Can Wolves, Bournemouth, Halt City, Arsenal Title Charge?

With third placed Liverpool more or less out of contention, defending champions, Manchester City and leaders, Arsenal will today take another step in their Premier League title charge as the hosts take on Wolves and Bournemouth respectively. On  paper, the Citizens and the Gunners should take the three points with relative ease, but any of the visitors could be a banana peel

Seeking to remain within touching distance of Premier League leaders, Arsenal, reigning champions, Manchester City welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to the Etihad Stadium this evening.

The Citizens will be out for revenge against the Old Gold after they suffered a 2-1 defeat in the reverse fixture at Molineux almost eight months ago.

Three days after cruising to a statement 4-0 victory at Brighton & Hove Albion, Man City picked up maximum points in Pep Guardiola’s 300th Premier League game when they secured a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground last weekend.

Man City could find themselves four points adrift of title rivals Arsenal at the summit if the Gunners beat Bournemouth in an earlier kickoff today, but the Citizens will then have two games in hand and can reduce the gap at the top to just one point with success over Wolves.

After three consecutive away matches, Man City will welcome a return to the Etihad where they have put together an impressive 42-game unbeaten run across all competitions, matching a club record set between 1919 and 1921 – avoiding defeat today would see the Citizens break this record outright.

Guardiola and co, who have also not lost home or away in their last 31 matches in all tournaments will be confident of success against a Wolves side whom they have beaten in seven of their last eight home league meetings, scoring 19 goals in the process.

After seven games without a win in all competitions, Wolves edged past relegation-threatened Luton Town by a 2-1 scoreline at Molineux last weekend to boost their chances of securing a top-half finish in the Premier League.

Gary O’Neil, who will not be in the dugout after being handed a one-match touchline ban by the Football Association for his conduct after last month’s defeat by West Ham United, now sees his side sitting 11th in the Premier League table.

After beginning 2024 with a five-game unbeaten run away from home, Wolves have since failed to come out on top in any of their last four matches on the road and they will end the campaign with arguably the two toughest Premier League trips to Man City and Liverpool.

The Old Gold have lost 18 of their last 20 Premier League away matches against teams in the top two, but one of those victories during this run was at Man City (0-2) in October 2019. They are also one of only three top-flight teams to condemn the champions to defeat this season, so there is reason for O’Neil’s men to be confident of pulling off an upset today.

Meanwhile, bidding to temporarily go four points clear at the top of the Premier League standings, Arsenal kick off today’s action with the visit of Bournemouth to the Emirates Stadium for the lunchtime kickoff.

The Gunners staved off a second-half Tottenham Hotspur fightback in an enthralling 3-2 North London derby win last weekend, while the Cherries hit Brighton & Hove Albion for three without reply.

Painful flashbacks to the capitulations of 12 months ago crossed the minds of Gooners last Sunday, where after Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg own goal gave them a seemingly unassailable 3-0 lead over Tottenham, their bitter foes came roaring back.

David Raya and Declan Rice’s blunders allowed Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min to threaten an almighty turnaround, but the latter’s penalty ultimately came too late for the Lilywhites to salvage anything from the heated derby, as Arsenal just about emerged unscathed from that five-goal classic.

Thanks to their latest victory in a game that Saka admitted his side may not have won last year, Arsenal have retained their vulnerable one-point advantage over Manchester City, but owing to the champions’ game in hand, perfection may still not be enough to end their 20-year title drought.

With Liverpool more or less out of the race, though, it is a nerve-jangling straight shootout for glory between Mikel Arteta and his erstwhile employers, who do not play again until evening and will therefore fall further behind the Gunners if the Emirates giants make it four top-flight wins on the bounce this weekend.

Six of Arsenal’s seven Premier League home matches in 2024 so far have ended in triumph, the outlier being April’s alarming 2-0 loss to Aston Villa, and on the back of being on the right end of a 3-2 scoreline versus Tottenham, it is only appropriate that Arsenal reunite with Bournemouth after last year’s Emirates extravaganza.

Safely marooned in mid-table as the campaign enters its dying embers, Bournemouth followed up their 1-0 beating of Wolves with an emphatic South Coast success against Brighton, where one of Andoni Iraola’s attacking marksmen stole the show.

Leaving the relegation dogfight well and truly behind, Iraola’s men are smack-bang in the middle of the standings in 10th spot on account of gleaning 48 points – their highest-ever Premier League total and European qualification remains a mathematical possibility with just three games left to go.

The work of Iraola and his coaching staff will not go unnoticed either way, but Bournemouth were demolished 4-0 by Arsenal on home soil back in September and blew a 2-0 lead in this fixture last March, where Reiss Nelson’s 97th-minute winner sparked perhaps the wildest celebrations the Emirates has ever seen.