If Arsenal doesn’t win the league this year, it may never win it again.
They’ve had a couple of opportunities to run away and hide this season after being perpetual bridesmaids the past four seasons.
Various teams, most recently Manchester City, prior to that Aston Villa, have got close. But both those teams, as well as Chelsea and Liverpool earlier in the season, have suffered through puzzling dips in form.
City have drawn three games in a row dropping six points that leave them, well, six points behind Arsenal.
Villa have taken four of their past nine points available and also sit six points back.
Realistically, it’s going to be one of those three teams to win it because Liverpool, in fourth, are a whopping 14 points off the top and out of the race.
Liverpool drew with Arsenal at the Emirates before last week’s FA Cup action, the first points the Gunners have dropped at home since August. But with City and Villa failing to capitalize, that margin gives them breathing room to be cautious.
Their fans during that match were restless and anxious as Liverpool were the team pressing on, spending the majority of the game in Arsenal’s end. But at the final whistle it didn’t matter, the Gunners still sat atop the league by a healthy margin.
They go into this weekend’s action facing Nottingham Forest, who can be troublesome but, while winning their most recent game, that was their first victory in five. Arsenal should handle this one with ease.
It’s not a good combination: Arsenal have given up the fewest goals in the whole division, just 14 in 21 games, while the only team that has scored fewer than Nottingham Forest is last-place Wolves.
Forest have hit the net just 21 times this season with the dream season of last year, when Chris Wood was amongst the scoring leaders, a distant memory.
Morgan Gibbs-White leads the Tricky Trees with five goals, but no other player has scored more than three all season.
Arsenal, as evidenced by their goalless draw with Liverpool, have struggled to score freely but. with their defensive record. it hasn’t been a bother. They have two players with five goals each, Viktor Gyokeres and Leandro Trossard, but they have another four who all have four goals apiece.
Derby days
If you had to pick a FUBO Game of the Week in this round of matches, it would probably be the Manchester Derby. But the historical lore is all that really pulls you in.
While City have dropped those six points in their past three matches, United still is a mess.
After a nasty battle over transfer funds and availability in this window, United changed their manager again. Ruben Amorim was seen around Manchester after the parting of ways looking absolutely buoyant, no longer burdened with the disjointed squad and dysfunctional setup of the historically giant club.
They’ve drawn their past three games as well and sit in seventh — just three points off the top four — but newly hired interim manager Michael Carrick has taken over a team that was just tossed out of the F.A. Cup in their first match by Brighton.
Seeing as they lost their first match in the Carabao Cup and aren’t in any European competition this season, they will have the shortest season possible, playing just 40 games — the 38 league matches and two cup games that saw them dumped out at first showing leave them playing the fewest amount of games they ever have in the modern era.
Truly dire stuff and it leads you to believe they have a massive summer project ahead, from ensuring they have the right manager to player sales and recruitment. Too many bad hires and bad buys have left this once-proud global soccer institution in tatters.
Stock up
Brentford: Sunderland may be newly promoted, but they’ve proven tough to beat this season and they’ve still got the third-best defensive record in the top flight behind Arsenal and Manchester City. Which makes Brentford’s 3-0 victory over them all the more impressive. The Bees have climbed to fifth, two points behind Liverpool. Unbeaten in six, including four wins in their past five, they have a tricky trip to Chelsea (more about them below) but don’t put it past Keith Andrews’ squad to get a result here.
Newcastle: They’ve also pulled to within two points of Liverpool on the heels of a great festive period where they’ve won three in a row and have Wolves this weekend. Yes they stumbled in the first leg of their semifinal in their Carabao Cup defence against Manchester City, but moving steadily up the table is the best news for them.
Wolves: OK, it won’t mean much, but they’ve been kicked all season and still are a sure bet to go down, so you have to give them credit for a mini three-game unbeaten streak. Going into Christmas they had two points, they now have a gargantuan seven after two draws and a win. It probably ends this weekend, but it’s nice to see a fighting spirit.
Stock down
Sunderland: The story-of-the-season team appears to have hit a bit of a wall, dropping to 10th on the heels of a five-game winless streak, albeit with one loss and four draws. One of those draws was against behemoths Manchester City, but their swift drop in the table shows how quickly things can change.
Crystal Palace: The darlings going into this season, they started the defence of their FA Cup win — the first trophy they’d ever won in their more than 100 year history — by being dumped out in the first game. They haven’t won in six league games — three draws and three losses — and have fallen to 13th. Need to get all three points this week against Sunderland.
Tottenham: Change the manager, same old Spurs. Thomas Frank started the season with such promise. They’ve got one win in their past five and were tossed out of the FA Cup by Aston Villa. Losing to a sliding Bournemouth last time out was bad, but West Ham are dreadful and they go to North London this week — Spurs simply have to get maximum points.
Crisis Club
Chelsea: Sacked the manager in a messy backroom battle and brought in Liam Rosenior to steady the ship. But their most recent win was Dec. 13 at Everton and losing to Fulham in their most recent game was painful. They’re missing Marc Cucurella after his red card, but with the money they’ve spent on this squad, they shouldn’t be down in eighth.
This weekend’s EPL schedule
Saturday: Manchester United vs Manchester City; Chelsea vs Brentford; Leeds vs Fulham; Liverpool vs Burnley; Sunderland vs Crystal Palace: Tottenham vs West Ham; Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal.
Sunday: Wolves vs Newcastle; Aston Villa vs Everton.
Monday: Brighton vs Bournemouth.