Week 32 of the English Premier League is now history after Arsenal moved into the third position after victory over Newcastle at The Emirates.
Before the season begins, English Premier League (EPL) directors sit in their war rooms, eating caviar, and sipping on drinks containing olives, plotting key performance indicators (KPIs).
At Arsenal, those KPIs have been relatively steady in recent years – qualify for the Champions League, and Arséne Wenger’s failure to do so in the past two seasons is partly the reason why the Frenchman decided to cash in his pension.
A resurgent Liverpool and Spurs have meant its more challenging to squeeze through the Champions League via the front door, but the bookies have made Arsenal the 4/9 favourite to do that after the Gunners beat Newcastle by two goals to nil on Monday night.
Unai Emery’s side has now won ten home games on the spin, a success rate not seen in those parts since Wenger’s side was barking at everyone during the end of the 90s. Looking at the run in (they don’t have to face any of the other members of the Big Six), the bookies seem to have it spot on.
The win over Newcastle sees Arsenal move above Spurs and Man Utd to nestle in third place. While the pundits have been waxing lyrical on Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s revival over by the Manchester Ship Canal, Arsenal has quietly gone about their business turning a ten-point gap between them and Spurs, at the beginning of February, into a two-point lead.
Magpies like to pinch things, but there were no signs that Rafa Benitez’s team were going to do that at The Emirates. Even with top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the bench, Arsenal enjoyed 71% of possession.
The breakthrough came in the 30th minute when Aaron Ramsey smashed a low drive into the net after a clearance from DeAndre Yedlin fell at his talented feet. The goal came 18-minutes after the Welshman thought he had scored the opener before the referee awarded Newcastle a free kick due to a foul during the buildup.
Newcastle only had one shot on target throughout the entire match, but nerves still needed settling, and Alexandre Lacazette did that, scoring his 13th league goal of the season after a cute chip over Martin Dubravka seven minutes from time.
The only bout of athlete’s foot for Arsenal is an injury sustained by soon-to-be Juventus player, Ramsey.
Here are Arsenal’s remaining games.
Arsenal’s Remaining Games
7 April – Everton (A)
15 April – Watford (A)
21 April – Crystal Palace (H)
24 April – Wolves (A)
29 April – Leicester (A)
4 May – Brighton (H)
12 May – Burnley (A)
EPL Results
Fulham 0 v 2 Man City
Crystal Palace 2 v 0 Huddersfield
Leicester 2 v 0 Bournemouth
Man Utd 2 v 1 Watford
Burnley 2 v 0 Wolves
Brighton 0 v 1 Southampton
West Ham 0 v 2 Everton
Cardiff 1 v 2 Chelsea
Liverpool 2 v 1 Spurs
Arsenal 2 v 0 Newcastle
EPL Standings
1. Liverpool – 79
2. Man City – 77
3. Arsenal – 63
4. Spurs – 61
5. Man Utd – 61
6. Chelsea – 60
7. Wolves – 44
8. Leicester – 44
9. Everton – 43
10. Watford – 43
11. West Ham – 42
12. Bournemouth – 38
13. Crystal Palace – 36
14. Newcastle – 35
15. Brighton – 33
16. Southampton – 33
17. Burnley – 33
18. Cardiff – 28
19. Fulham – 17
20. Huddersfield – 14
EPL Odds
To Win
Man City – 4/9
Liverpool – 7/4
Relegation
Fulham – 1/5000
Cardiff 1/6
Burnley 11/2
Top Four
Arsenal 1/2
Spurs 8/13
Man Utd 6/5
Chelsea 7/4
Top Goalscorer
Sergio Aguero 11/8
Harry Kane 4/1
Mohamed Salah 4/1
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 6/1
Current Top Scorers
1. Sergio Aguero – 19
2. Mohamed Salah – 17
3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 17
4. Harry Kane – 17
5. Sadio Mane – 17
Next Manager to Leave
Maurizzio Sarri 8/11
No Manager to Leave 3/1
Neil Warnock 9/1
Neil Siewert 9/1
