Ten Games to Go: There’s all to Play for in the Premier League Title Race 

The international break has put a two week hiatus on the Premier League season, as if to give players, fans and neutral watchers alike an intermission just before the grand climax of the film. And with the just one point separating the top three clubs at the moment, the battle at the top of the table is as tighter than it’s ever been this season. 

Liverpool and Manchester City played a breathtaking, end to end, incredibly exciting game last Sunday to a 1-1 stalemate and the result doesn’t really change anything for either club going forward. Liverpool remain a point above City and at the top of the table only behind Arsenal (who defeated Brentford thanks to a late Kai Havertz goal) but only on goal difference. And Man City remain one point off the top in third place. Of course both teams would’ve loved to come away with all three points, and they both played like so, there was non-stop action in both penalty boxes all the way until the final whistle. 

Liverpool may feel it was an opportunity missed as they were on top for majority of the game, having more of the clear cut chances, a possible penalty claim late on and the insanely electric support from the Anfield crowd behind them. Whereas City will probably be more pleased about the draw seeing as they were under a ton of pressure in the second half and simply because Anfield, specifically, is a ground that they struggle to win on. Barring their trip there in 2021 (the season mostly played during the height of the recent pandemic), where there were no fans in attendance, City haven’t won at Anfield since 2003. 

However, Klopp’s men have been impressive as of late, going undefeated in their last 5 Premier League games, winning four in the process, all in the midst of an injury crisis. Since Christmas, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson, Dominik Szoboszlai, Konstantinos Tsimikas and more have been out of the squad for an extended amount of time. Which has forced Klopp to introduce young academy graduates such as Conor Bradley, Jared Quansah and Jayden Danns and they’ve all shone in their own right. It’s been said over and over since the news first dropped, but there’s a feeling about this Liverpool team; that they won’t end this season empty handed in order to send off their beloved manager Jurgen Klopp as he’s set to leave the club at the end of the season. 

Arsenal were the winners of the weekend, in their aforementioned win over Brentford they dominated virtually every part of the game and Havertz’s winning goal late on was only required due to a lapse in concentration from now backup keeper Aaron Ramsdale, who took too long to clear the ball after a back pass, allowing an oncoming Yoan Wissa to deflect his attempted pass into the goal. Given the error, now it’s harder to imagine Ramsdale reclaiming his starting position, even more so because he was really only playing because Raya wasn’t allowed to play against his parent club, as he is on loan from Brentford to Arsenal. But the club may have celebrated Sunday’s draw at Anfield just as much as their own win, as it saw them go joint top of the table for the first time since October. Heading into final stretch of the season in the driver’s seat and controllers of their final place on the table; an impressive turnaround from Arteta’s men after a pretty turbulent Christmas/New Year period. 

Of the three frontrunners, Liverpool probably have the most favourable of the remaining 10 fixtures, the most eye-catching being the away game to Manchester United. They also still have to go across town to Goodison Park for the Merseyside Derby as well as Villa Park to play top four contending Aston Villa who’ve been very good at home. Each of the three teams still have to play Tottenham again, but Liverpool are the only team that host them, and they’ll surely be fired up to get all three points there as payback for how the previous game went against them in so many ways. 

Arsenal and Manchester City have tougher run-ins than Liverpool. Both have to go to Tottenham, who will be determined to pick up points as they want to finish in the Champions League places. Both have yet to host Aston Villa who’re battling Tottenham for that same fourth place position; and they have to play each other. 

After the international break, Man City host Arsenal, on the 31st of March, a certain title decider. The pressure and atmosphere of the Liverpool/Man City game has quite literally just been delegated to this upcoming one – a head to head with a title rival who sit just one point above them. The winner, if there is to be one, of this game will surely have the momentum and morale boost needed to go on and win the title. 

Arteta and his Gunners got the better of his former mentor back in October, when they beat them 1-0 at the Emirates in a tense and tactical chess match of sorts, ultimately decided by a Gabriel Martinelli winner at the death. This upcoming fixture will also probably remind fans of last year’s game at the Etihad that took place under similar circumstances. Arsenal came into the game clear of City by a couple points despite the hosts having a game in hand but the winner of the game was to surely put themselves in pole position and City torched Arsenal 4-1. So both sets of fans will have a fond bit of recent history to refer to inspire their team for the next couple of weeks.

Apart from the approaching clash at the Etihad, it’s quite unlikely that any of the three team will go the rest of the season without dropping points; but as it stands, Liverpool will be thinking they’ve got a great chance here. They’ve already played both of their competitors home and away and despite not winning any of the games, they managed to not allow either of them to gain much ground off them. City and Arsenal have yet to play, so points will inevitably be dropped between the two there and they’ve got the ‘easiest’ (as there are no givens in the Premier League) remaining games of the three. Mo Salah, Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson are all nearing full fitness, so this may be the perfect storm for the Reds to send Klopp off with a golden goodbye.

Arsenal are the controllers of their destiny, if they win out, they will all but win the title. They’ve got a superior goal difference to either of their rivals; it’s quite possible that the team understood that the title race could come down to goal difference and decided to put  as many goals past their opposition as they could. Of there last five games, they’ve outscored opponents 23-2, they’ve been ruthless lately and it bodes well for them coming into crunch time as they look to finally get the monkey off their back and win their first league title since the Invincibles season.

Manchester City are, of course, never to be counted out. Between the footballing genius of  Pep and the immense talent at their disposal, they will be ultra confident and motivated to win the league and make history, becoming the only team ever to win four Premier League titles in a row. The importance of the game against Arsenal can’t be overstated and this break will serve as a good rest period for the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and the just injured Ederson Moraes hope to get back to full fitness.

The stage is set for an all time finish to the Premier League title race and with each team having their own reason to win this specific title, the home stretch of this race is sure to bring fireworks.