Premier League Match Week 37 Preview

Arsenal drew the much stronger card in the title race this weekend. The Gunners are home at the Emirates against abysmal Burnley while Manchester City must go to Bournemouth where the Cherries will be trying to extend a 16-match unbeaten run and secure three points which would lift them into serious Champions League conversation.

Bournemouth’s 16-game unbeaten run pulls them a step closer to Champions League football for the first time in the club’s history 👏 pic.twitter.com/sJ9wxgSqrE

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 9, 2026

Manchester City, even while rotating some of its key players, stayed in the title race with a 3-0 win over disinterested Crystal Palace on Wednesday, but a draw two weeks ago wrested the Citizens’ destiny out of their hands. Arsenal must stumble against one of its two remaining foes for City to claim the silverware. Burnley is bad and Crystal Palace will face the Gunners just days before the Eagles play for Conference League silverware and are thus unlikely to be much interested in the league curtain closer. An epic bottling will thus be required of Arsenal if Manchester City is to sneak ahead of them to claim the Premier League title.

Manchester City plays Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday before regrouping to play Bournemouth on Tuesday. The Cherries are currently four points behind both Aston Villa and Liverpool with those two sides facing each other on Sunday. At least one of those two sides will drop at least two points which means a Cherries win over Manchester City would place them just a point outside of Champions League territory entering the Premier League’s final match day.

Aston Villa has won only one of its last five Premier League matches as it hosts Liverpool to begin the Premier League weekend on Friday. Villa has beaten Liverpool in just one of the last 16 Premier League contests between the two clubs and Manager Unai Emery is in an interesting position for his team’s final home match of the season. Supporters will expect a strong effort, but Emery needs to be mindful that he has the Europa League final just five days after this match. How will he balance priorities and set his team on Friday?

Brighton’s intent is clear as it has it all to play for when the Seagulls visit Leeds on Sunday. Manager Fabian Hurzeler recently received a new three-year contract recognizing the Seagulls recovery from a mid-season slump to win the joint most matches in the Premier League, along with Arsenal, since the beginning of March. Brighton is currently seventh in the table with the chance to overtake Bournemouth this week and keep Brentford, Chelsea and Everton at bay.

Brentford has lost two of its last three matches but can bounce back at home versus disinterested Crystal Palace this weekend. Chelsea hosts Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday, just three days after the Blues play Manchester City at Wembley in the FA Cup final. Neither Chelsea nor Everton, which plays Sunderland on Sunday, have won any of their last five Premier League matches.

Spurs could be in the relegation zone when it travels to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. West Ham can escape the zone and leapfrog Spurs, at least temporarily, with a victory at Newcastle on Sunday. West Ham only has that opportunity due to Spurs’ late dropping of points in its draw with Leeds last week.

Nottingham Forest clinched Premier League survival last weekend and is playing with house money when the Tricky Trees visit Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Sunday. United, meanwhile, has wrapped up Champions League qualification and the only drama now is whether Michael Carrick will be named as manager for next season. Some reports indicate a deal could be in the offing before Sunday’s final home match.

Wolverhampton Manager Rob Edwards cited the remaining objective for his woebegone club, that being to finish out of the league’s cellar. The relegation bound team is three points south of Burnley entering the season’s final two matches. Woeful Wolves, however, has won only three matches all season as it prepares to host Fulham on Sunday.

Premier League Match Week 36 Results: Path Is Clear For Arsenal After Win Over Hammers; Spurs Fail To Capitalize; Leeds and Nottingham Forest Are Safe; Streaking Bournemouth Threatens Top Five; Everton Concedes Late To Jeopardize Europe Chances; Liverpool and Chelsea Draw

Arsenal may have salted away the Premier League title and West Ham took another step toward relegation in Sunday’s action at London Stadium. The Gunners defeated West Ham 1-0 as Leandro Trossard’s deflected strike in the 83rd minute proved the winning margin. The winner came just moments after Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya had stoned a point-blank attempt by Mateus Fernandes which would have given West Ham the lead. To further the misery of West Ham supporters, a potential tying goal for the Hammers was disallowed in stoppage time after a lengthy VAR review determined that Raya was fouled, a controversial call that reverberated at the top and bottom of the Premier League table.

Either you hate watch Arsenal or not, that’s a clear foul on David Raya. You can’t block or hold the keeper like that from a corner and pretend it’s normal. VAR got it right. #WHUARS pic.twitter.com/rvUMKt43DC

— Olawale Balo (@walebuilds_) May 10, 2026

Arsenal is now five points ahead in the Premier League race. While Manchester City, 3-0 winners over Brentford on Saturday, can pull within two points by beating Crystal Palace on Wednesday, those two points appear massive considering Arsenal’s remaining schedule.

