Source: Sky Sports
Saturday 20 April 2024 16:30:23
The pack has shuffled at the Premier League summit but Manchester City, Arsenal, and Liverpool are still divided by just two points.
Reigning champions Manchester City reclaimed the Premier League summit on Saturday after a 5-1 win over Luton and held top spot after Liverpool lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace and Arsenal lost 2-0 to Aston Villa.
Paul Merson described the run-in as "the best Premier League title run-in ever" a month ago and believes Arsenal have a chance to haul themselves back into contention with wins over Wolves, Chelsea and Tottenham this week, despite the defeat to Villa last Sunday.
Meanwhile, Liverpool have now suffered two shock defeats on the bounce in all competitions - having also lost 3-0 to Atalanta in the Europa League quarter-final first leg last week.
So, momentum now favours Pep Guardiola's juggernauts. However, only six games remain and one wayward result - like this weekend - would flip fortunes again.
Meanwhile, the stats reveal it remains the joint-tightest title race ever: only on three previous occasions have two points or fewer divided first and third after 32 games.
The top three have been tussling since Christmas after Spurs and Aston Villa dropped out of the top three. You can hit play on the interactive table below to see how the table has changed throughout the campaign.
If things do go to the wire with points, Arsenal currently lead the battle for goal difference by some distance with +49, followed by Manchester City (+44) and Liverpool (+41).
As it stands, City are the form side among the challengers with an average return of 2.2 points per game over their previous five league outings, compared to Arsenal (2.0) and Liverpool (1.6).