Premier League updates: Five of the biggest games left this season

Manchester City entered the season as defending champions for a record fourth consecutive time, having narrowly edged Arsenal by two points in last year’s title race.

While many anticipated another head-to-head battle between the two, Liverpool have inserted themselves into the mix. The Reds sit atop the table after 27 game weeks, and at this stage, it appears their challengers will need a miracle to deny them the title.

Meanwhile, the race for a top-four finish is intensifying. Nottingham Forest (48), City (47), and Chelsea (46) are separated by just a single point, while Newcastle United (44) and Bournemouth (43) remain in close pursuit.

With ten matches remaining, here are five of the biggest Premier League fixtures left this season.

Arsenal vs Chelsea — Sunday, 16th March

Chelsea will travel to North London to face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in what would be the 211th London derby between these two sides.

Both teams are having a mixed season with a rollercoaster of emotions following different stints of strong and poor form.

For those with Chelsea tickets, their quest for a top-four finish could be seen as an improvement to last season, where they stood no chance and could only manage a sixth-place finish after a late run of positive results.

At the beginning of the season, the Blues were in strong form, losing only one of their first seven games. Their form was even more commendable, where losses to Liverpool at Anfield and to Newcastle were their only losses from October till late December.

The strong run of form saw them go unbeaten in 13 games across all competitions, including the 1-1 draw to Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

Despite Arsenal’s combative defence, the game against the Blues was only the fourth time they faced 15+ shots in a Premier League game this season. Chelsea’s Pedro Neto, who scored Chelsea’s equaliser, extending his goal tally of a goal contribution against the Gunners in his last three Premier League starts.

Chelsea snapped a three-game losing streak across all competitions with a comfortable 4-0 victory over bottom-placed Southampton in their last Premier League game.

Enzo Maresca had been facing increasing scrutiny, having secured just two league wins since mid-December—a slump that dented their top-four ambitions.

However, Southampton posed little challenge at Stamford Bridge, offering the perfect opportunity for the Blues to regain confidence.

They now sit in fifth place, one point adrift of fourth-placed Man City. The game against Arsenal will prove decisive to their top-four fate, and Maresca will hope to guide Chelsea to their first win against the Gunners in seven games.

For Arsenal, their Premier League title ambitions took a major hit after a goalless draw with third-placed Nottingham Forest widened Liverpool’s lead at the top.

Now 13 points adrift of the Reds, Arsenal’s title hopes appear all but over, with injuries to Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, and Gabriel Jesus further exposing their attacking frailties.

After failing to score against both West Ham and Forest, Arsenal have now endured back-to-back Premier League blanks for the first time since May 2023. Including the Carabao Cup loss to Newcastle, they’ve drawn a blank in three of their last four matches.

In the last game against the Blues at the Emirates, Arsenal secured their most emphatic win over Chelsea in any competition with a 5-0 triumph, marking the Blues’ heaviest London derby defeat since a 6-0 loss to Queens Park Rangers in March 1986.

Liverpool vs Arsenal — Saturday, 10th May

Liverpool took a significant step toward reclaiming the Premier League title with a crucial victory over Newcastle United at Anfield, securing a goal in each half.

Following his assist in the game, Mohamed Salah became just the third player to assist 17+ goals in open play in a Premier League season, along with Thierry Henry in 2002-03 (20) and Kevin De Bruyne in 2019-20 (17).

The Reds have now gone 24 Premier League games unbeaten (W17 D7) after matchweek 28, marking their third-longest top-flight streak—trailing only their 31-game run from May 1987 to March 1988 and the 44-game stretch from January 2019 to February 2020.

With Arsenal failing to win at Nottingham Forest, Liverpool extended their lead at the top to 13 points, though they have played one game more than the Gunners.

Their only Premier League title came in the Covid-hit 2019-20 season behind closed doors, but after this result, their supporters now seem destined to celebrate a potential second league title.

For Arsenal, winning at Anfield has been a near-impossible task for them over the past decade.

Their last victory over the Merseyside club at Anfield was in September 2012, where goals from Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla guided Arsenal Wenger’s-led Gunners side to a 2-0 victory.

Before the game against Liverpool, the Gunners will face tough tests against Manchester United before playing three London derbies against Chelsea, Fulham and Brentford in their next four games.

