Comparing Arsenal and Man City’s fixture difficulty in PL title race | OneFootball

The Premier League title race between Arsenal and Manchester City is heating up, with both sides having some favourable fixtures between now and the end of May.

Both sides have been neck and neck in the pursuit of the Premier League crown, with Arsenal having led the way for the majority of the season.

Mikel Arteta’s squad suffered a wobble in February – one point in three February games, including a defeat against City – but have won four games on the trot since to open up a five-point gap between themselves and second place.

Meanwhile, defending champions City have the experience and resilience to claw back the Gunners lead. They’ve beaten Arsenal twice this season, and will fancy their chances of completing a hat-trick of victories when Arteta’s side travel to the Etihad in late April.

But Pep Guardiola’s side have dropped uncharacteristic points this season and may have more than one eye on the Champions League. They’ll face Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals as they attempt to win that competition for the first time.

Both Arsenal and City have a string of relegation-haunted sides between now and May 28, with games against Liverpool and Chelsea scheduled for each of the Premier League title hopefuls.

The Gunners have six home games, as do City, but the reigning champions have a marginally ‘easier’ set of opponents on paper.

We’ve added up the current league position of both Arsenal and City’s next eight league opponents – with Arsenal counting for one point and bottom side Southampton counting for 20 – and worked out the average strength of each side’s upcoming fixtures.

Note: all Premier League fixtures are listed in bold, and fixtures in cup competitions (both domestic and continental) are listed in italics. We’ve included the potential future dates for City should they progress in the Champions League and FA Cup.

Arsenal

19/3 – Crystal Palace (H) 1/4 – Leeds United (H) 9/4 – Liverpool (A) 16/4 – West Ham United (A) 21/4 – Southampton (H) 26/4 – Manchester City (A) 29/4 – Chelsea (H) 6/5 – Newcastle United (A) 13/5 – Brighton (H) 20/5 – Nottingham Forest (A) 28/5 – Wolves (H)

Average league position of opponents: 11.4

Manchester City

18/3 – Burnley (H) – FA Cup 1/4 – Liverpool (H) 9/4 – Southampton (A) W/C 10/4 – Bayern Munich (H) – Champions League 16/4 – Leicester City (H) W/C 17/4 – Bayern Munich (A) – Champions League 23/4 – Brighton (A) OR FA Cup semis 26/4 – Arsenal (H) 30/4 – Fulham (A) 6/5 – Leeds United (H) W/C 8/5 – Champions League semis (Real Madrid or Chelsea) 13/5 – Everton (A) W/C 15/5 – Champions League semis (Real Madrid or Chelsea) 20/5 – Chelsea (H) 28/5 – Brentford (A) 3/6 – FA Cup final 10/6 – Champions League final TBA – West Ham United (H)