Next week sees the Gunners host punching bag Burnley while the Gunners’ final game of the season against Crystal Palace comes just days before the Eagles’ Conference League final in Germany. Clearly the Eagles and their manager, Oliver Glasner, will be risking nothing to help Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.

At the other end of the table, West Ham is fortunate to be only two points from safety after Tottenham Hotspur conceded a careless penalty kick on Monday to draw 1-1 with visiting Leeds. Mathys Tel scored the opening goal for Tottenham Hotspur but was then guilty of the penalty which came about when he tried to “bicycle kick” a clearance from his own box.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted the equalizer which deprived Spurs of two critical points in its struggle to avoid relegation. Leeds even threatened to take all three points in the late going when substitute Sean Longstaff’s drive was tipped off the crossbar by Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky.

It is no wonder that Tottenham Hotspur is in a relegation fight after supporters witnessed the 15th non-winning effort in their club’s 17 home dates so far as the north London side has captured only 11 points at home this season. Like Leeds, Nottingham Forest is also safe now after the Tricky Trees earned a 1-1 draw with Newcastle that saw former Magpie Eliot Anderson secure the point for the Tricky Trees with an 88th minute goal.

Nottingham Forest is seven points clear of the drop line with only two matches remaining. Newcastle, meanwhile, suffered an all too familiar fate as the Magpies have now dropped 27 points from a winning position this season, more than any other Premier League team.

The Magpies host West Ham next week with the chance to further influence the relegation places. Following their result at St. James’s Park, the Hammers will need wait until Tuesday to see if relegation rival Spurs can steal a result from a tough battle away at Chelsea.

While the top and bottom of the table feature two team battles, the battle for European places remains wide open. Manchester United, which shared the points in a goalless snoozefest with Sunderland over the weekend, is already assured of its Champions League place along with Arsenal and Manchester City.

Liverpool and Aston Villa have long occupied the two remaining guaranteed Champions League slots, but both clubs are struggling to mathematically lock down their place. Liverpool and Aston Villa are level at 59 points after both clubs drew over the weekend.

Bournemouth is now on 55 points after the Cherries defeated Fulham 1-0 in an odd match where both clubs were reduced to 10 men for the entire second half. Brazilian teenager Rayan scored in the 53rd minute on a deflected shot to provide the winning margin and give the surging Cherries their fourth win in their last five Premier League matches and extend their unbeaten league run to 16 matches under departing Manager Andoni Iraola.

Rayan now has three goals in his last three Premier League matches, finding his best form at the best possible time for Iraola’s club. Brighton are two points behind the Seagulls in seventh place after making easy work of Wolverhampton in a 3-0 victory where Brighton scored two of its goals in the first five minutes of play.

Like Bournemouth’s Rayan, the Seagulls’ Jack Hinshelwood also has three goals in his last three Premier League matches after scoring 35 seconds into Saturday’s match, the fastest goal in Brighton history. The wins by Bournemouth and Brighton combined with draws by Liverpool and Aston Villa keep the race for Champions League places alive as the season enters its final two weekends.

Chelsea, once expected to compete for Europe’s top competition, ended a five-match losing run by grabbing a point in a 1-1 contest at Anfield between two clubs suffering disappointing seasons. Chelsea, of course, has been in a death spiral and is facing the prospect of no European football next season.

Though Liverpool remains well positioned to still finish in the top five spots, the supporters have become fully disillusioned with Manager Arne Slot. The vocalization of discontent reached a new level when Slot substituted for 17-year-old crowd favorite Rio Ngumoha in the 67th minute versus Chelsea.

Slot concedes he cannot win back the supporters until much work is done on the squad in the summer. Whether he gets that chance remains a question. Slot’s side remains locked on points with Aston Villa with both clubs currently trying to fend off Bournemouth and possibly Brighton.

Villa did not try too hard on Saturday, as the Villans suffered a 2-2 draw with Burnley which has already been relegated, a circumstance which prompted the sacking of Manager Scott Parker. The Clarets snapped a five-match losing run and avoided defeat for just the 13th time in 36 matches this season when Zian Flemming knotted matters at Turf Moor just two minutes after Ollie Watkins had given Aston Villa a lead.

While technically still needing to nail down its league place for Champions League qualification, Aston Villa is far more focused on a Europa League championship which would also provide entry to Europe’s top competition next season. The Villans advanced to the Europa League final with their victory over Nottingham Forest on Thursday.

Those celebrations may thus have influenced the somnolence shown at Turf Moor. Crystal Palace were similarly celebrating advancement to a European final after moving past Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday to qualify for the Conference League tournament final which will take place just days after the Eagles host Arsenal for a match which could determine the Premier League title race.

