Rarely does a weekend boast so many standout games of football, On Sunday alone, the Merseyside derby precedes Arsenal v Chelsea and el clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

One man in particularly exciteable mood is the Independent's James Lawton, who is rooting for Arsenal and Barcelona. For what reason? Purely artisitic, as he explains in 'Why I'll be cheering for Wenger and Guardiola this weekend'.

“In a perfect world this would be the weekend we celebrate a stunning win double - a twin triumph for the forces of light and beauty that from time to time rise up and make us feel good about the game that nowadays is so frequently obliged to fight its way out of the gutter.

“Arsenal would turn back the Chelsea juggernaut with an explosion of creativity and finishing artistry from Cesc Fabregas and Andrei Arshavin and Arsène Wenger would immediately end his rather disconcerting flirtation with the F word, thus reassuring us that the world is not about to fall off its axis.

“Hugely relieved and exhilarated, we would then watch his fierce admirer Pep Guardiola guide Barcelona, so thrillingly restored in the obliteration of Jose Mourinho's Internazionale in mid-week, back to the top of La Liga with a clinical destruction of the team only Real Madrid's money could buy. Such triumphs would hardly be definitive at this early stage of the season but they would surely make the blood run a little stronger.

“Wenger and Guardiola are certainly the pick of the managerial bunch these days when we come to assess the quality of a club's football and the purity of its ambition. Nor is it surprising to learn that when Guardiola's days as a midfield defensive bulwark of Barcelona were drawing to a close he expressed a desire to finish his playing days under the tutelage of Wenger. At Highbury, he reckoned he could refine his ambition to be a manager who could both win and shape the values of the game to which he had so fiercely devoted his life.

“Wenger admired Guardiola but decided he was a little too old for his purposes. It meant that the player had to rely more heavily on some of the philosophy of his first great mentor, Johan Cruyff, and his own instincts.”

The Guardian's Richard Williams is less captivated by Arsene Wenger's side though and warns that a fraility in defence is likely to prevent them from challenging for the title. In 'Thrills have a price for Arsène Wenger' Williams sounds a note of caution.

"Arsène Wenger was in a cheerful mood yesterday, seemingly recovered from the irritable outburst of last Saturday night, in the aftermath of a damaging defeat at Sunderland, and the four-letter explosion of Monday morning, when someone asked him about Theo Walcott's World Cup prospects. In the preparation for tomorrow's home match against Chelsea the restoration of his equilibrium was probably vital.

"But if William Gallas cannot manage to squeeze a contact lens into his painfully swollen right eye, Wenger's Arsenal will have only half of their first-choice back four available for the contest with Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and their colleagues. That will hardly put them in the best position to improve a defensive record that, in terms of statistics and recent history, appears to disqualify them from winning the Premier League this season.

"The manager disagrees. It is possible, he claimed yesterday, for his team to go on and recapture the title they last won six seasons ago while continuing to leak goals at their present rate. That would make them the first club since Manchester United in 1999-2000 to take the title while conceding at the rate of a goal a match, and would represent a remarkable victory for an evolving philosophy in which Wenger seems far more interested in scoring goals than preventing them.

"Arsenal have given away 15 goals in 12 league matches this season, their most profligate start since José Mourinho's Chelsea established new standards of parsimony five years ago, when the west London team let in only 15 goals in an entire campaign. Under Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea travel to the Emirates Stadium tomorrow leading the league by five points, having conceded only eight goals in 13 matches."