Manchester City and Chelsea are set to do battle at the Etihad on Monday, a monumental clash that will pit the first-place Citizens against the third-place Blues. Watch Chelsea vs. Manchester City live on TSN2 at 3pm et/Noon pt. City managed to move to the top of the Premier League table by capitalizing on Arsenals 2-2 draw with Southampton on Tuesday, cruising to a 5-1 demolition of Tottenham at White Hart Lane the following day. The Citizens have been in cruise control over the past couple of months, winning its last eight Premier League contests. After suffering defeat at Sunderland on Nov. 10, City has gone on to take a total of 34 points from 12 games. But even in such a rich vein of form, the Citizens only find themselves one point clear of Arsenal at the Premier League summit, and manager Manuel Pellegrini does not think his side deserves to be labeled the title favorites. "I think its too soon to be the favorites - [there are] a lot of matches to play," Pellegrini told the clubs official website after Wednesday defeat of Spurs. "If we continue to play the way we are, we will have chances to win but its early." City boasts an unblemished home record through 11 league matches at the Etihad this term, but Chelsea will be quite motivated to end that spell Monday. Not only did the Blues drop points for the first time in five Premier League outings with a scoreless draw against West Ham on Wednesday, but they can take confidence from their 2-1 win over City at Stamford Bridge in October. Chelsea can lean on its stout defense, which has leaked just three goals in the clubs last eight matches. And with Sergio Aguero, Citys main scoring threat, looking doubtful for Mondays clash, the Blues certainly have a solid opportunity to pick up some valuable road points. Building to Mondays main course is one of Englands fiercest rivalries, taking place at St. James Park in Saturdays early fixture. Newcastle suffered a 2-1 loss at the Stadium of Light earlier in the season, but the Magpies will be hoping to reverse the result when they play host to Sunderland in the latest installment of the Tyne-Wear derby. Manchester United has been rejuvenated by the arrival of Juan Mata, who helped lead the club to a 2-0 defeat of Cardiff City on Tuesday. The Red Devils have taken just two wins from their last four Premier League outings, but the club is hopeful that Mata can bring two successive wins with maximum points at Stoke City on Saturday. Danny Rose, who was harshly sent off in Tottenhams horrific defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday, had his red card rescinded by the English Football Association this week and is available for selection this weekend. Spurs will head to the KC Stadium on Saturday to face a Hull City side that is hoping to snap a four-game slide. Also on Saturday, Fulham will look to avoid a fourth straight defeat when it welcomes Southampton to Craven Cottage, Cardiff City will aim to snap a four- game losing streak when it hosts Norwich City, Aston Villa will attempt to build upon its narrow midweek win with a vital victory over Everton at Goodison Park and West Ham United squares off with Swansea City at Upton Park. On Sunday, Arsenal will look to apply some additional pressure on Chelsea and City by taking three points from its contest with Crystal Palace at the Emirates, and Liverpool heads to the Hawthorns to do battle with West Bromwich Albion. Nike Vapormax Herren Fake . - The Oakland Athletics say they are stopping negotiations to extend their lease at the Coliseum. Vapormax Plus Sale Damen .com) - The Winnipeg Jets placed defenceman Paul Postma on injured reserve Tuesday. http://www.vapormaxschuhe.de/vapormax-damen-deutschland.html. Louis Blues and Buffalo Sabres came to an agreement on a big trade that may only offer incremental improvement to the Blues in their quest for a Stanley Cup. Nvapormax Plus Deutschland . - While a fast-paced offence has become more of a fixture in recent years, the San Antonio Spurs can still grind out games when needed. Nike Vapormax Damen 2020 . Lexie Lou earned a commanding 4 1/2-length win Sunday in the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks.The Vancouver Canucks unloaded an unhappy veteran centre, acquiring three assets in return as new GM Jim Benning starts off his tenure with a major trade. Numbers Game examines the Anaheim Ducks acquiring Ryan Kesler. The Ducks Get: C Ryan Kesler and a third-round pick in 2015. Kesler, 29, has been a very good two-way centre for most of the past seven seasons, scoring at least 20 goals in all six full seasons while missing 31 games during the lockout-shortened 2013 season. He scored 25 goals last season while playing a career-high 21:49 per game, and while Kesler didnt match the outstanding possession numbers he had from 2009 through 2012, he still had positive possession numbers despite facing high quality opposition and starting more of his shifts in the defensive zone, qualities that put him with a sound group of two-way forwards. Holding a no-trade clause, Kesler had control over the situation and that limited Vancouvers options. In Anaheim, Kesler slides into the second-line spot, behind Ryan Getzlaf, and Keslers presence may even