Sheffield Wednesday manager Dave Jones is braced for a "fast and frantic" match against relegation rivals Barnsley on Saturday night as his team bid to halt a seven-game losing streak.
The tea-time South Yorkshire derby sees two teams mired in trouble towards the foot of the Championship go head to head at Oakwell.
And with the high of last season's automatic promotion now a distant memory, Jones has to rally his team for a tougher battle ahead.
Wednesday began the weekend in 23rd place, with Barnsley three points better off in 22nd.
A Barnsley victory would mean the pressure mounts on Jones, who this week said he felt it would be "harsh" if the Hillsborough board decided on a change of manager.
The significance of the fixture will not be lost on the former Southampton and Wolves boss, but he has attempted to treat it like any other game.
"Is this a massive game? Yes - but they all are at a club like Sheffield Wednesday," Jones said on his club's official website.
"We will approach this game in the right manner and I'm sure Barnsley will too.
"Both teams are desperate for the points and the pace will be fast, it will be frantic and the live TV cameras are there for added spice.
"All the ingredients are there and we now need to start turning the performances into results."
Barnsley striker Marcus Tudgay spent almost five years with Wednesday earlier in his career but will not be taking it easy against his old employers.
"(I have) tremendous memories," he told Barnsley Player. "I played a lot of games for them and scored some good goals and I think my football started to blossom there.
"I had five great years and it will be good to see some of the boys but it is work time for me and I will be wanting to do my best."
Tudgay has played for Wednesday against Barnsley before and reckons the local derbies are always a little bit different to other matches.
"Obviously there is a little bit more pride," he said.
"To come up against your rivals you want to be able to walk away with your head high knowing you did a job and got the three points."
The French manager, 63, has in recent weeks come under intense scrutiny, which intensified following a dramatic penalty shoot-out loss away to League Two Bradford in the Capital One Cup in midweek.
Wenger has not delivered a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup and there have been calls for him to step aside, while the players have come in for criticism following a string of poor displays.
However, the long-serving Arsenal boss, whose deal runs until the summer of 2014, has no doubt he and his team can improve.
"You think they don't care and they go home and think they had a fantastic game? They do care," Wenger said.
"We prepare for games seriously.
"I have had groups who had fantastic results who were less serious than these players, believe me, players who were less focused than this team. Of course these players are hurting."
Wenger, who sits on board meetings, has been criticised as being too powerful within the club - branded "a dictator in many ways" by one former Arsenal player, Stewart Robson.
The former Monaco boss, however, feels his experiences give him a position of strength.
"My job is to be determined and give importance to what is important," Wenger said ahead of the Barclays Premier League game at Reading on Monday night.
"What is important is I love football, I love this club and I give my best for this club. The rest, I cannot interfere with.
"Believe me, I am highly focused on doing that and all the rest, that doesn't interfere with my thinking at all.
"I am very determined and very hungry."
Wenger added: "I can understand that people criticise when the results are not as expected, but it looks like it has become the modern way to think."
Despite their inconsistency in the Premier League, Arsenal are still within striking distance of the top four and unlike both Chelsea and Manchester City they have qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League once again.
Wenger said: "This season at the moment we are not happy with what we have produced, but we will turn it around before the end of the season."
Reports have also emerged of a growing rift between the manager and his assistant Steve Bould.
Wenger, though, said: "We are a united staff team. You can unfortunately not control all the lies that are written in the newspapers.
"I believe it is a good opportunity to show that we are strong inside the club and let people talk.
"We are criticised when our results are not good - we have to take that on the chin, but that we have to face a lot of lies is less acceptable."
Hauling City into Europe's elite is coming at a hefty price for owner Sheikh Mansour, whose spending on the Blues has catapulted well beyond ?1billion.
Less than a week after a defeat to Manchester United left City adrift of their major domestic rivals, and in the wake of an embarrassing Champions League group-stage exit, he might be forgiven were he to wonder whether it has been worth it.
