The Premier League title race is reaching its latter stages and Arsenal’s advantage over Manchester City has only increased following results elsewhere
Arsenal look to have been handed three separate Premier League title boosts over Manchester City. The Gunners took control of the race for silverware last weekend by beating Fulham while City drew at Everton, and now Thursday night’s results in Europe have handed the leaders a clear advantage.
Firstly, with Aston Villa reaching the Europa League final against Freiburg, sixth place in the Premier League can now secure Champions League football. To give the likes of Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth and Chelsea that opportunity, Villa must triumph in Istanbul and finish fifth.
Two of Man City’s final four opponents are Brentford and Bournemouth, and they face them both before Villa’s European final, which gives them added incentive to try and take points off Guardiola’s side.
Elsewhere, Crystal Palace could have a huge say in the title race as they face both City and Arsenal over the coming weeks. Oliver Glasner’s side are not quite safe from relegation just yet but will almost certainly be by the time they welcome the Gunners to Selhurst Park on the final day of the season.
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During the period in which they will likely want to pick up points, the Eagles make the trip to Etihad Stadium. With games either side of that midweek clash, rotation is possible but it will almost certainly be more significant against Arsenal as they have a Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano just days later.
It is worth pointing out that City will be in a slightly similar boat for the final day of the campaign as they host Villa, just a few days after their Europa League final.
However, things have fallen far more in favour of Arsenal with Brentford and Bournemouth’s new Champions League incentive and Palace’s need for points to make their final day clash against the Gunners a dead rubber coming to the fore.
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Arteta and his players may not even need to take full advantage of these factors with victory in all three of their remaining games as enough to seal the title.
They can even afford to draw against West Ham this weekend with their goal difference advantage enough to keep them top if City beat Brentford and Palace in the next few days.
Following those games, Arsenal welcome Burnley to Emirates Stadium while City travel to Bournemouth. Even though the former clash is on a Monday night, the Gunners play first with Guardiola’s side in action the following day due to their FA Cup final against Chelsea taking place on the previous Saturday.
All 10 games on the final day will kick off at the same time but Arsenal will be hoping the title is wrapped up by then especially as their season does not end until the following week.
After beating Atletico Madrid earlier this week, Arsenal have qualified for the Champions League final in Budapest. They will face holders Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday, May 30 after their aggregate triumph over Bayern Munich.
Arteta and his players will be looking for revenge on PSG having been knocked out of this competition by them in last season’s semi-finals. Luis Enrique’s side went on to smash Inter in the final and will be aiming to win consecutive Champions League titles.
