Manchester City versus Chelsea (week 6's big match)

Man City is desperate for Micah Richards to be fit enough to play Saturday versus Chelsea to avoid a nightmare scenario of putting Gareth Barry, James Milner, or Adam Johnson on the back line versus an explosive Chelsea squad. 

This lack of defensive presence weighed in heavily with Man City's surprise loss to West Brom in the Carling Cup third round. 

Lack of posts today

Sorry for the lack of posts today, I will pick up the slack tomorrow with several stories floating around the EPL world. 

Carling Cup Round 3 Day 2 Results

• Aston Villa 3 Blackburn 1
• Newcastle 4 Chelsea 3
• Manchester United 5 Scunthorpe United 2
• Wigan 2 Preston North End 1
• Liverpool 2 Northampton 2 Shootout Northampton 4-2
• West Brom 2 Manchester City 1

Carling Cup Round Three Day 1 Results

• Birmingham 3 Milton Keynes Dons 1
• Stoke City 2 Fulham 0
• West Ham 2 Sunderland 1
• Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1
• Wolverhampton 4 Notts County 2
• Burnley 1 Bolton 0
• Brentford 1 Everton 1--- Brentford wins Shootout 4-3

Carling Cup Matches

Today is the beginning of round 3 of the English Carling Cup tournament.  10 EPL teams will be in action today.

• Birmingham v Milton Keynes Dons 14:45 ET
• Brentford v Everton 14:45 ET
• Stoke City v Fulham 14:45 ET
• Burnley v Bolton Wanderers 14:45 ET
• Sunderland v West Ham United 14:45 ET
• Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal 14:45 ET
• Wolverhampton Wanderers v Notts County 14:45 ET

The other 9 teams still in competition will play on Wednesday.

• Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers
• Wigan Athletic v Preston North End
• Chelsea v Newcastle United
• Liverpool v Northampton Town
• Scunthorpe United v Manchester United
• West Bromwish United v Manchester City

Cesc Fabregas out 3 weeks

In one of the flukiest goals you will ever see, Cesc Fabregas ended up injuring himself and will miss 3 weeks.  Cesc was blocking a clearance attempt from about 35 yards out, pretty regular, and it deflected off his leg and went over the goalie's head into the net.  The sheer force of the kick ended up injuring Fabregas' hamstring. 

Getty Images

Dimitar Berbatov

Dimitar Berbatov has been a controversial figure for Manchester United since his transfer from Tottenham to become a member of the Red Devils in 2008.  The United support has never been entirely convinced of Berbatov's value, with his languid style not really endearing him to the fans since his club record £30.75 million move from Spurs. 

Chelsea 4 - 0 Blackpool

Chelsea moved four points clear at the top of the Premier League with a comfortable victory over new boys Blackpool at Stamford Bridge.
 

Wigan Athletic 0 - 2 Manchester City

Carlos Tevez inspired Manchester City to shrug off their sluggish start to the season as they beat Wigan 2-0 at the DW Stadium.
 

Manchester United 3 - 2 Liverpool

Sir Alex Ferguson was indebted to the "genius" of Dimitar Berbatov after the Bulgarian's brilliant hat-trick floored Liverpool at Old Trafford.