\n<\/p>\n
They can\u2019t bottle it from here, right?<\/p>\n
Arsenal are top of the league<\/strong> with seven games to go and, barring a couple of capitulations, on course to win the Premier League title. Their nine-point lead over Manchester City looks pretty comfortable, until you remember City have a game in hand and they still have to play each other.<\/p>\n And what if Arsenal slip up in any of their other games? It\u2019s not like it hasn\u2019t happened before\u2026<\/p>\n And they have just lost to Southampton of all clubs<\/strong> in the FA Cup after getting a spangling in the Carabao Cup final.<\/p>\n With City being the only other team in the current top six they still have to play, the fixtures look favourable for a first Arsenal title in over 20 years.\u00a0But that doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t some potential banana skins left.<\/p>\n We take a look at Arsenal\u2019s remaining seven games and rank them from piece of p*** to potential banana skin.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n It could all be decided by the time Arsenal\u2019s last home game of the season against Burnley in May rolls around. If they win all their remaining games, Mikel Arteta\u2019s side could be enjoying their first fixture as champions.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a decent chance Burnley could be gone by then in their fight against relegation, taking some of their minimal threat away.<\/p>\n Arsenal won 2-0 in the reverse fixture and Arteta has only ever lost once to Burnley \u2013 and that was more than five years ago.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n If it\u2019s not wrapped up by (or after) the Burnley game, that means it\u2019s going down to the wire and the last game of the season.<\/p>\n For Arsenal, an away clash with Crystal Palace is last on their fixture list. They\u2019re another opponent that has triumphed over Mikel Arteta\u2019s Arsenal only once, back in 2022, but their past few meetings have all been close.<\/p>\n Arsenal needed a penalty shootout to knock Palace out of the EFL Cup earlier this season after only beating them by a single goal in their previous league game. And a draw between the two sides last April was Arsenal\u2019s last result before Liverpool were crowned champions a few days later.<\/p>\n Anything can happen when the pressure\u2019s on by the final day of the season, but Arsenal may well be over the line by then anyway.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Arsenal title to come with \u2018asterisk\u2019 as \u2018nothing beautiful about them\u2019, says ex-PL boss<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Their Champions League quarter-final games against Sporting will fall either side of their game against Bournemouth this weekend.<\/p>\n In their last meeting in January, it was Bournemouth who took the lead, although Arsenal turned it around to win 3-2.<\/p>\n But last season Bournemouth did the double over Arsenal. And this season, Andoni Iraola\u2019s side haven\u2019t lost since they fell in the reverse fixture.<\/p>\n Arteta\u2019s record is strong, last season aside, against Bournemouth. But the Cherries have taken points off plenty of teams above them this season, including draws with Manchester United, Aston Villa and Chelsea and a win over Liverpool. They aren\u2019t to be taken too lightly.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Although Arsenal have only lost once to Fulham on Arteta\u2019s watch, it\u2019s been three years since this fixture has been decided by more than one goal.<\/p>\n Fulham will have little to play for by the time of their clash in May, but it might still present some significant hurdles for Arsenal.<\/p>\n Their penultimate home game of the season will fall between Champions League semi-final legs, if they\u2019ve made it that far in Europe \u2013 in which case it\u2019s easy to see how they could get distracted.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Newcastle have got the better of Arsenal five times in Arteta\u2019s managerial career and gave them a scare back in September, when it took an 84th-minute equaliser from Mikel Merino and a 96th-minute winner from Gabriel Magalhaes to take all three points back to north London.<\/p>\n The season has fizzled out for Newcastle, although they are still capable of getting a good result on their day and can cause problems for Arsenal if they turn up.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n If Arsenal win their next four games, including against City \u2013 presuming the challengers otherwise keep pace \u2013 they could go out of reach with a draw against West Ham.<\/p>\n But getting that draw might not be straightforward, given their opponents are slap bang in a relegation battle. Far more so than Burnley, West Ham\u2019s chances of fighting for survival are credible.<\/p>\n It could set up a tense battle at the London Stadium, although Arsenal have scored heavily there on their past couple of visits.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Modern football is rubbish. But we are getting the game we all deserve\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Now this is where things are really going to get interesting. City are the only genuine rivals to Arsenal for the title and also happen to be the side Arteta has lost to the most (nine times) in his managerial career, including the Carabao Cup final<\/strong>.<\/p>\n But City\u2019s margin for error now is so small that this will be the kind of crunch match they just can\u2019t afford to lose.\u00a0The pressure will be on massively at the Etihad Stadium in what will be the defining game of the title race.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n7) Arsenal v Burnley (May 17)<\/h2>\n
6) Crystal Palace v Arsenal (May 24)<\/h2>\n
5) Arsenal v Bournemouth (April 11)<\/h2>\n
4) Arsenal v Fulham (May 2)<\/h2>\n
3) Arsenal v Newcastle United (April 25)<\/h2>\n
2) West Ham United v Arsenal (May 9)<\/h2>\n
1) Manchester City v Arsenal (April 19)<\/h2>\n