The Eagles could thus be forgiven if they attributed little weight to their match with the Toffees this past Sunday. Everton, meanwhile, had it all to play for as they entered the weekend on the cusp of qualifying for next season’s European fun.

It was surprising then that Everton squandered the lead twice in drawing 2-2 at Crystal Palace. This was the second consecutive week that Everton dropped points from a winning position, and a five-match winless run has the Toffees in 10th position with European hopes quickly fading.

Crystal Palace, while staking their hopes on a European trophy this year, can also now devilishly determine who lifts the Premier League trophy as the Eagles will face both Manchester City and Arsenal before concluding their domestic campaign. 

Premier League Match Week 36 Preview

Arsenal enters this weekend fresh off a Champions League semifinal victory which puts them in the final for the first time in 20 years. A historic double is thus within reach of the Gunners as they enjoy a five-point lead over Manchester City in the Premier league title race.

West Ham is next up for Arsenal whose league slate is down to three ultra critical contests. London Stadium will be the venue on Sunday as West Ham desperately tries to grab some form of result which might help its survival chances. Currently the Hammers are trapped in the relegation zone, a point below Tottenham Hotspur.

Manchester City, now hanging by a thread in the title race, needs to shake off its potentially devastating draw with Everton last weekend when the Citizens host a dangerous Brentford side Saturday. The Bees are seventh in the table, bunched with a cluster of clubs seeking to capture a Europa or Conference League berth for next season.

The league’s top two goalscorers will be in action at the Etihad as Brentford’s Igor Thiago trails Erling Haaland by only three goals in the Golden Boot race with the Brazilian having found the net 22 times already this season.

Erling Haaland agreed with a fan who asked Antoine Semenyo to pass the ball to the @ManCity forward on his recent Instagram post 😅

Haaland leads the race for the Golden Boot - but Igor Thiago is just one goal behind! 👀 pic.twitter.com/NIvRzMzbY1

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 13, 2026

Following Brentford, Manchester City should have an easier time in a makeup match with Crystal Palace on Wednesday before facing another difficult challenge at Bournemouth next weekend.

After presumably taking care of business against West Ham, Arsenal fortuitously will face a second consecutive relegation zone resident next weekend in Burnley. While Arsenal battles for silverware, historic rival Tottenham Hotspur is locked in a battle for survival with West Ham.

Spurs has an excellent opportunity to further their survival chances should Manager Roberto De Zerbi’s squad be able to defeat Leeds for a third consecutive Premier League win. Should West Ham lose to Arsenal and Spurs prevail at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, De Zerbi’s team will be four points safe with two matches to go.

Three points on Saturday is even more important as the remaining run in will not be kind to Spurs. A match at Stamford Bridge the following week looms against a Chelsea squad in bad form. However, a home loss to rival Spurs would be a frightening spectacle in front of already unhappy, and highly vocal home Blue supporters.

There should thus be ample motivation for Chelsea if such a thing is possible for this group currently wearing the Blue shirt. Chelsea is at Liverpool on Saturday where a sixth consecutive Premier League loss is a strong possibility. After Leeds and its visit to Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur must go to Everton on the final day to play a Toffee side which may well be fighting for a European place.

After derailing Manchester City’s title run last weekend, the Toffees now visit Crystal Palace, whose eyes remain fixed on the Eagles’ Conference League final later this month. A victory on Sunday over disinterested Crystal Palace could see the Toffees finish the weekend as high as eighth in the table and closing in on a European opportunity.

While West Ham faces a daunting task versus Arsenal this weekend, the Hammers’ remaining two matches, after facing the Gunners, are against Newcastle and Leeds which should represent winnable matches for Manager Nuno Espirito Santo and his desperate crew. Newcastle, away at Forest this weekend, is mired in 13th place entering this weekend.

Leeds will almost assuredly be safe by the time they face the Hammers and will likely have only marginal interest in its season finale, particularly away from Elland Road. Aston Villa has two possible routes to Champions League qualification.

The Villans swept aside fellow Premier League side Nottingham Forest on Thursday to stake a place in the Europa League final on May 20th, the winner securing not just silverware but a Champions League invitation. Villa is also currently fifth in the Premier League table, holding on to the final “table determined” Champions League slot by six points over Bournemouth.

Absent a hangover from Thursday’s celebrations, Villa should have little difficulty this weekend at Burnley. Bournemouth’s task this weekend has the potential to be trickier against an inconsistent Fulham side playing at Craven Cottage.

Brighton is just two points further down the table from sixth place Bournemouth and has a home match against woeful Wolves on Saturday as the Europa and Conference League battle remains congested with only five points separating Bournemouth from 12th place Sunderland. The Black Cats host Manchester United at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.