Arsenal to gain title boost after fixture gift can pile pressure on Man City and Liverpool
It may be a weekend without domestic action as the Premier League remains in a hiatus for the international break but Mikel Arteta will already have his sights set firmly on next weekend. Arsenal return to action against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, a ground the Gunners won handily with a four-goal scoreline in their favour last season.
That said, Bournemouth have caused Arteta issues in the past and forced some massively dramatic moments too – Reiss Nelson anyone? However, Arsenal have been presented with an opportunity that they have yet to grasp so far this season.
A win on the south coast would guarantee that they finish the day as league leaders. This gift is assured because both Manchester City, who are level on points with Arsenal, and Liverpool, who are one ahead, do not play until Sunday.
City take on Wolves away from home at Molineux, a side that has caused them problems in the past but without Pedro Neto and other key stars who have since left, Gary O’Neil’s side have been struggling and sit bottom, yet to win a single game. Yet fingers will be crossed for a giant killing on the weekend.
Liverpool meanwhile kick-off their start to a challenging run having faced only bottom-half sides so far during the campaign under Arne Slot – yes, even with that win at Old Trafford, highlighting quite how poor Manchester United have been. They host fourth-place Chelsea at Anfield.
This precedes their visit to the Emirates Stadium on the following weekend of course. Slot has already got one win over Arteta after he won in the American pre-season meeting between the pair.
Yet two very different-looking sides will indeed take to the field in just over a fortnight. football.london spoke to Gabriel Martinelli after the win over Southampton and asked the Brazilian winger for his thoughts on the next tough league home test to come to which he said: “We can’t wait to play these games and we’ll be ready for them.”
Winning at the weekend before the other pair play would hope to raise the pressure on their title rivals. Of course, Arteta would be the first to point out that Arsenal need to secure their victory first before worrying whatsoever about what other teams will be doing after them.
