Football writer Alex Keble analyses where the midweek fixtures could be won and lost, including:
- Will Johnson and Son lead another counter-attacking masterclass?
- Can Liverpool get over their last real hurdle?
- Does City Ground trip come at the worst possible time for Arteta?
- Can Ipswich get the heroic result required to keep dream of avoiding relegation alive?
- Do Brentford stand a chance of European qualification?
- Can West Ham capitalise on golden chance to get the Potter era up and running?
Will Johnson and Son lead another counter-attacking masterclass?
The revival of Tottenham Hotspur's season, via three consecutive Premier League victories, might have made Manchester City supporters a little nervous before Wednesday’s crucial match in north London.
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Spurs have already beaten Man City twice this season, including a 4-0 win at the Etihad Stadium defined by quick counter-attacks that split open Pep Guardiola’s team, capitalising on their high line and passive pressure on the ball.
We saw more of that in City's 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, when the second goal was another simple ball over the top of the City defence, following on from how Real Madrid carved through them in the UEFA Champions League.
Ange Postecoglou will have taken note. James Maddison – the best player on the pitch in the 4-0 win at the Etihad – is in form again and will fancy his chances of playing through-balls behind the City back line, while a rejuvenated Brennan Johnson and Son Heung-min could turn the screw.
Man City are only two points above eighth-placed Aston Villa. Unless they can match Spurs' energy levels they will likely fall out of the Champions League spots – and to a third defeat in four in the Premier League.
It might not be the headline fixture it once was. But there is a lot more riding on this match than there first appears.
Can Liverpool get over their last real hurdle?
Many pundits have already called the title for Liverpool after they virtually strolled to a 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, moving 11 points clear of Arsenal with 11 matches remaining.
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It isn’t done yet, but the signs are ominous. Seven of their final 11 fixtures are at Anfield, where Liverpool have scored at least twice in each of their 17 matches in all competitions, while the schedule suggests Arne Slot can have things wrapped up before May.
Newcastle United’s visit on Wednesday might be the final hurdle.
After this, Liverpool have Southampton, Everton, Fulham, West Ham United and Leicester City in their next five, meaning they could almost have the title mathematically sewn up before having to play Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion towards the end of the season.
The path looks clear, the fixtures very kind. Beat Newcastle and it becomes very difficult to imagine any other name on the trophy.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
29 | +42 | 70 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
29 | +29 | 58 |
| 3 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
29 | +14 | 54 |
| 4 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
29 | +16 | 49 |
Does City Ground trip come at the worst possible time for Arteta?
This just isn’t the moment Arsenal will want to be travelling to Nottingham Forest.
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A dreadful weekend for Mikel Arteta’s side in the title race has made their trip to the City Ground a must-win game, in which they face a top-four side with five wins from their last six home Premier League matches and desperate to bounce back from defeat at Newcastle.
Worse, Arsenal face the team who have conceded the joint-fewest home goals in the competition (10) at a time when injuries have left them playing a central midfielder up front.
You would back Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic to comfortably handle Mikel Merino - but Arsenal simply have to find a way.
They have left zero margin for error. Anything less than a win and Arteta can pretty much concede the title.
Can Ipswich get the heroic result required to keep dream of avoiding relegation alive?
Things aren’t looking good for Ipswich Town. After being so competitive in the first half of the season, it has become difficult to shake the feeling they don’t quite have enough; their early capitulation at Spurs was just the latest example.
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Kieran McKenna needs something big to spark a great escape. Something big like beating Manchester United at Old Trafford under the floodlights.
It isn’t technically the scalp it once was, of course – Ruben Amorim has lost five of his seven home Premier League matches in charge – and yet it would feel just enormous to Ipswich players and fans.
Ipswich are yet to win a league match in seven attempts in 2025 and are conceding an average of three goals per game this calendar year, but having won more points away (10) than at home (seven), they won’t be overawed by the challenge.
And if they can race out of the blocks they definitely have a chance. Man Utd haven’t been ahead at half-time in any of their last 19 matches in all competitions and haven’t scored a first-half goal in open play since 7 November.
If McKenna can get them up for this – get them playing with the spirit of the first half of the season – then Ipswich can drag themselves back into the fight against relegation.
Do Brentford stand a chance of European qualification?
For most of the season, Brentford have not been included in the unusually long list of potential European qualifiers and still, all the way down in 11th spot, nobody is really talking seriously about Thomas Frank’s side.
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But four wins from their last six Premier League matches has slowly but surely seen Brentford close the gap to the top 10, and they are now only five points behind Villa in eighth, which could be a Europa Conference League spot.
It would take something special for Brentford to get into Europe for the very first time in their history, and with a pretty difficult remaining set of fixtures they will, at the very least, have to beat a resurgent Everton on Wednesday to stand a chance.
The Bees need to get their home form back, too. Fifteen matchweeks into the 2024/25 season, Brentford topped the charts for home wins (seven) and points (22), but they have won just one point from their last five games at the Gtech Community Stadium.
That’s another reason why a win this week is non-negotiable. The path to a top-eight finish is vanishingly small. Anything but victory on Wednesday and it disappears.
Can West Ham capitalise on golden chance to get the Potter era up and running?
All the post-match discussion on Saturday was about Arsenal’s faltering title bid, so much so that nobody really seemed to notice West Ham’s 1-0 win was a huge moment for new head coach Graham Potter.
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The fixture computer has worked in his favour here. To follow up an unlikely win at Emirates Stadium with a home match against a team in the relegation zone is exactly what Potter needed to ride that momentum and get his tenure up and running.
West Ham have lost their last two home matches under Potter, who had won a meagre four points from his first five games in charge. Beat Leicester at the London Stadium and his tally will jump to ten points from seven, a far healthier outlook.
And you would back them to get the job done. Leicester have lost 10 of their last 11 Premier League matches, including each of their last three by an aggregate score of 10-0. They are also the only side without an away clean sheet in 2024/25.
Potter’s forwards surely have enough to make it consecutive wins for West Ham for the first time since March 2024.