But Soriano, the former Barcelona man recruited to guide City on the next stage of their staggering journey, is certain the club are heading in the right direction.
"There are many reasons to be optimistic," said Soriano.
"Having returned to the summit of English football in 2011-12, the club has earned the chance to compete for a place as one of the biggest and most successful globally in the years ahead.
"It is an opportunity we will work hard at to achieve."
Although record turnover of ?231.1million is dwarfed by Manchester United's ?320.3million, it shows just how much progress City have made.
And officials are confident even the latest huge losses will not have an impact on their ability to meet UEFA's strict Financial Fair Play guidelines as ?15million comes from infrastructure and youth development costs.
More importantly, approximately ?80million comes from contracts that pre-date 2010, from which City expect to get some kind of relief.
While the results, for the year to May 31, 2012, show marginal increases in gate receipts and TV revenue, it is in the commercial sector where City are making huge gains.
Revenue has gone up from ?64.7million to ?121.1million, underlining City's increased growing global exposure, which is being shown in all areas, from merchandise to club tours.
Although eyebrows were raised by the ?400million, 10-year contract with Etihad, who now have naming rights to both the stadium and the under-construction City campus, City believe history will show it to be a well-structured financial deal.
The campus will feature training pitches and the club academy and includes the Etihad Stadium on its site.
Other contracts, such as a new kit manufacturing contract with Nike, point to increased commercial revenue in the years ahead.
Meanwhile, City's overall wage bill has risen from ?151.6million to ?178.1million.
City's annual statement also confirms the "capital base of the Club has also been strengthened through the issuing of ?169million in new equity during the year, avoiding debt based funding and continuing to ensure that the club is virtually debt free".
Clearly, the largesse of Sheikh Mansour is still required to make the club viable in the short term.
But the good news is that he seems to be in it for the long haul.
Looking back on City's title campaign, chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said: "2011-12 will always be remembered as a particularly significant year in the history of the club, a season when Manchester City demonstrated an ability to win in even the most challenging of circumstances.
"We experienced the Champions League, won the Premier League and with two goals in added time [against QPR, to win the Premier League title], redefined what is typical of City for a generation of supporters."
The European champions could find themselves 13 points adrift of Manchester United in the league and seven behind Manchester City by the time they face Corinthians for the world title in Yokohama on Sunday.
But, should they emerge victorious, interim manager Benitez plans to repeat a speech that proved the catalyst for his Valencia side's Primera Liga triumph in 2003-04.
He said: "People have asked me questions about whether it's a two-horse race.
"But, realistically, with three points for a game, if you win two or three games in a row, you have more confidence.
"The team can win games in a row easily. How many? I don't know.
"But three or four wins in a row, the confidence can be so high. So why not?"
He added: "At Valencia, we were seven or eight points behind in January and were in the hotel, in a corridor, and I was talking with [Roberto] Ayala, [Santiago] Canizares and [Mauricio] Pelligrino, maybe [Pablo] Aimar, and I told them we would win the league. They thought I was crazy.
"But I told them we could win the league and I remember Canizares saying that, after we'd finished eight points ahead of Real Madrid, 'He [Benitez] told us in January'.
"The way that we trained was key. And the way we train here, I have confidence we will be better and better every single week."
Asked if he would make the same declaration to his Chelsea players, Benitez revealed he would do so before their next Premier League match.
"Yes - It will be about the first game, Aston Villa," he said.
"If they can reproduce the same level in that match, I think they will start building this confidence."
He added: "When I talk to players here, I can see in their faces that they have the belief."
Benitez also had no doubt that he was the man to inspire that belief.
The Spaniard went close but never managed to win the Premier League in six attempts at Liverpool.
But he said: "I don't have any doubt about the things I can do.
"Look at the CV and then analyse the CVs of other managers people think are amazing in England, and you think, 'What is going on here?"'
