FIFA President Sepp Blatter's comments that "racism can be resolved by a handshake" and that "there is no racism in football today" was met with a barrage of criticism from the football world. Rio Ferdinand was one of the more prominent players to voice his discontent at the Swiss' comments by saying "@SeppBlatter to say what you said about racism in football spoke volumes of your ignorance to the subject." on his Twitter account. Many have called for Blatter's resignation, including English PFA (Players Football Association) President, Gordon Taylor.

Back to the pitch, as the international week came to an end with Wednesday's games, players were on their way back to their respective clubs to re-focus on their league campaigns. England played out two 1-0 wins over World Champions Spain and Sweden (ending a 40 year winless run against the Scandinavians), but with all eyes back on the Premier League, 3 games stand out as the real tests for both clubs involved in the fixture.

The last of the unbeaten clubs meet at the Etihad stadium and lock horns in what should be a very interesting game. Newcastle has re-found a much needed grit and resilience to their game, grinding out results that have propelled them to 3rd in the table. Many have been amazed by Alan Pardew's impact especially after selling star striker Andy Carroll to Liverpool for £35m without really investing that money back into the team.

Smart purchases such as Gabriel Obertan, Yohan Cabaye, Sylvian Marvweaux, Davide Santon and most importantly striker Demba Ba have overcome the selling of Nolan and Barton (considered the team's pillars last year).

Newcastle haven't been flashy, but they have been efficient, and a visit to the league leaders is the ultimate (and actually first real test) for Alan Pardew's team. The experience will be made a bit tougher with Tiote, Leon Best, Shola Ameobi and Obertan all missing through injury.

Manchester City enters the game with half an eye on the Napoli game in midweek. The club have already told fans that they would rather they don't wear club colors and scarves for the trip to Naples for security reasons. Naples has sadly built a reputation as a venue where violence is probable. Bayern Munich & Liverpool fans could testify to that.

The Carlos Tevez affair has also had its affect on Manchester City. After flying off to Argentina last week without any managerial notice, Tevez seems to be taking his feud with Mancini to new levels. From what I see here, it's either the player is trying to force the club to sell him, or is just be as arrogant and simple-minded as can be. Either way, City's management have made it clear that they would only sell him at his true value, with Inter Milan being urged to move for the player by Argentine teammate, Javier Zanetti.

But back in the league, City are riding high, surviving a tricky visit to QPR 2 week ago and sustaining a 5 point lead at the top of the table. While strikers have had mixed fortunes on their international exploits (Aguero's Argentina drawing at home with Bolivia and a meek 2-1 win over Columbia, Dzeko's Bosnia's heart breaking thrash at the hands of Portugal, Balotelli drawing blanks against Uruguay for Italy), it is still expected that the City attack will be on fire for the Magpies' visit on Saturday. David Silva (who scored for Spain in the 2-2 draw with Costa Rica) has been their main man in addition to Yaya Toure, as both players are able to open up defenses and score on their own.

I Predict: Man C 3 Newcastle 1

Liverpool visit London for one of their toughest fixtures of the season. Dalglish's new side are on an 8 game unbeaten run, but that doesn't paint the true picture as the Reds have been excellent away from home while dropping points at Anfield.

Chelsea have had their share of problems. Red cards against QPR followed by a humiliating 5-3 home defeat to Arsenal haven't made the month of November one to remember for young manager Villas-Boas. But a 1-0 away win at Blackburn at least put Chelsea back on the right track.

The game sees former Liverpool players Fernando Torres and Raul Meireles facing their old club. Liverpool manager, Kenny Dalglish has rejected talks that his Liverpool players will be psyched for the game to spite their old team mates, claiming that the 3 points is all that matters.

Both clubs are deep into the racism controversy with Chelsea captain John Terry and Liverpool forward Luis Suarez under investigation in two separate cases.

I Predict: Chelsea 1 Liverpool 2

Aston Villa started the season very brightly, but seem to have strayed a bit from their path. New manager Alex McLiesh was never going to find it easy to win over the Villa faithful as he had just been managing old foes Birmingham, but defeats to Manchester City and WBA put a halt to an impressive start.

Spurs will most probably go into the game without manager Harry Redkanpp, who is recovering from heart surgery. Assistant Joe Jordan oversaw the 3-1 win at Craven Cottage (against Fulham) 2 weeks ago, which continues Tottenham's excellent run of results. With Gareth Bale and Jermaine Defoe seemingly back in form, I can't see this one slipping away from Spurs

I Predict: Tottenham 3 Aston Villa 1

* Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers has branded his side's game with Manchester United as one that could put his team on the map

* Everton have tied up Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini to a 5 year contract, thus ending speculations that Arsenal were buying him

* Patrice Evra has been slammed by some managers over his handling of the Luis Suarez racism affair. Lately, Brighton manager Gustavo Poyet and French national team manager Laurent Blanc have both condoned Evra's behaviour

* A final note that I wish would fall on anything but deaf ears. It's interesting to see how key players are sometimes dropped from both club or country if they are off form or facing difficulties. Fabio Capello dropped Andy Carroll from both England games even though he was experimenting, informing the striker he needed to get his act together. On the other hand, Yaser Al Qahtani was on the bench and played in Saudi Arabia's disappointing draw to Oman although he has managed 2 goals all year long!