free-up Getzlaf a little bit more -- as Getzlaf typically faces a high calibre of opposition with more defensive zone starts. If Kesler takes some of that responsibility, it may allow Getzlaf to get more favourable offensive matchups. While Kesler is a pretty effective shooter, 9.9% or above every year since 2006-2007, his on-ice shooting percentage (which includes the shooting of all others on the ice with him at 5on-5) was his lowest in that span last season, when he played primarily with Chris Higgins on left wing and then a rotating cast of right wingers. The positive of that is that, statistically, hes likely to have better luck next year, in terms of other players shooting percentage, so there may be room for a boost in Keslers production. The Ducks have a variety of young wingers that will be bucking for playing time and a couple of Patrick Maroon, Jakob Silfverberg, Kyle Palmieri, Matt Beleskey, Emerson Etem and Devante Smith-Pelly should have a shot to play on Keslers wings. Anticipating some boost in Keslers production operates on the assumption that he will be getting first-unit power play time because Bonino held that spot with the Ducks last season. For as much as Keslers reputation is built on being a two-way player who can check the oppositions best forwards, hes also been a productive triggerman on the Vancouver power play, ranking among the leaders in power play goals per minute of 5-on-4 play over the past five seasons. Kesler, in addition to being a valuable two-way forward, also comes at a reasonable cost for a veteran player. He has two years remaining on his contract, with a $5-million cap hit. If he plays well over the next couple seasons, there may be a decent chance to get him extended or re-signed, considering that Kesler virtually hand-picked his trade destination. The third-round pick offers about a 30% of chance of netting an NHLer, with maybe a six or seven percent chance of yielding a top-six forward, top-four defenceman or starting goaltender. The Canucks Get: C Nick Bonino, D Luca Sbisa, a first-round and third-round pick.. Bonino is a 26-year-old centre coming off a careerr year, in the first full season that hes played in the NHL.dddddddddddd Boninos 22 goals and 49 points were solid showings, tied for 75th and 72nd, respectively and he scored 20 points on the power play. Bonino has not typically faced tough opposition and has always started more shifts in the offensive zone, yet his possession numbers havent been very good. He was just below break-even last season for the Ducks, but was productive, in part, because he had a high on-ice shooting percentage, which makes Bonino something of a mirror image of Kesler, more likely to see his production fall. Hes not as good, but there was no chance the Ducks were getting a better centre in exchange for a player with a no-trade clause that wanted to be moved out of town. That said, Bonino is an okay option as a second or third-line centre for the Canucks. An inexpensive option for a rebuilding team, signed for three more years at a total cost of $5.7-million, a very reasonable $1.9-million cap hit. Sbisa, 24, was well on his way to a signficant role before he was bypassed on the Ducks depth chart this season. In the previous two years, he had played all but nine games and was up to a career-high 19:50 average time on ice per game last season. The first-round pick of the Flyers in 2008 appeared to be making progress, but then he sprained his ankle in training camp, and later tore tendon in his hand. Those two injuries cost him 41 games and the Ducks had new defencemen -- Ben Lovejoy, Hampus Lindholm, Sami Vatanen -- pull ahead of Sbisa on the depth chart. So, while Sbisa hasnt really established that he can handle a big role, its not unreasonable for the Canucks to put him on their third pairing next year to see if he can get back on track. Sbisa is under contract for one more season, at a cap hit of $2.175-million, after which he will be a restricted free agent. The 24th pick in the draft has typically yielded an NHL player 70% of the time, with a top-six forward, top-four defenceman or starting goaltender 25% of the time. The third-round pick was subsequently moved to the New York Rangers, to acquire veteran winger Derek Dorsett. Dorsett is a 27-year-old who is a willing scrapper, but has also played some tough minutes in a checking role over the past three seasons, with a lot of defensive zone starts. Dorsett is in the final year of a deal that brings a cap hit of $1.633-million. He will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. Will the Canucks be just as good without Ryan Kesler? Not likely. Does this move put them in a decent position going forward, in terms of having assets that they can use to re-shape the team? For sure. Big changes have begun in Vancouver and the first steps may be back before they are in position to move ahead. For the Ducks, theyve raised exectations with the addition of Kesler. They lost in seven games to the eventual Stanley Cup champs and, justifiably, made a move to improve their odds next season by getting a player that they tried to acquire before the trade deadline last season. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '