Football: Hot Rovers reach for the coolant

Guy Hodgson looks ahead to a heated Premiership programme this weekend

One side effect of the stop-go start to the season has been the imbalance it has brought to the fledgling Premiership table. Chelsea have not played at home, Everton have not appeared away, while Derby County have yet to be seen in a good light.

All this has made the season's start more misleading than usual, but it has not stopped supporters of Blackburn Rovers beginning to shed the mourning cloth that has been the club's unofficial colours for two seasons. Suddenly the word "title" is being mentioned in East Lancashire without accompanying nostalgic sighs.

This is the consequence of a four-match unbeaten start that has taken them to the top of the Premiership and was last achieved in 1994-5, the year they won the championship. Compare that to 12 months ago when it was not until 3 November that they got a win and it is not surprising there has been a mood swing.

It has coincided with Roy Hodgson's appointment in the summer and the former Internazionale and Switzerland manager, while delighted, seems almost embarrassed at the praise being laid at his door.

"It's another three points towards getting away from the relegation trouble we suffered last year," he said after Monday's 7-2 rout of Sheffield Wednesday. Yesterday he was appealing for calm.

"It's very nice to be top of the table," he said, "but it's still early days. We mustn't get carried away and we have a very tough game at the weekend."

That will be provided by Crystal Palace who have been the great enigmas of the opening weeks. Wins at Everton and Leeds have promised much, defeats by Barnsley and Southampton suggested little, although their manager, Steve Coppell, was phlegmatic after losing at The Dell on Wednesday. "As a coach you have to look at the performance as well as the results," he said, "and there was nothing wrong with the performance."

Coppell is likely to stick with the same side, which means Paul Warhurst will play against his old club for the first time since his pounds 1.25m move.

Chasing Blackburn, just as they did in the championship year, are Manchester United whose priority this season is made apparent by the appearance of Andy Cole. Most managers would have stuck with what they had after a 2- 0 midweek win over Everton that Alex Ferguson described as the best performance of the season. The first match in the Champions' League looms, however, so the United manager will give his fit-again striker a full game against Coventry City at Old Trafford. Paul Scholes will probably make way with the scant consolation of learning that Ferguson regarded dropping anyone as "a horrible decision".

Aston Villa's pre-season billing as title possibilities looks a sad joke after four successive defeats. "It's easy to see doom and gloom," their assistant manager, Allan Evans, said, describing precisely the view stretching before supporters. "But it's up to the backroom staff to make sure the players are lively and bubbly." Perhaps he can give any left over to today's opponents, Leeds United, who have suffered consecutive 2-0 home defeats.

Derby return to Pride Park today hoping they can finish what they start against Barnsley. Their Premiership record reads played two, lost two but hidden behind that depressing statistic is the game against Wimbledon, the stadium's first, which was abandoned due to floodlight failure. The only saving grace that evening was that no one shared the pretensions of Sunderland and called the new ground the Stadium of Light.

Tony Cottee, 31, is pressing for a starting place in Leicester City's line-up at Sheffield Wednesday after impressing as a substitute against Arsenal, while another 31-year-old striker, Gianfranco Zola will return for Chelsea for their first home appearance of the season against Southampton.

Most attention today will be on another ageing forward, Ian Wright, who, at 33, going on 13, will attempt to become Arsenal's greatest goalscorer while knowing a lengthy ban looms if he is found guilty of a misconduct after the match at Leicester. In his dreams he would have liked to pass Cliff Bastin's 50-year-old record at home against Tottenham. And the opponents at Highbury today are...

Liverpool meet Newcastle United at Anfield tomorrow with the undertone of 4-3 scorelines in the corresponding fixture in the last two seasons. Any result is possible, but the one thing you can guarantee is that Radio 5 Live's Alan Green will not guarantee any score but 4-3 like he did last time.