Championship race of Arsenal and Man City
Over the weekend, while Man City had to play in the FA Cup, a 4-1 victory over Crystal Palace helped Arsenal widen the gap to eight points. "Gunners" hold the top of the table with 69 points after 28 matches, while Man City has 61 points from 27 matches.
After a two-week break for the national teams to play, Arsenal will return with a match against the relegation club Leeds on April 1. After that, the army under Mikel Arteta had two difficult trips in a row, when they met Liverpool on April 9 and then played a London derby with West Ham on April 16.
The positive thing for Arsenal is that they have significantly improved their away form in the Premier League this season, with 11 wins, one draw and only two losses, winning 34 points. This is a big difference from last season, when Arteta's teachers and students only had the sixth best away record in the tournament with 28 points.
Arsenal are also unbeaten in all 10 London derbies since the start of the season, when they won 2-1 at Fulham, 3-1 at Tottenham, 3-1 at West Ham, Crystal Palace 4-1, Crystal Palace 2-0, Brentford 3-0, Chelsea 1-0, Tottenham 2-0, Fulham 3-0, and only a 1-1 draw with Brentford. Arsenal are the first club in Premier League history to win nine derbies in a single season.
On April 21, Arsenal returned home to Southampton - the team currently ranked at the bottom of the table - and then had two other difficult matches. On April 26, Arsenal marched to the Etihad Stadium to have a great battle with Man City - the match that can decide the throne this season, and then play a derby against Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium three days later.
The difficult road continues with a trip to Newcastle and then meeting Brighton at home. If they overcome these four games, Arsenal will take a big step towards the English Premier League title for the first time since the unbeaten season in 2003-2004 under the legendary manager Arsene Wenger. That's because in the last two rounds, Arsenal met Nottingham Forest and Wolves respectively - two clubs that were underrated and struggled in the relegation spiral from the beginning of the season.
Meanwhile, Man City's pursuit began with a clash with Liverpool at the Etihad on April 1. After that, Pep Guardiola's teachers and students are expected to win the maximum six points against Southampton and Leicester in the next two rounds.
Next, Man City faces the challenge of three consecutive matches against opponents in the top half of the rankings. The defending champion was a guest of Brighton on April 23, a great battle with Arsenal on April 26, and then marched to Fulham's field only 96 hours later.
Man City has another difficult match against Chelsea at Etihad on May 20. Their remaining three opponents are Leeds, Everton and Brentford in the final round.
British newspaper Sunsport said that being eliminated from the Europa League helps Arsenal to focus on the Premier League. Meanwhile, Man City has two meetings with Bayern in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on April 11 and April 19, besides the match against Sheffield United in the semi-finals of the FA Cup on April 22.
