London - After a fortnight of upsets, leaders Liverpool and second-placed Chelsea will be looking to rediscover the winning habit this weekend in the latest round of English Premier League matches.

Liverpool top the table by a point from Chelsea despite drawing their past two games, both at home, while the Londoners were beaten at home by Arsenal and drew with Newcastle a week before.

Those results have allowed champions Manchester United to close the gap in third - they are now six points behind Liverpool with a game in hand - and both the top two know they must pick up their performances.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, though, said his team were exactly where they want to be, despite the frustration of home draws with Fulham and West Ham United.

"Everybody was disappointed, we could have won," Benitez said. "But we have one more point and are at the top of the table, so things are still really positive.

"We were talking at the start of the season about being contenders in December, and this time last season we were nine points behind Arsenal, but now we are one point clear of Chelsea, so we are in a fantastic position and really pleased to be here."

Liverpool make the short trip to struggling Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, with Fernando Torres likely to be out for most of the month as he recovers from his hamstring strain.

The Reds have lost at Blackburn only once in the past decade and with Chelsea and now United breathing down their necks, Benitez said his team needed to retain their focus.

"We need to keep motivating each other and keep working hard, and hopefully at the end we will be fighting for something important," he said.

Chelsea will be hoping to right their ship after a faltering fortnight which saw them knocked off the top.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, who has come in for some criticism in recent weeks, takes his side to Bolton Wanderers, where Nicolas Anelka will face his former side.

Didier Drogba is also available again after suspension but with Bolton on a run of four wins from their past five games.

But chief executive Peter Kenyon said this week that he had no doubt Scolari would get his team back on track sooner rather than later.

"You get weeks like the one we have just had and we are not used to it, thank goodness," he said.

"But you have to put it in the context of a long season. Felipe has made a huge impact on the way and style that we play, that has been pretty immediate, and we are in the most competitive league in the world and to be (second) at the moment, you can't be disappointed about that."

Champions United welcome a Sunderland side to Old Trafford who are in freefall at the moment, and with the growing sense that they could be coming good at the right time.

Carlos Tevez scored four goals in the Carling Cup in midweek and is pushing for a starting place, having found himself fourth in the pecking order this season, behind Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Dimitar Berbatov.

"The great bonus we have now is players like Carlos are all coming into form," United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said. "It makes my job more difficult, of course, but it makes the club stronger."

Fourth-placed Arsenal, who believe they can still win the title after their win over Chelsea last weekend, host Wigan Athletic, with manager Arsene Wenger urging his side not to be complacent against a supposedly weaker team.

"We are cautious because of what happened before (when they lost their next match after beating Manchester United)," Wenger said.

"I believe that is where we can show that we have learned and we can keep the temperature up, that is the target of the next game."

West Bromwich Albion will be hoping to move off the bottom of the table by beating Portsmouth on Sunday, while West Ham United face Tottenham in the Monday night game.

The weekend's other games see Fulham taking on Manchester City, Hull City hosting Middlesbrough, Newcastle United playing Stoke City and Aston Villa, who sit fifth, travelling to Everton.