Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are neck and neck going into the final few months of the Premier League campaign, so let’s take a look at their respective remaining fixtures.
Despite being three of the four most successful teams in the Premier League era, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are currently all in a battle for fourth and a Champions League spot.
As it stands, the three games have near identical records, with United on 51 points and 17 goal difference, Arsenal on 50 points and 16 goal difference and Chelsea on 50 points and 16 goal difference as well. The Gunners are ahead in fifth on goals scored, with 53 to The Blues’ 45.
Clearly, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United have been the form team since his appointment. However, they’ve also had the benefit of a rather favourable fixture list in the league, aside from one tough game against Spurs. That’s set to change though.
Let’s have a look at the games each team has left, with matches against the ‘big six’ shown in bold.
Arsenal
- Arsenal vs Southampton
- Arsenal vs Bournemouth
- Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal
- Arsenal vs Manchester United
- Wolves vs Arsenal
- Arsenal vs Newcastle United
- Everton vs Arsenal
- Watford vs Arsenal
- Arsenal vs Crystal Palace
- Leicester City vs Arsenal
- Arsenal vs Brighton
- Burnley vs Arsenal
Chelsea
- Chelsea vs Brighton (postponed for League Cup final, new date TBC)
- Chelsea vs Tottenham Hotspur
- Fulham vs Chelsea
- Chelsea vs Wolves
- Everton vs Chelsea
- Cardiff City vs Chelsea
- Chelsea vs West Ham
- Liverpool vs Chelsea
- Chelsea vs Burnley
- Manchester United vs Chelsea
- Chelsea vs Watford
- Leicester City vs Chelsea
Manchester United
- Manchester United vs Liverpool
- Crystal Palace vs Manchester United
- Manchester United vs Southampton
- Arsenal vs Manchester United
- Manchester United vs Manchester City
- Manchester United vs Watford
- Wolves vs Manchester United
- Manchester United vs West Ham
- Everton vs Manchester United
- Manchester United vs Chelsea
- Huddersfield vs Manchester United
- Manchester United vs Cardiff City
As you can see, Arsenal have the fewest big six matches left to play, though they still have a number of potentially tricky fixtures. There are away trips to top-half sides Wolves, Watford and Everton still to come, in particular.
Plus, there’s that potentially season-defining fortnight where Arsenal have to play Spurs away and United at home with a possible Europa League round-of-16 tie sandwiched in there too.
Meanwhile, United clearly have the toughest list. They still have to play both of the title challengers, both of their top four rivals, plus two of those same top-half away trips to Wolves and Everton. They also play Watford and West Ham, but at home.
It’s a bit pointless trying to predict how Chelsea will perform from now on, after winning 3-0, then losing 4-0, then winning 5-0, then losing 6-0 in their last four games. We’ll see.