Football: Champions' relentless schedule takes its toll: Phil Shaw previews the weekend's programme and finds United in danger of losing touch with leaders

FROM Barcelona to Blackburn, from the Theatre of Dreams to another detour in extremis, it does not get any easier for Manchester United as they seek to balance the priority of success in the European Cup against a desire to retain the Premiership title.

The portents are unpromising for the champions. Blackburn Rovers have a 100 per cent League record at Ewood Park - where United lost in April - and the silver lining in the dark cloud that was Kenny Dalglish's trauma at Trelleborg is that they go into tomorrow's match having enjoyed an eight-day gap between games.

Steve Bruce, controversially dropped against Romario and Co, returns to supply leadership, combativeness and know-how alongside Gary Pallister in the potentially decisive duel with Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton. Eric Cantona is also back, though Alex Ferguson has to plan without David May, with Roy Keane and Paul Parker doubtful.

That both have had to soldier on after being booked into a less appetising kind of theatre is an indication of United's relentless schedule. It is also an indictment of Ferguson's failure to reinforce his squad for what was always going to be an attritional autumn.

Where there is Cantona there is hope, but United could be 10 points off the pace post-Ewood. A fourth successive away defeat would equal a sequence last endured in the Dave Sexton era when, proving how much can change in 13 years, Howard Kendall was player-manager of Second Division Rovers.

Kendall, these days in Greek football, has revealed that during his Bilbao sojourn he was offered the job Kevin Keegan now holds at Newcastle. How differently things might have turned out for all concerned we shall never know. One certainty is that St James' Park will be heaving again for Sheffield Wednesday's visit. Andy Cole, also betraying the effects of playing through pain, continues for the leaders.

An upset on Tyneside could let in Nottingham Forest, who make the short hop to Aston Villa for arguably the biggest all-Midlands confrontation since the region boasted nine top-flight clubs a decade ago. Remarkably, their positions have practically reversed in the 18 months since Villa completed a double to go second and push Brian Clough's moribund bunch closer to the drop.

Villa, with one point from the last 15 and a solitary home win, are three points off the relegation zone. Frank Clark's Forest remain unbeaten and if Stan Collymore adds to his nine-goal haul, Ron Atkinson is sure to be reminded that Southend once offered him to Villa. Barry Fry, whose pounds 2m-plus valuation of a raw rookie striker now seems one of his more plausible scams, reputedly warned Big Ron: 'He'll come back to haunt you.'

The memory of Wimbledon at Wembley has such an effect on Liverpool fans. Six years on, the injury-ravaged, Fashanu-free Dons at Anfield look less daunting. The red renaissance merely makes Evertonians bluer about their team's predicament: bottom, without a win. Despite protestations of boardroom backing, Mike Walker's position might become untenable if Everton lose at Crystal Palace.

In the First Division, local rivals Wolves and West Brom are both now guided by men whose cv's feature Grimsby heavily. Today, history favours Graham Taylor's table-toppers, who last lost at home to Millwall 66 years ago, whereas the basement-dwellers inherited by Alan Buckley have not won at Barnsley since 1947.

Meanwhile, the game's newest venue, Sixfields, stages an early six-pointer between Northampton and the only team below them in the League, Wigan, whose unbeaten record in eight trips to the Cobblers is suddenly of questionable value.