They’ll also be eager for recompense when they travel to Goodison Park to face Everton after their first-leg clash ended in a disappointing 0-0 clash.

With three additional games, the North London side will hope to get the majority of the available 24 points left before facing Liverpool in March.

Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City — Saturday, 8th March

Few could have predicted Man City’s struggles this season. With only the FA Cup left to compete for as March begins, their situation is a stark contrast to previous campaigns, where they were deeply involved in both the Premier League title race and the latter stages of the Champions League.

Their hopes of playing in the UEFA Champions League next season hinge on securing a top-four spot, though an additional Champions League place for England could mean fifth place might be enough. Even so, their inconsistent form leaves no guarantees.

A run of one win and six defeats in nine games has ended City’s pursuit of a fifth consecutive Premier League title. However, victories over Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur suggest they are not entirely out of the picture. The Cityzens will aim to replicate those performances when they visit the East Midlands to take on Nottingham Forest.

For Forest, any title ambitions—if they ever truly existed—have faded. Sitting third in the table, they are well-positioned for a top-four finish, but a recent dip in form has widened the gap between them and the leaders. They have lost two of their last three matches, suffering a 5-0 thrashing at Bournemouth and a 2-1 defeat to Fulham.

These setbacks came after an eight-game unbeaten streak that included a draw against Liverpool. Now, they are 19 points behind the Reds and winless in their past three Premier League games.

Nuno Espírito Santo has transformed Forest from relegation strugglers last season into a side competing for Champions League qualification. They currently hold third place with 48 points, trailing second-placed Arsenal by six following a goalless draw at the City Ground on Wednesday night. They are also just one point ahead of City and cannot afford further slip-ups, having managed only one victory in their last seven league matches.

With the title out of reach, their focus now shifts to securing a top-four finish and bringing European Cup football back to the City Ground.

Historically, Forest are no strangers to Europe’s elite competition. Under the legendary Brian Clough, they lifted back-to-back European Cups, but their last participation came in the 1980/81 season, where their defence of the trophy ended in the first round against CSKA Sofia.

Chelsea vs Manchester United — Sunday, 18th May

Replacing Erik ten Hag with Ruben Amorim was intended to solve Manchester United’s struggles, but the Portuguese manager has endured a tough introduction to Premier League football.

Amorim has lost eight of his 14 league games in charge, securing just four wins and two draws. Home form has been particularly concerning, with United losing five of their last seven league matches at Old Trafford—the only exception being victories over relegation-threatened Southampton and Ipswich. They will be hoping for a similar outcome in their next fixture.

The gap to the European places now stands at 12 points, meaning United could face a rare season without continental competition unless they manage to win either the FA Cup or the Europa League.

Their biggest issue has been in attack, with Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee both yet to score a league goal in 2025. United are also on the verge of an unwanted record, as failing to find the net in one more Premier League match would mark their 11th goalless outing of the season—the most in the club’s history.

Despite their struggles, United managed to edge past Ipswich Town in a chaotic Premier League encounter, securing a 3-2 victory even after being reduced to 10 men for most of the match.

A home win over Ipswich this season might not usually be considered a surprise, but given United’s poor run—losing five of their last six home league games—this victory carries significant weight for Ruben Amorim’s side, especially after playing much of the match with 10 men.

In the first leg of this matchup, United and Chelsea played out yet another draw at Old Trafford. Given the history of this fixture, the result wasn’t unexpected, as this particular clash has now ended in a draw 27 times—more than any other in Premier League history.

Eight of the last 13 league meetings between these two clubs have finished level, reinforcing their reputation for tightly contested encounters. It’s no surprise then that Chelsea vs Manchester United tickets for this game will be sold out with fans anticipating another closely fought game.

This fixture also produced the most entertaining fixture of the 2023-24 season and one of the Premier League’s most entertaining games in history, as two regulation time goals from Cole Palmer saw Chelsea battle from 3-2 to win 4-3 after initially letting a 2-0 lead slip.

It was Chelsea’s first win over the Red Devils in 10 games since the 3-1 FA Cup win at Wembley in July 2020.

Enzo Maresca will now hope to guide Chelsea to their first-ever back-to-back home wins over United since 2016 under Antonio Conte.