On the back of a narrow 2-1 home victory against Wolves, Liverpool regained their seven-point lead over Arsenal in the Premier League. 

The Gunners had to battle through their 2-0 win away at Leicester on Saturday, courtesy of  late strikes from Mikel Merino.

Despite not being at their brilliant best, both sides were able to pick up vital wins and here, we will be looking ahead to a crucial period in the league season.



LIVERPOOL’S NEXT FIVE:Image: Peter Powell/EPA/Profimedia.

Aston Villa (A) – 19th February 

Liverpool and Arsenal’s next four Premier League fixtures compared	Liverpool's next five fixtures compared to Arsenal as Premier League title race takes twist	Liverpool's next 5 fixtures compared to Arsenal in title race after Aston Villa draw

Manchester City (A) – 23rd February 

Newcastle United (H) – 26th February 

Southampton (H) – 8th March 

Everton (H) – 2nd April 

The games continue to come quickly for Liverpool as they head into another huge week on their hunt towards the Premier League title. 

Seven points currently separate themselves and Arsenal, but that lead is at a serious threat of being reduced if they can’t pick up favourable away results within the next five days. 

Firstly, Arne Slot and co.

take on an inconsistent Aston Villa side that have won just one of their last five league matches, and last time out, could only manage a point at home to 10-man Ipswich Town.  

Liverpool will have an opportunity to widen the gap at the top of the table to ten, but Arsenal will have one game in hand as this match has been brought forward to compensate for this year’s Carabao Cup Final, versus Newcastle United in March. 

The Reds will then face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday in a game that has mostly been a Premier League title-decider, but City are experiencing an off-season, fighting for a top-four place.

Beating Manchester City is always a tough task, but even more so away from home and Liverpool will have to achieve something that they haven’t done in the league since 2015, a 4-1 win. 

A quick turnaround into next week will then arrive as cup final opponents, Newcastle, visit Anfield for a Premier League fixture that will become the first of three straight home matches for the Reds.

Bottom-club Southampton will follow Newcastle that weekend, before a soon reunion with Everton for the second and final Merseyside Derby of the season, just a few weeks apart.

We do expect there to be fire in the bellies of the players, given the events that occurred at Goodison Park only six days ago. 

Anywhere between eleven to fifteen points from this run, would bring extra confidence to Liverpool as they’ll be heading into the final eight matches, classed as the ‘run-in’.

ARSENAL’S NEXT FIVE:Arsenal FC via Getty Images.

West Ham United (H) – 22nd February 

Nottingham Forest (A) – 26th February 

Manchester United (A) – 9th March 

Chelsea (H) – 16th March 

Fulham (H) – 1st April 

As for Liverpool’s chasers, Arsenal, they kick off this run with a relatively routine home match against a new look West Ham under Graham Potter, following the inevitable sacking of Julen Lopetegui.

Potter has been in charge six matches so far, five in the Premier League, collecting just a miserable four points from a 3-2 victory against Fulham and a 1-1 draw away to Aston Villa, which are seen as good results for the club’s current circumstances in 16th place.

Mikel Arteta’s team will then have a tricky trip to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest, the side who Liverpool did not manage to beat this season and they’re experiencing their first minor blip of their season, so far.

 

A 5-0 defeat to Bournemouth ended an eight-game league winning run, before the tables had turned in their 7-0 thumping over Brighton, but they then lost 2-1 away at Fulham just last weekend.

 

Despite United’s shambolic season, they can still turn it on whenever they may feel, and against Arsenal this could just happen. 

On the weekend of Liverpool’s Carabao Cup Final, Premier League fixtures will still go ahead as Chelsea make the short trip to the Emirates in what will be Arsenal’s game-in-hand by time the fixture comes around.

This will also be the final fixture before the dreaded international break in March.

On their return to league action, the Gunners will face another home London derby versus Fulham, who have proved to be a stern test for the top sides on the road this season.

Liverpool experienced this in salvaging a 2-2 draw with ten men at Anfield, following Andy Robertson’s early dismissal back in December. 

Arsenal are expected to calculate a total of 10-13 points during this run, but it would not be a shock if they were to bring home maximum points and for Liverpool’s sake, we hope that they drop every point possible.

Both Liverpool and Arsenal are entering a challenging period of the season with difficult fixtures. 

Only upon the conclusion of these five matches, will we able to have a much clearer idea of who will prevail in this fantastic Premier League title-fight.

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