The key questions to today’s Premier League fixtures

Arsenal v Swansea

• Is this the day Arsenal ignite? A Swansea side who can be very open may well provide the perfect opposition to pick up confidence after that last game at Old Trafford.
• Or will this be another day in which Michel Vorm performs heroics to frustrate Arsenal?
• How quickly will Mikel Arteta fit into the side? With the absence of Cesc Fabregas and the errant mind of Samir Nasri, Arsenal have lacked that element of nuance in central midfield. Can Arteta immediately provide it?
• Is Andrei Arshavin coming back to form? After a horror first few games in the Premier League, there were some hints during the international week that he was beginning to move again.
• Or will Robin van Persie raise Arsenal up again? He did eventually get off the mark against Manchester United and scored a hatful for Holland during the week. Might he have a sense of mission about him today?

Everton v Aston Villa

• Will we actually see any goals in this game? Three reasons suggest not: the abnormal amount of 0-0 draws in this Premier League season so far (as well as the fact these two teams have been involved in three of them); Everton’s problems up front and Villa’s lack of creativity in a rigid side.
• Sorry, there is a fourth reason – Richard Dunne. Can the Dubliner continue Moscow’s Herculean efforts?

Manchester City v Wigan

• In contrast to Goodison Park, this could be a case of how many? With Manchester City seemingly having found the right formation and fit to unlock their potential, an adventurous Wigan often offer up a lot of space. Certainly, Roberto Martinez’s side are not suited to closing games out.
• In saying that, though, the team with the longest unbeaten run in the Premier League at present? Wigan. They haven’t lost for seven games, going back to last season’s supreme survival effort.
• City’s alterations also might have an effect. With the club set to enter the Champions League for the first time in 41 years in midweek, and with Roberto Martinez seemingly concerned about the fitness of top scorer Edin Dzeko after his international exertions, we may see a temporarily-changed approach. Given how fluid they looked against Spurs, will that have an effect?

Stoke v Liverpool

• Forget the cliches about wet, windy Tuesday nights. Stoke are now the kind of team that will give anyone a game in any conditions on any day. As an upwardly mobile mid-table club with a formidable home record, there a good test of where a team stands. Liverpool have impressed at intervals this season, but did appear to send their game to a new level against Bolton two weeks. Can they now add a bit of grit and physicality to the feel-good factor?
• Will Jamie Carragher – who arguably hasn’t been as assured as two/three years ago – hold firm against Stoke’s high-intensity approach?
• At the other end, however, will Jonathan Woodgate and Ryan Shawcross be able to cope with Luis Suarez’s finesse?

Sunderland v Chelsea

• Is today when the Andre Villas-Boas era really starts at Chelsea? Certainly, the introduction of Juan Mata should begin to shape the team along his lines. And the Spaniard’s creativity might – finally – be enough to release Fernando Torres from this two-year funk?
• And not just Torres. Mata is the kind of innovator that Chelsea have arguably lacked since Gianfranco Zola. It wasn’t, of course, such an issue when Jose Mourinho focused on power, or when Carlo Ancelotti got the team playing tight triangles in front of the opposition’s 18-yard box. But now that Villas-Boas has consciously attempted to change the team’s style, he offers a badly-lacking extra dimension.
• By contrast, after the derby defeat, can Steve Bruce reclaim a bit of goodwill with the Sunderland supporters by frustrating Chelsea? It’s certainly possible, if Wes Brown’s opening day heroics at Anfield are anything to go by.

Wolves v Tottenham

• After so much pre-season doubt – and, of course, those early-season heavy defeats – will we again see the true Tottenham now that Luka Modric has stayed and Harry Redknapp has bolstered their ranks with the signings of Scott Parker and Emmauel Adebayor?
• On the other hand, will Wolves sense that Spurs are there for the taking given their own unbeaten run?

Bolton v Manchester United

• Bolton should be quite a difficult trip – as evidenced by some of United’s trips there in recent years – but will their confidence be dented by leaking so many goals against Liverpool and Manchester City?
• And can United, by contrast, keep up their rampaging form? It’s been a toss-up between themselves and neighbours City for the title of most fluid-looking team so far this season, but Alex Ferguson’s have outscored Mancini’s. Was that down to youthful irreverence and adrenaline, and will reality start to kick in?
• Or will United merely re-affirm their quality with a good away win at a difficult venue?