Football Ground Map
Football Ground Map
If Arsenal could have picked anyone to play in a bid to get their Premier League title hopes back on track after a disappointing April that saw them succumb the top spot to reigning champions Manchester City, it's likely that London rivals Chelsea would have been close to the top of the pecking order.
After months of defying the Premier League title odds and soaring high at the top of the table, what many pundits and punters alike deemed inevitable for some time finally happened — the Gunners went through a barren spell of four games that resulted in them losing their healthy advantage over Man City.
Losses to Everton and Man City wedged either side of a 1-1 draw with Brentford in February were initial signs that there were chinks in the armour of Mikel Arteta's side's title credentials, but the North London outfit managed to steady the ship with seven successive wins in the league following that 3-1 defeat at home to Pep Guardiola's men.
But the cracks appeared again last month, with Arsenal held to 2-2 draws by both Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield and the London Stadium respectively before salvaging a point against strugglers Southampton at the Emirates — drawing 3-3 with the Saints thanks to goals from Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka in the last two minutes.
They needed something to give them that morale boost and inject confidence back into the side, which is why the game against Chelsea at home arguably came at the right time for Arsenal. The Blues were in embarrassing form having lost all six of their Premier League games since Frank Lampard returned as interim boss and it was another night to forget at the Emirates.
Gunners captain Odegaard opened the scoring in the 18th minute with a well-taken, first-time effort in off the crossbar and the Norwegian attacking midfielder added a second in the 31st when firing another first-time shot past Kepa Arrizabalaga. Gabriel Jesus then smashed home to make it 3-0 one minute later and it looked like it was going to be a heavy defeat for Chelsea in North London.
The Blues managed to keep Arsenal at bay from there though and even managed to score a rare goal of their own through Noni Madueke's first goal for the club, but the most important thing for Arteta was ensuring that his side secured the three points to keep the pressure on Man City and returned to the Premier League summit — which lasted a mere 24 hours as the Sky Blues thrashed West Ham.
It was initially hard to really come to a conclusion whether the win over Chelsea was down to Arsenal returning to form or the own doing of the Blues, who have been their own worst enemy this season. But whatever the reason, the Gunners have come out of it believing that they can still compete with Man City for the title this year and it will give them the momentum boost needed going into the final four crucial fixtures.
Up next for Arsenal was a lengthy 285-mile trip up north to face a high-flying Newcastle side at St. James' Park. The Magpies are on hunt for Champions League football for next season and they were on a four-game winning streak at home, which includes a 2-0 victory over Manchester United and that famous 6-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur, but the Gunners ran out 2-0 winners in the northeast.
It doesn't get much easier for Arsenal though, they host European football-chasing Brighton at home this weekend before travelling to the City Ground to go head-to-head with Nottingham Forest — who are hoping to avoid relegation back down to the Championship having only been promoted last summer. A match-up against Wolves should be well backed in the best football tips for today on the final gameweek of the season if Julen Lopetegui's men have confirmed safety.
The consensus is that Manchester City have one hand on the title and their 1/18 odds to lift the trophy for a third year in a row are proof of that. But they have to balance their remaining four league games with the Champions League semi-finals against Real Madrid while the Arsenal players are taking full advantage of week's rest between games.
Who knows what could happen between now and the end of the season!
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