Here's all the team news and previews ahead of Saturday night's Barclays Premier League matches.

Blackburn vs Stoke

Tony Pulis hopes Glenn Whelan will have recovered from a groin strain in time for Stoke's trip to Blackburn in the Premier League on Saturday.

Whelan suffered the injury in the Republic of Ireland's World Cup play-off with France, but returned to training with the Potters this week.

Club captain Abdoulaye Faye is available again having missed last Sunday's 1-0 win over Portsmouth through suspension.

Blackburn hope to have a fully fit squad for Saturday's clash.

Both Brett Emerton and Gael Givet should be available for the match at Ewood Park having missed Wednesday night's 3-0 defeat at Fulham with knee and thigh problems respectively.

One definite absentee, however, will be manager Sam Allardyce, who is undergoing heart surgery on Friday and will sit out the match as he did for the Fulham game and the 2-0 win at Bolton last Sunday.

Assistant manager Neil McDonald will once again take Allardyce's place in the dugout.

Teams:

Blackburn (from): Robinson, Chimbonda, Givet, Salgado, Samba, Nelsen, Diouf, Andrews, Pedersen, Dunn, Grella, Jacobsen, Nzonzi, Emerton, Hoilett, Kalinic, McCarthy, Roberts, Di Santo, Brown.

Stoke (from): Sorensen, Faye, Wilkinson, Huth, Shawcross, Collins, Delap, Whelan, Whitehead, Diao, Etherington, Beattie, Tuncay, Fuller, Higginbotham, Cort, Lawrence, Pugh, Simonsen, Sidibe.


Fulham vs Bolton

Bolton midfielder Tamir Cohen could return to the squad for the Barclays Premier League match against Fulham on Saturday following a groin injury.

Cohen was forced to sit out the derby defeat by Blackburn, which kept the side in the relegation zone, because of the problem.

Ricardo Gardner suffered a calf strain in that match and Jlloyd Samuel took a knock but both are expected to be available at Craven Cottage.

Fulham pair Danny Murphy and Andy Johnson returned to training this week but are not expected to make the starting XI against the Trotters.

Johnson (groin) and Murphy (knee) have both been out for more than a month and need match fitness but could be named among the substitutes at best.

Striker Diomansy Kamara (knee) is out of the match.

Teams:

Fulham (from): Schwarzer, Zuberbuhler, Konchesky, Pantsil, Hangeland, Baird, Smalling, Kelly, Hughes, Etuhu, Murphy, Dempsey, Gera, Riise, Greening, Duff, Davies, E Johnson, Nevland, Seol, Zamora, A Johnson.

Bolton (from): Jaaskelainen, Al-Habsi, Ricketts, Steinsson, Knight, Cahill, A O'Brien, Samuel, Robinson, M Davies, Basham, Muamba, Cohen, McCann, Gardner, Taylor, K Davies, Klasnic, Lee, Elmander.


Manchester City vs Hull

Record signing Robinho is set to make his first Manchester City appearance for three months in Saturday's Premier League clash with Hull at Eastlands.

The £32.5million Brazilian has not been involved for the Blues since August, after which he suffered a stress fracture on his international duty in Argentina.

But the former Real Madrid is expected to be on the bench at least for the visit of Phil Brown's men as City look to arrest a run of six straight draws.

Jimmy Bullard is back in contention for Hull.

The influential midfielder, sidelined for most of the year with a knee injury, was rested for the midweek win over Everton. Forward Craig Fagan (rib) is also fit again and Bernard Mendy is available after suspension.

Midfielder Seyi Olofinjana (hamstring) is again missing but could come back into contention next week.

Teams:

Manchester City (from): Given, Taylor, Richards, Zabaleta, Toure, Lescott, Onuoha, Bridge, Garrido, Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Kompany, Johnson, Ireland, Barry, Robinho, Bellamy, Adebayor, Tevez, Santa Cruz, Benjani.

Hull (from): Duke, McShane, Zayatte, Gardner, Dawson, Garcia, Marney, Bullard, Boateng, Hunt, Geovanni, Altidore, Mendy, Mouyokolo, Barmby, Ghilas, Kilbane, Cairney, Sonko, Vennegoor of Hesselink, Myhill.


Portsmouth vs Manchester United

Jonny Evans and John O'Shea remain doubtful for Manchester United's trip to Portsmouth on Saturday.

Evans picked up a calf injury on international duty with Northern Ireland a fortnight ago, while O'Shea suffered an thigh injury during the Republic of Ireland's controversial World Cup play-off defeat to France.

Patrice Evra is set to return, along with Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Edwin van der Sar and Darren Fletcher as United look to close the gap on leaders Chelsea to two points ahead of the Londoners' meeting with Arsenal.

Asmir Begovic is set to replace injured England goalkeeper David James for Avram Grant's first game in charge of Pompey.

Grant, still officially Pompey's director of football until paperwork arrives enabling him to be installed as successor to sacked manager Paul Hart, could stick with Jamie Ashdown but highly-rated Bosnia international Begovic was recalled from a loan spell at Ipswich earlier this week.

Veteran defender Hermann Hreidarsson is likely to keep his place after coming back from injury in the 1-0 defeat at Stoke but Grant may recall French loanee Frederic Piquionne in place of Kanu, who made his first Barclays Premier League start of the season last week.

Teams:

Portsmouth (from): Begovic, Ben Haim, Kaboul, Wilson, Hreidarsson, Brown, Yebda, O'Hara, Boateng, Dindane, Piquionne, Kanu, Swift, Hughes, Van den Borre, Mokoena, Belhadj, Mullins, Ashdown.

Manchester United (from): Van der Sar, Foster, Kuszczak, Neville, O'Shea, Brown, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Rafael, Valencia, Anderson, Fletcher, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Nani, Berbatov, Rooney, Owen, Macheda, Welbeck.


Wigan vs Sunderland

Sunderland striker Darren Bent has a fighting chance of being fit for Saturday's Premier League trip to Wigan.

Scans have shown the England international did no lasting damage to his hamstring in last weekend's 1-0 win over Arsenal, and could make the game at the DW Stadium.

Manager Steve Bruce is also boosted by the return of defender Michael Turner from suspension, although that leaves him with a difficult decision after seeing Paulo da Silva and John Mensah stand firm against the Gunners.

Midfielder Lee Cattermole (medial ligament) could be as little as three weeks away from a return, but keeper Craig Gordon is out for three months with a broken arm.

Wigan left-back Maynor Figueroa could make a return to his side's starting line-up.

The Honduras international, originally signed by Bruce for the Latics, is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a knee injury and was on the bench for last Sunday's 9-1 humiliation at Tottenham.

Erik Edman, who endured a torrid time at White Hart Lane, would be the man to drop out.

Teams:

Wigan (from): Kirkland, Edman, Bramble, Scharner, Melchiot, Figueroa, Boyce, N'Zogbia, Diame, Thomas, Scotland, Koumas, Sinclair, Rodallega, Amaya, De Ridder, Pollitt, Cho, Gomez.

Sunderland (from): Fulop, Carson, Bardsley, McCartney, Da Silva, Mensah, Turner, Nosworthy, Ferdinand, Richardson, Reid, Malbranque, Henderson, Zenden, Campbell, Bent, Healy, Murphy, Meyler, Reed, Cana.


West Ham vs Burnley