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?
- Can Villa overcome Selhurst jinx and announce UEFA Champions League ambition?
- Do Brentford stand a chance of European qualification?
- Can Cunha put Wolves within touching distance of safety?
- Will Palmer take this glorious opportunity to get back on track?
- Can West Ham capitalise on golden chance to get the Potter era up and running?
- Will end-to-end action at the Amex be the best match of midweek?
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.
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.
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
|
27 | +38 | 64 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
26 | +28 | 53 |
| 3 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
26 | +11 | 47 |
| 4 |
Man City
MCI
|
26 | +15 | 44 |
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.
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.
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.
Can Villa overcome Selhurst jinx and announce Champions League ambition?
Beating Chelsea announced Villa’s intentions to fight to the end in the battle for Champions League places, and with Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio hitting form – plus Ezri Konsa and Axel Disasi available to forge a centre-back partnership – there is reason to believe Unai Emery’s side will finish strongly. But they first need to overcome a longstanding issue playing at Selhurst Park.
Crystal Palace have won five of their last six home matches against Villa, beating them 5-0 in this fixture last season, albeit in a dead rubber with Villa already safe in the top four on the final day.
That is still a worry for Villa fans, mind. Emery's side have lost six of their last eight Premier League away matches and have conceded first in each of their last four fixtures in the competition.
They need to start playing with authority away from Villa Park if they are to sneak into the Champions League places.
Palace, with five wins from seven, will be tough opponents, but frankly Villa have run out of wiggle room. They need to put a run together immediately if they are to overcome the odds.
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.
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 Tuesday 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 Tuesday and it disappears.
Can Cunha put Wolves within touching distance of safety?
Victory at AFC Bournemouth on Saturday has put five points between Wolverhampton Wanderers and the bottom three and, after beating Villa 2-0 in their last home match, they return to Molineux brimming with confidence.
Another win might just put Wolves within touching distance of safety.
For that to happen they will, once again, need Matheus Cunha firing. His 17 goal involvements this season account for 47 per cent of Wolves’ total output and have been worth 10 Premier League points.
His direct opponent in that left half-space on Tuesday night is Sasa Lukic, the under-rated defensive midfielder who has seamlessly replaced Joao Palhinha in the Fulham side.
Cunha versus Lukic is the key head-to-head. If the Wolves man comes out on top, Vitor Pereira – after a difficult start – will suddenly look like an astute appointment.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 |
Wolves
WOL
|
26 | -18 | 22 |
| 18 |
Ipswich
IPS
|
26 | -30 | 17 |
| 19 |
Leicester
LEI
|
26 | -34 | 17 |
| 20 |
Southampton
SOU
|
26 | -42 | 9 |
Will Palmer take this glorious opportunity to get back on track?
Chelsea are suddenly in danger of seeing their entire campaign fall apart. Four defeats in their last five matches in all competitions – as many as in their previous 29 – has left Enzo Maresca’s side seventh in the table.
Cole Palmer’s drop-off has been a significant factor. He has now gone six matches in all competitions without a goal or assist, and at Villa Park on Saturday evening he looked far short of the swaggering playmaker from the first half of the campaign.
Tuesday’s match offers the chance to set that right.
Southampton, who were beaten 5-1 by Chelsea in the reverse fixture, have picked up only five points all season against the 17 clubs who remained in the Premier League from last season.
Palmer and Chelsea have needed this match; have needed the opportunity to get back to their free-flowing best and rediscover some confidence ahead of the run-in.
Of course, anything less than a dominant win would do lasting damage. But surely Maresca’s side won’t drop points here.
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.
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.
Will end-to-end action at the Amex be the best match of midweek?
It might not stand out as the headline fixture but Brighton versus Bournemouth should provide the most entertainment and the most goals.
Brighton have scored seven goals in their last two matches and appear to have shaken off their poor spell in winter, with Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter finding explosive form for Fabian Hurzeler.
Rutter has been directly involved in seven goals in his last eight appearances for Brighton in all competitions (six goals, one assist), while Mitoma – who has scored in each of his last three matches - has been directly involved in more Premier League goals against Bournemouth than he has any other side, with four goals and one assist.
But Brighton will not have it all their own way. Their high-energy direct football is relatively similar to Bournemouth’s, suggesting that as soon as one fast transition breaks down, the other team will launch a counter-counter straight back the other way.
There is a lot riding on the match, too. Bournemouth are still hopeful of qualifying for Europe but they stand just three points above Brighton after a difficult couple of weeks. Andoni Iraola’s side cannot afford for that gap to disappear.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 |
Man City
MCI
|
26 | +15 | 44 |
| 5 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
26 | +10 | 44 |
| 6 |
Bournemouth
BOU
|
26 | +14 | 43 |
| 7 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
26 | +12 | 43 |
| 8 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
27 | -2 | 42 |
| 9 |
Brighton
BHA
|
26 | +4 | 40 |