PREVIEW: Reading, Villa battle for survival
With three of the top four teams in the Premier League in FA Cup action, attention turns to the bottom-of-the-table clash between Reading and Aston Villa on Saturday.
With Wigan also playing in the cup, one of the teams is guaranteed to climb out of the relegation zone, and Reading boss Brian McDermott is confident his side will emulate their promotion run last season and finish the campaign strongly.
"I know we are going to finish strong. We generally finish strong," said McDermott.
"We have players that won a league last year and came from nowhere. We have that sort of experience and this is a similar sort of thing for us.
"For us it is a 10-game season now. We know what it's about, we know what is required. We did what we had to do last year and will aim to do what we need to this year."
Villa are one of seven teams who have never been relegated from the Premier League, and boss Paul Lambert has been encouraged by recent performances.
Quoted on avfc.co.uk, he said: "The consistency of our performances is very encouraging as we get deeper into the final third of the season.
"There are 30 points to play for, which is a hell of a lot of football in which to compete between now and the middle of May. If we continue to play the way we're playing, results will come, I'm sure of that."
At the top of the table, the biggest match comes on Sunday when third-placed Tottenham travel to face Liverpool at Anfield looking to capitalise on the inactivity of those around them.
Spurs are five points behind Manchester City in second and two points ahead of fourth-placed Chelsea, while Liverpool's improved form has lifted them to seventh and within three points of Everton.
Luis Suarez's hat-trick in last weekend's 4-0 victory over Wigan made him the league's top goalscorer with 21, and full-back Luis Enrique likened the Uruguayan to Lionel Messi.
He told liverpoolfc.com: "When you know someone you can know what they are going to do but he's still a very difficult player to train against and he scores so many goals in training.
"It's like with Messi - everyone says he is going to cut inside all the time and you know he is going to do this but you can't stop him from cutting inside and scoring goals.
"Luis is a great all-round striker but it's not just about the goals, it's about what he gives to the team - it's about his personality and his attitude. He's the same in training as what you see in games. He gives 100 per cent all the time."
Also on Sunday, Newcastle host Stoke, and there was bad news for Alan Pardew's side this week when it was confirmed captain Fabricio Coloccini has broken two bones in his back and could be out for seven weeks.
In the other matches on Saturday, bottom side QPR will aim to follow up last weekend's win against Southampton when they host Sunderland while Saints travel to Norwich and West Brom meet Swansea.
Saturday's Premier League Fixtures
Norwich vs Southampton
QPR vs Sunderland
O'Neill has nothing against QPR spending
Reading vs Aston Villa
West Brom vs Swansea
Clarke wants West Brom to emulate Swansea
Routledge backs Foster for England recall
Sunday's Premier League Fixtures
Newcastle vs Stoke
Liverpool vs Tottenham