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Chris Hughton's men have fallen lost their winning touch in recent times, with their latest triumph a 2-1 home win over Wigan in December - that result marking a 10-match unbeaten league run, and three straight wins on the trot.

Fast forward two months, and the Carrow Road club are within six points of the drop, and have David Moyes' well-drilled side followed by supposed champions-in-wait Manchester United to follow, making for some bleak viewing at Norwich.

Arsenal were eliminated from the FA Cup last week by the Championship's Blackburn Rovers, before Bayern Munich thumped Arsene Wenger's side 3-1 in their UEFA Champions League Round-of-16 first leg on Tuesday.

French attacking midfielder Charles N'Zogbia looks set to recover from a knock he received in Aston Villa's last match - a 2-1 English Premier League win over West Ham on February 10 - and with the Birmingham club having moved out of the relegation zone, they are looking forward to taking on Arsenal.

Reading will host Wigan at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday with the chance to move out of the relegation zone on the line.

If Aston Villa lose on the road at Arsenal, a winner from Reading versus Wigan will move above the Birmingham-based club and into 17th spot on the English Premier League table, outside the relegation positions.

Wigan head to Reading on the back of their 4-1 demolition of the Championship's Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup on Sunday and have only lost once in their past five matches in all competitions.

Harry Redknapp's side suffered a 4-1 defeat at Swansea in their last league outing - stretching their winless run to five games - as they languish seven points from safety at the foot of the table.

In an illustration of the gulf between the two sides, QPR are currently 48 points behind Manchester United in the league - a points tally that is the same as fourth-placed Tottenham's current haul.

The home side enjoyed a shock 2-0 away win at Liverpool in their last outing but a previous run of six winless games has put a severe dent in Steve Clarke's hopes of qualifying for Europe with his side dropping to ninth in the standings.

Despite the drop in form, West Brom have beaten Liverpool (twice), Chelsea and Everton this season as Clarke has already almost ensured survival for a team that many tipped to be in a relegation battle at the end of the campaign.

Martin O'Neill's side have gone about the campaign with minimal fanfare as they sit 13th in the league, six points clear of the relegation zone.

The England forward sat out of the 2-1 win over Reading in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Monday night due to a sinus problem. 

And despite reports suggestions he was likely to make his return against Harry Redknapp's men, the striker will remain sidelined after failing to train for most of the week. 

Sir Alex Ferguson will also be without defender Phil Jones, who was injured during the win over the Royals, with the 71-year-old admitting he may even miss the Champions League last-16 second leg with Real Madrid.

In the opening game of the Bundesliga's Week 23, fifth-placed Freiburg will host Eintracht, who sit fourth in the standings, with both clubs, much to the surprise of German football fans, in the running to play in the UEFA Champions League next season.

This time last year Eintracht were in the second division in Germany, the third time in the past decade they had dropped out of the Bundesliga.

But having finished runners-up in the second tier, Eintracht were promoted to the Bundesliga for this season and started with a six-game unbeaten run.