Arsenal must ‘maintain momentum’

Arsenal produced a devastating display to thrash Sheffield United on Monday and move within two points of Premier League leaders LiverpoolArsenal manager Mikel Arteta has urged his team to “maintain the momentum” before a potentially crucial weekend in the Premier League title race.

That match is followed by a mouth-watering fixture between title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday.

Jurgen Klopp’s Reds are currently top of the table on 63 points, just one point ahead of City and two above Arsenal. Any one of those three teams could be leading the way when the run-in enters the final 10 games after the next round of fixtures.

“The energy is really good at the moment,” Arteta told BBC Match of the Day after his side’s win at Sheffield United, their seventh league victory in a row.

“When you are winning everything is easier – we have to maintain momentum now.

“It is believing in the players. They have the capacity to do it. When things are going well that helps the confidence and the players have been brilliant.”

While captain Martin Odegaard described the title race as “a good fight”, both he and Arteta played down the significance of the Gunners potentially returning to the top on Saturday.

So what is the state of play? What do the fixtures look like? And which team is favourite to come out on top?

Current tablePremier League table as of 4 MarchTeamPlayedPointsGDForm (past 5 games)1. Liverpool2763+39LWWWW2. Man City2762+35WDWWW3. Arsenal2761+45WWWWWJust two points separate the top three teams in the Premier League – and it is only the second time in the competition’s history that three different sides have 60+ points heading into the final 11 games.

What are the remaining fixtures?LiverpoolManchester CityArsenalMarchManchester City (H)Liverpool (A)Brentford (H)Brighton (H)Arsenal (H)Manchester City (A)AprilSheffield United (H)Aston Villa (H)Luton (H)Manchester United (A)Crystal Palace (A)Brighton (A)Crystal Palace (H)Luton (H)Aston Villa (H)Fulham (A)Tottenham (A)Wolves (A)West Ham (A)Nottingham Forest (A)Tottenham (A)MayTottenham (H)Wolves (H)Bournemouth (H)Aston Villa (A)Fulham (A)Manchester United (A)Wolves (H)West Ham (H)Everton (H)Postponed to date tbcEverton (A)Brighton (A)Chelsea (H)Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City arguably have the most difficult run of fixtures in the coming weeks with games against both title rivals, starting with the highly anticipated trip to Anfield to face leaders Liverpool on Sunday.

Arsenal visit City on the final day of March.

As for Liverpool, the loss in north London on 4 February remains their only league defeat in their past 19 games. As well as Jurgen Klopp’s team hosting City on 10 March, they have a trip to Goodison Park for the Merseyside derby to fit into a busy schedule.

What do the prediction models suggest?Predicted Premier League final table – OptaTeam% chance of winning titleCurrent position & points1. Man City512nd – 62 points2. Liverpool351st – 63 points3. Arsenal143rd – 61 pointsOpta’s ‘supercomputer’ prediction model estimates the probability of each match outcome (win, draw or loss) by using betting market odds and the Opta team rankings – based on historical and recent team performances. These are simulated thousands of times to create the probabilities.

Whatever happens, there are certain to be plenty of twists and turns between now and the final day of the campaign on 19 May.

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