Premier League Matchweek 36 Preview and Prediction
We have a title race that is going all the way, with defending champions Manchester City the team to beat and Arsenal pushing them until the end.
There is set to be an equally intense battle to avoid relegation, with playing in the Premier League now more valuable financially than ever before.
Matchday 36 will see one match on Friday and five fixtures take place on Saturday, with title contenders Arsenal and Man City both in action.
There are three fixtures on Sunday, including the potential game of the week as under-pressure Liverpool take on Tottenham, who are hoping to chase down Aston Villa in the race for a Champions League spot before Man Utd travel to play Crystal Palace on Monday.
Arsenal vs Bournemouth Prediction and Preview
While Manchester City are in ominous form and remain in control of the Premier League title race, Arsenal are keeping the champions honest, winning their last three games to put themselves in a position to take advantage if Pep Guardiola’s side do slip up.
They passed what many considered to be the toughest examination of their credentials against Tottenham last week, but they should expect another stern test against in-form Bournemouth in Saturday’s early kick-off.
Bournemouth may not have stood out as the most difficult opponents awaiting Arsenal in the run-in, but Andoni Iraola’s side have been rivalling the Premier League’s best since earning their first win of the season at the 10th time of asking.
Arsenal have won all six of their previous home Premier League matches against Bournemouth. The Gunners have only played more home games in the competition while maintaining a 100% record against Stoke City, beating the Potters 10 times in 10 attempts.
Overall, the Cherries have only taken five points from 13 Premier League meetings with Arsenal (one win, two draws, 10 defeats), failing to keep a single clean sheet. They have only faced Man City more often in the competition without registering a single shutout (14 games).
Arsenal have won 13 of their 15 Premier League games since the turn of the year, only dropping points against City (0-0) and Aston Villa (2-0) in 2024.
However, the Gunners have conceded four goals in their last four league games, as many as in their previous 11 combined.
While Arteta’s team have looked a little more vulnerable at the back of late, they have scored a league-high 85 goals in 35 Premier League fixtures this season, with their average of 2.4 goals per game their highest in a single campaign since 1934-35, when they netted 115 times in 42 matches (2.7 per game).
PREDICTION: OVER 2.5 GOALS @1.40
Man City vs Wolves Prediction and Preview
Manchester City will hope to move one step closer to the Premier League title when they host injury-hit Wolves in Saturday’s clash at Etihad Stadium.
City are unbeaten in their last 19 Premier League games (W15 D4) after a 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in their last outing. Josko Gvardiol and the fit-again Erling Haaland scored in either half as the reigning English champions swept aside Nuno Espírito Santo’s side at the City Ground.
Extending to all competitions, City are unbeaten in their last 31 matches (W25 D6). The last Premier League team to have a longer run were also neighbours Man Utd, who went 33 games without defeat between December and May in the 1998-99 campaign.
As for the visitors, Wolves’ 2-1 win over relegation-threatened Luton Town last time out ended a six-game winless run in the competition. However, only twice this season have they put together runs of consecutive victories, winning three in a row in December and two in succession in February.
Hwang Hee-chan and Toti Gomes were on target before Carlton Morris’ late consolation at Molineux as Wolves finally secured victory to leave them 11th in the league table, just five points behind eighth-placed Chelsea.
City have won seven of their last eight home Premier League matches against Wolves, losing the other 2-0 in October 2019.
Since completing a league double over Man City in 1960-61, Wolves have managed just one top-flight double over them in 25 seasons, doing so in the 2019-20 campaign.
However, they will have another chance here after Wolves beat them 2-1 earlier this season at Molineux. A Dias own goal and Hwang finish earned the victory after Julian Álvarez levelled for the visitors in late September.
City may be unbeaten in 31 games across all competitions but that does include their Champions League quarter-final exit to Real Madrid on penalties, which is counted as a draw because the match itself ended level.
Yet Guardiola’s side have won their last three games across all competitions – against Chelsea, Brighton and Forest – without conceding, scoring seven in the process as their Premier League title charge intensifies.
That run seems likely to continue here given all five of Wolves’ Premier League away wins this season have been against either teams starting the day in the relegation zone (2) or London clubs (3).
PREDICTION: HOME WIN AND OVER 2.5 GOALS @1.30
Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur Prediction and Preview
Two titans stuttering towards the Premier League finish line clash at Anfield in Sunday's headline battle, as Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur both endeavour to rectify some recent mistakes.
Jurgen Klopp's side could see their title hopes crash and burn this weekend, while Spurs are potentially just one defeat away from being eliminated from Champions League contention.
It was not supposed to end this way for departing Reds head coach Jurgen Klopp, who will at least leave Anfield with another EFL Cup winners' medal around his neck, but Liverpool's hopes of a famous quadruple have been wrecked in the space of a couple of months.
Drawing 2-2 with West Ham United and losing more ground on Arsenal and Manchester City was a story in itself, but Klopp's heated touchline exchange with Mohamed Salah unsurprisingly made all the headlines; an unsavoury argument which effectively epitomises Liverpool's end-of-season collapse.
Klopp's third-placed side realistically have to prevail on Sunday to retain any faint hopes of Premier League title number two, as they are five worse off than Arsenal and will be seven below Man City if the champions win their match in hand; a draw here would therefore not suffice if Arsenal sink Bournemouth in Saturday's early kickoff.
Also reeling from back-to-back Anfield defeats to Atalanta and Crystal Palace without scoring, Liverpool are at risk of losing three successive home games for the first time since the behind-closed-doors era of 2021, but they had reason to cheer on Thursday evening thanks to the failures of their upcoming opponents.
In a familiarly painful sight for the Spurs faithful, their side's set-piece weaknesses reared their ugly heads again, as the unmarked Trevoh Chalobah met Conor Gallagher's free-kick to give the hosts the lead before Nicolas Jackson nodded in the rebound after Cole Palmer's dead-ball strike rattled the bar.
Twenty-two set-piece goals conceded in the 2023-24 Premier League is third only to Nottingham Forest (26) and Sheffield United (23) for Postecoglou's fifth-placed side, who remain seven points below Aston Villa and now have just one match in hand on their West Midlands rivals.
As a result, if the visitors are condemned to a fourth straight Premier League defeat on Sunday and Aston Villa overcome Brighton & Hove Albion, their Champions League chances will evaporate, although Postecoglou has repeatedly stressed that the top four is not the top goal for his squad in their debut season.
Working with limited recuperation time, always vulnerable from dead-ball situations and seeing their former stars lose their way at a crucial point in the season, Tottenham's top-four hopes could officially be extinguished at Anfield.
While Klopp's out-of-sorts side have flattered to deceive themselves, 28 points won from losing positions is nothing to be scoffed at and also fuelled by September's injustice, we have faith in the hosts to - perhaps inconsequentially - revert to winning ways.
PREDICTION: HOME WIN @1.48
***Burnley FC vs Newcastle United: OVER 2.5 GOALS @1.48
***Sheffield United - Nottingham Forest: AWAY WIN OR DRAW&OVER 1.5 @1.44
***Chelsea FC vs West Ham United: HOME WIN @1.65
