Arsenal is still leading the marathon to win the 2022-2023 Premier League. The Gunners overcame Leeds United 4-1 last weekend to notch up their seventh consecutive win, with the gap between them and last season champions Manchester City being eight points. Next for Arsenal is a clash with Liverpool FC at Anfield, where they have not picked up a point since 13 January 2016. The Gunners’ last six away trips to Liverpool in Premier League have ended in defeat. On top of that, the record is catastrophic, 22 goals conceded and only 4 scored! This time, however, the problem seems to be different: Arsenal has the most spectacular and efficient football in the Premier League, and Liverpool are out of form.
With each round passing the Cormorants are increasingly diminishing their chances of grabbing a UEFA Champions League spot in the next European season. Since the shocking 7-0 win over Manchester United, Liverpool have failed to achieve anything: three defeats (two in the Premier League and one in the Champions League), a draw on Tuesday night against Chelsea and a 1-6 goals record. Their last encounter, 0-0 against Chelsea, was further evidence that things are far from looking good for Liverpool.
Wednesday night’s victories for Manchester United and Newcastle saw the gap between Liverpool and the 4th place increase to ten points.
With a game in hand over Arsenal, champions Manchester City continue their title defense. Pep Guardiola’s side, like Arsenal, are on a run of seven consecutive wins, four in the Premier League, two in the FA Cup and one in the Champions League. In their last three games, against RB Leipzig, Burnley and Liverpool, Manchester City have scored 17 goals and conceded only one! This weekend, Manchester City will play away at bottom-placed Southampton. The last trip to St Mary’s Stadium in January in the EFL Cup was a nightmare for Manchester City, who lost 0-2. The Southampton game will be Manchester City’s dress rehearsal ahead of the tough Champions League quarter-final clash vs Bayern Munich.
Only three teams remain in the race for a place in the Premier League’s top 4, alongside Arsenal and Manchester City: Newcastle, Manchester United and Tottenham, in that order in third, fourth and fifth place. Newcastle continues to amaze. Eddie Howe’s side notched up their fourth consecutive win in London on Wednesday night, 5-1 over West Ham United. It is the second time this season that Newcastle have strung together four wins in a row. This weekend, the Magpies play Brentford, a very unpredictable side, but whom Newcastle beat at home 5-1 in the first leg. Brentford’s last win over Newcastle in the league was on 17 January 1948, but it is true that the history of head-to-head meetings between Brentford and Newcastle has only recorded 15 meetings in all competitions since that moment!
After a run of three games in which they only scored one point, Manchester United beat Brentford 1-0 on Wednesday night. A hard-fought win, but one that keeps ManUtd in the race for a Champions League place. Next up for Erik ten Hag’s side will be Everton, a team fighting to avoid relegation. Everton are unbeaten in their last three trips to Old Trafford, a fact United should better take into account.
The fight to avoid relegation is still very spectacular. Nine teams, almost half of the Premier League, are involved in this battle for survival!
I couldn’t end this brief foray into the Premier League without pointing out that conservatism in England is dead! The owners of Premier League clubs no longer have yesterday’s patience and sacking managers has become common practice. Fifteen changes of coaches have taken place since the start of this season! Three of them in the last few days: Antonio Conte (Tottenham), Brendan Rodgers (Leicester) and Graham Potter (Chelsea) are the latest names to be wiped off the Premier League managerial charts.
