Arsenal eye chance to pull clear in EPL title race as favourable fixture run looms

Arsenal have a great opportunity to cement their new-found status as English Premier League title favourites when league action resumes, with closest challengers Liverpool facing an extremely challenging run in their next five fixtures.

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners face a trip to Fulham next up on Saturday, which will be followed by league matches against Crystal Palace at home, Burnley away, Sunderland away and a derby against Tottenham at home. 

Arsenal will have a point to prove, especially in the first two matches, having dropped points against Fulham and Palace last season in finishing a distant second behind Liverpool. 

Arteta’s side have momentum on their side, though, and demonstrated that they are a different beast this season with wins over Newcastle and West Ham that also avenged blips from last season. If they can tick Fulham and Palace off that list it would be a giant stride towards confirming them as genuine contenders this season.

The North London Derby against Thomas Frank’s high-riding Spurs is shaping up as the trickiest of over the other five fixtures, and another opportunity for a statement win over their arch-rivals.

It is not hard to imagine the Gunners getting a full haul of 15 points form those five matches, but anything less could raise fears that last year’s frailties have not been completely erased.     

Liverpool, by comparison, are up against Manchester United (H), Brentford (A), Aston Villa (H), Manchester City (A), and Nottingham Forest (H) in their next five league games. It will be a challenging set of fixtures even if Arne Slot's Reds were not trying to overcome their current mini-crisis. 

Ruben Amorim’s Red Devils will be keen to exploit any further disjointed displays from Arne Slot’s stumbling team that has lost two league matches in a row, in Sunday’s crunch fixture at Anfield. 

The champions also don’t have the greatest record against Pep Guardiola’s City, while they are also by no means guaranteed the three points against Villa and the Bees of Brentford, based on current form.    

Having navigated a punishing fixture list at the start of the campaign, which included matches against Manchester United, Liverpool, City and Newcastle, the Gunners have the opportunity to turn the one-point gap at the top of the table into a chasm.

The only doubt might be around the perennial chasers’ ability to lead from the front.