Comparing Arsenal and Man City’s fixture difficulty between now & April
The Premier League title race between Arsenal and Manchester City will only get hotter as the weeks progress, so we’ve crunched the numbers to compare their fixture difficulty between now and the next international break at the end of March.
Arsenal currently hold the advantage, having enjoyed a sensational first half of the season, and sit five points clear at the Premier League summit.
But Manchester City are experienced campaigners under Pep Guardiola; they’ve won four of the last five Premier League titles and whittled down Liverpool’s eight-point lead to clinch the championship back in 2019.
The two challengers are yet to meet in a league fixture this season, but City will hope their recent 1-0 win in the FA Cup bodes well for their two Premier League clashes with Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.
The Gunners host City on 15 February – circle the date in your diary for that one – and generally have more favourable fixtures than their title rivals between now and the end of March.
Arteta’s side will only two other top-half teams in that period – Brentford and Fulham – and will surely fancy their chances of picking up maximum points in their other assignments before the relegation dogfight becomes desperate and the bottom-dwellers start playing above themselves.
Meanwhile, City have tougher challenges ahead. They visit Tottenham, a frequent bogey team, on Sunday and also host Newcastle at the start of March.
Guardiola’s men also face two Champions League fixtures against Leipzig and a tricky-looking FA Cup tie at Bristol City. Arsenal are still in the Europa League, but the signings of Leandro Trossard and Jorginho clearly show a first league title since 2004 is the club’s priority.
We’ve added up the current league position of both Arsenal and City’s next eight league opponents – with Arsenal counting for one point and bottom side Southampton counting for 20 – and worked out the average strength of each side’s upcoming fixtures.
Note: all fixtures in cup competitions (both domestic and continental) are listed in italics. Arsenal’s Europa League opponents are unknown at the time of publication.
Arsenal
04/02 – Everton (A)
11/02 – Brentford (H)
15/02 – Manchester City (H)
18/02 – Aston Villa (A)
25/02 – Leicester (A)
04/03 – Bournemouth (H)
09/03 – Europa League last 16 (A)
12/03 – Fulham (A)
16/03 – Europa League last 16 (H)
19/03 – Crystal Palace (H)
Average league position of opponents: 11.4
READ: 10 Arsenal greats on Mikel Arteta: ‘He changed the whole thing’
Manchester City
05/02 – Tottenham (A)
12/02 – Aston Villa (H)
15/02 – Arsenal (A)
18/02 – Nottingham Forest (A)
22/02 – RB Leipzig (A)
25/02 – Bournemouth (A)
01/03 – Bristol City (A)
04/03 – Newcastle (H)
11/03 – Crystal Palace (A)
14/03 – RB Leipzig (H)
19/03 – West Ham (H)
Average league position of opponents: 9.9
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