This could be a defining moment in the Premier League this weekend. Arsenal host Aston Villa and where the kids were in fine form in the week and last week’s epically entertaining game against Manchester United showed the best of them. But Villa are capable and capable of scoring goals, so they could get a surprise. Equally Bolton won at Hull last week - mainly thanks to their goalkeeper admittedly -  but and with  Jussi Jaaskelainen still there Liverpool have to find a way past. Manchester United’s vaunted front men were firing blanks mostly against QPR and Stoke may be better opposition which sort of says it is another stutter or a slaughter. The only one of the top four sides that look like a banker are Chelsea at West Brom. Have a triple on Liverpool and Arsenal to lose and United to draw and £1 pays £336. Bet the other way on the top four all to win and £1 pays £3.50. Get a free £10 bet here

One might have expected the goals to rain in against Celtic and Fenerbahce in the Champions League midweek, but both Arsenal and Manchester United seeemed politically content with draws. The real business is at noon on Satuirday. Arsene Wenger will have been encouraged that his defence did not ship anymore goals but Mikel Silvestre’s apparently broken nose marks another injury problem for the French manager at the back. United’s £120million of forward fire power could not dislodge the Scots either -  until a swirling 40 yarder from Cristiano Ronaldo was pushed out into the path of an onrushing Ryan Giggs to nod in. Not really the goal of champions.

The betting is interesting. It is heavily skewed in the sense that three goals in the game either way starts at 21/1. A 0-0 is almost dicounted at 9/1. But a 3-3 is 39/1. 4-2 is 59/1 and 79/1 in favour of United. Interesting odds. Get a free £10 bet here and all the odds.

The name is Wenger…Arsene Wenger. Sorry I missed that…?

The two old foes Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson came together in September for a charity function to raise funds for the League Managers Association Benevolent Trust. Hostilities will doubtless be resumed on Saturday at noon when Arsenal’s porous defence - eight goals conceded in three games meets Manchester United’s elegant gunslinging quartet of Tevez, Rooney, Ronaldo and Berbatov. United though shipped three goals themselves to Hull last week.  Arsenal have scored 15 in five games before tonight’s Champions League game and have a day’s advantage in terms of rest. Ten of their last 11 goals have come from different players.

The betting makes interesting reading for what could be a high scoring game. 4-4 is 129/1 which is not beyond the bounds of possibilities. In fact anything involving one side to score three goals is more than 21/1 looks tempting.

All the Arsenal v Manchester United odds are here

Hull away always had the look of a banana skin. Arsenal at home is not a game Fulham expect to win either, but Roy Hdgson is a clever manager and Arsenal are struggling as last year to tap that ball over the line. Draw. Get all the odds here

Bet Manchester United

The goalless draw played out by way of a friendly by the teams of those wily old soccer assassins Alex Ferguson and Claudio Ranieri last night may give some pointers to events about to unfold. United have a problem scoring goals without Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. These two players above all represent Manchester United’s class, the more so on the pitch than off it where they seem to want to rival each other as spoilt brats of the Premier League. On Sunday, United go to Wembley to play the showpiece Community Shield against Portsmouth who have their own new strike force in Jermaine Defoe and Peter Crouch. They also meet Portsmouth as their second game of the season. Their first is Newcastle in what looks like a leisurely start to the campaign to retain the Premier League and another showpiece game in the European Super Cup against Uefa winners Zenit St Petersburg, probably now without a striking Arshavin. In September they have just three fixtures - Liverpool, Chelsea and Bolton. Ferguson will have needed to have greased the engine by then.

Liverpool are noteworthy slow out of the blocks. They travel to Sunderland for the first day of the season, entertain Middlesbrough who punch above their weight against the better teams, get distracted by the European Cup against Standard Liege and then visit Aston Villa who were scoring for fun at the end of last season. Rafa Benitez will need to find a rythmn quickly. The bad news is that in September they also face Everton.

Arsenal are looking the part again with just the question mark about who will actually tap the ball into the net. They are young, fast and play attractive football on the harder surfaces in the sunshine of early seasons. West Bromwich Albion, Fulham and Newcastle are first up and don’t look likely to be given any change. They also have what should be an easy September before meeting Tottenham and Everton in October. The tough stuff starts in November with both Chelsea and Manchester United.

Luis Felipe Scolari seems to have the charisma to further bond and fuse the Chelsea fighting spirit with impressive wins on their travels. 5-0 against an unfit AC Milan is still 5-0. But they have some testing games against teams that would hope to break into the top four starting with Portsmouth, then Spurs, then Manchester City, then  United, then Villa. These are games that are going to matter and if the Blues can get the points in the bag, they are probably worth more than ther equivalent games for their rivals. It will also be a test of their mettle. If they are top of the league by the end of September, everyone else will fear the worst.