Arsenal arrive at this phase with a slim four-point lead and a run of results that has made every remaining matchday feel decisive. Having not won the league since the undefeated 2003\u201304 campaign, Mikel Arteta\u2019s side have shown a recent wobble: an apparent reluctance to create from open play and moments of vulnerability that opponents can exploit.<\/p>\n
The next fortnight contains tricky trips to Leeds United and Brentford, fixtures unlikely to be straightforward. Tottenham Hotspur and the North London derby loom large as well. Spurs, managed by Thomas Frank, have endured another miserable Premier League campaign; the Dane could be out of the job by the time Arsenal visit N17 in Gameweek 27. Spurs are poor at home and Arsenal have won each of their previous three visits to Seven Sisters Road. The reverse fixture saw Eberechi Eze netted a hat-trick in a 4\u20131 rout, underlining the derby\u2019s potential significance.<\/p>\n
Both Manchester City and Aston Villa have games before the North London Derby, with City hosting Newcastle United and Villa welcoming Leeds. Gameweek 28 begins with Unai Emery\u2019s Villans on Friday night at Molineux. Wolverhampton Wanderers are harder to beat under Rob Edwards but appear set for relegation, which can make them dangerous opponents. Boubacar Kamara\u2019s long-range strike was decisive in their previous duel at the start of Edwards\u2019 reign.<\/p>\n
There are further tests the following weekend: City visit Leeds on Saturday evening and Arsenal host Chelsea on Sunday, with Arsenal unbeaten against the Blues since 2021 and Liam Rosenior\u2019s reign off to a productive start.<\/p>\n
The standout fixture arrives in mid-April, Gameweek 33, when Arsenal travel to the Etihad. The two prior meetings in Manchester ended all-square: the 2023\u201324 run-in finished goalless and a John Stones strike at the death rescued a point for City at the start of last season. City barely clung on for a point in the reverse fixture and will benefit from the arrivals of Antoine Semenyo and Marc Gu\u00e9hi and the return of a couple of defenders from injury.<\/p>\n
Liverpool remain a wild card after a disappointing title defence under Arne Slot; they host City on Feb. 8 and visit Villa later in the season. Arsenal finish a home outing against Burnley, while City close an away run at Bournemouth. If Arsenal\u2019s recent dip becomes a collapse, City and Villa could overturn the deficit and a final-day showdown at the Etihad between City and Villa would decide the title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arsenal’s four-point lead is fragile; five forthcoming gameweeks may decide the 2025\/26 title race..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,711,969],"tags":[801,1087,1307],"class_list":["post-6278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-aston-villa","category-premier-league","tag-antoine-semenyo","tag-coaching-change","tag-collapse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}