Arsenal began the season as an apparent juggernaut, but recent draws have invited rivals back into the title conversation. The coming weeks contain a cluster of fixtures that could sway the destination of the crown.<\/p>\n
The next matchday provides a stark test: Arsenal travel into a north London derby against Spurs with Igor Tudor overseeing his first game after Thomas Frank\u2019s dismissal. With the Lilywhites genuinely fighting relegation, they will be highly motivated to move further clear of the drop zone and dent the title bid of their neighbours at the same time.<\/p>\n
Manchester City face a different examination of strength. They welcome a fatigued Newcastle United side to the Etihad after the Magpies returned from a lengthy trip to Qaraba\u011f, where a 6\u20131 victory should have energised them. City lost at St James\u2019s Park earlier in the season but prevailed over Newcastle in both legs of their Carabao Cup semi-final. Still, Pep Guardiola\u2019s side have proven an inconsistent beast and must be at their best.<\/p>\n
Villa remain on the fringes of the race and will aim to take advantage of any slips. They host Leeds United this weekend and later travel to Wolves in Gameweek 28, a match in which Unai Emery\u2019s side should achieve what the Spaniard\u2019s former club could not, despite Arsenal\u2019s collapse at Molineux earlier in the campaign. Wolves sit at the foot of the table on just 10 points.<\/p>\n
Gameweek 28 also delivers another London derby for Arsenal, this time against Chelsea at the Emirates. They have beaten the Blues twice already in 2026, in the Carabao Cup. Liam Rosenior\u2019s resurgent Chelsea will look to a more attack-minded approach than in their recent 1\u20130 defeat at Arsenal, which could expose an increasingly shaky Gunners backline.<\/p>\n
Looking further ahead, Gameweek 33 is pivotal. Arsenal\u2019s trip to Manchester City will carry enormous weight. City will have home advantage for what will be their third meeting of the season\u2014the Carabao Cup final is contested before this Etihad clash\u2014and Guardiola will hope for a better outcome than in the first duel between the sides. Gabriel Martinelli\u2019s stoppage-time equaliser in the north London meeting was the Brazilian\u2019s only league goal of the season so far and could prove crucial as the run-in unfolds.<\/p>\n
There remain clear opportunities for all contenders over the remaining fixtures; derbies, Etihad tests and tricky away trips could decide the title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Five gameweeks loom large for the title: derbies, Etihad tests and tricky away trips could decide the fate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,238,969],"tags":[1162,1066,1087],"class_list":["post-6972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-manchester-city","category-premier-league","tag-analytics","tag-carabao-cup","tag-coaching-change"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6972","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=6972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}