridge, Elano, Ireland, De Jong, Kompany, Robinho, Bojinov, Caicedo, Garrido, Fernandes, Evans, Etuhu, Clayton, McGivern, Berti, Hart, Petrov.
Blackburn (from): Robinson, Bunn, Ooijer, Khizanishvili, Nelsen, Samba, Simpson, Warnock, Givet, Olsson, Villanueva, Tugay, Andrews, Diouf, Treacy, Mokoena, McCarthy, Pedersen, Grella, Doran.
Portsmouth vs ArsenalJermaine Pennant and Younes Kaboul could be recalled to Portsmouth's starting line-up for the home meeting with Arsenal but midfielder Niko Kranjcar (ankle) has been ruled out for the rest of the season.
Former Arsenal winger Pennant, on loan from Liverpool, has started on the substitutes' bench for the last three games but, with David Nugent aggravating a hip injury in Monday's draw at Newcastle, could be drafted in by manager Paul Hart, who admits "a few other bumps and bruises" among his squad.
Defender Kaboul has missed the last two matches with a thigh injury but has started training again.
Armand Traore, on loan from Arsenal, has not figured at all since Hart took over as boss in February and is ineligible.
Arsenal will be without leading scorer Robin van Persie, striker Eduardo and defender Mikael Silvestre (all groin).
However, Andrey Arshavin is available again having been cup-tied for the midweek Champions League semi-final, first leg at Manchester United as manager Arsene Wenger looks set to rotate his side.
Left-back Gael Clichy (back) remains sidelined, while centre-half William Gallas (knee) and long-term absentee Tomas Rosicky will miss the rest of the campaign.
Teams:
Portsmouth (from): James; Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Kaboul, Pennant, Mullins, Hughes, Davis, Belhadj, Crouch, Kanu, Utaka, Basinas, Pamarot, Cranie, Gekas, Wilson, Begovic.
Arsenal (from): Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Djourou, Gibbs, Arshavin, Denilson, Song, Eboue, Bendtner, Vela, Fabianski, Nasri, Fabregas, Walcott, Adebayor, Diaby, Ramsey.
Stoke vs West HamStoke striker James Beattie could return to the side for the Barclays Premier League match against West Ham at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
He faces a fitness test on his injured thigh after sitting out the defeat by Fulham at the weekend.
Full-back Andy Wilkinson remains doubtful with a back problem while Amdy Faye, Danny Higginbotham, Mamady Sidibe and Salif Diao are all ruled out.
West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola has no fresh injury worries ahead of the clash.
Jack Collison (knee) is back in full training and Carlton Cole (groin) is undergoing a specialised programme but neither will be ready.
Scott Parker (groin) and James Collins (calf) will also miss out, while Valon Behrami (knee)and Danny Gabbidon (back/stomach) are long-term absentees.
Teams:
Stoke (from): Sorensen, Wilkinson, Griffin, Shawcross, Abdoulaye Faye, Davies, Dickinson, Lawrence, Delap, Whelan, Etherington, Fuller, Beattie, Simonsen, Cresswell, Pugh, Kelly, Olofinjana, Tonge, Sonko, Camara, Cort.
West Ham (from): Green, Neill, Illunga, Upson, Tomkins, Dyer, Boa Morte, Noble, Stanislas, Di Michele, Tristan, Lastuvka, Lopez, Savio, Kovac, Spector, Sears, Payne, Hines.
Tottenham vs West Brom
West Brom defender Abdoulaye Meite has suffered another injury setback and is ruled out of Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash with Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
Meite, who has started just 16 league games since his £2million move from Bolton last summer, picked up a hamstring injury during the 3-0 home win over Sunderland last weekend. Youngster Shelton Martis is set to deputise.
Graham Dorrans is battling to overcome a foot injury while fellow midfielder James Morrison is again ruled out with a heel problem.
Tottenham have strikers Jermain Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko back in their squad.
Defoe missed the defeat at Manchester United because of a family bereavement, while Pavlyuchenko is returning from a back injury, giving Spurs options as Darren Bent (knee) is out.
Michael Dawson (ankle) will also miss out but Fraizer Campbell is in contention after being ineligible for Old Trafford.
Teams:
Tottenham (from): Gomes, Corluka, King, Woodgate, Assou-Ekotto, Huddlestone, Lennon, Jenas, Pavlyuchenko, Modric, Keane, Palacios, Cudicini, Bale, Zokora, Bentley, Chimbonda, O'Hara, Hutton, Defoe.
West Brom (from): Carson, Zuiverloon, Martis, Olsson, Robinson, Brunt, Greening, Koren, Dorrans, Simpson, Fortune, Kiely, Teixeira, Menseguez, Valero, Mulumbu, Wood, Bednar, Cech, Do-Heon.
Wigan vs Bolton
Bolton manager Gary Megson expects to have defenders Ricardo Gardner and Danny Shittu available for the trip to Barclays Premier League rivals Wigan.
Gardner has been nursing a hamstring injury and Shittu has been troubled by a calf strain, forcing both men to miss last weekend's clash against Aston Villa.
Yet the pair should be passed fit along with Andy O'Brien (cramp), leaving midfield knee injury victims Mark Davies and Joey O'Brien as the Trotters' only absentees.
Wigan striker Mido is recovering well from a shoulder problem and should be fit.
The on-loan Middlesbrough forward came off at half-time in last week's defeat to Blackburn but manager Steve Bruce expects the Egypt international to take his place in the starting line-up.
Fellow striker Amr Zaki may be given his first start alongside his compatriot since March 4 as Wigan look to end a three-match losing run.
Teams:
Wigan (from): Kirkland, Pollitt, Kingson, Melchiot, Figueroa, Edman, Boyce, Bramble, Scharner, Valencia, Koumas, De Ridder, Cattermole, Brown, Watson, N'Zogbia, Kapo, Zaki, Mido, Rodallega, Sibierski.
Bolton (from): Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Shittu, Samuel, Taylor, Muamba, McCann, Gardner, Elmander, Basham, K Davies, Al Habsi, Hunt, Smolarek, Puygrenier, Cohen, A O'Brien.
