Football writer Alex Keble analyses where the remaining midweek fixtures could be won and lost, including:
– Can Man City play with renewed focus and pile pressure on Arsenal?
– Will Arteta’s side have an anxious evening against stubborn Brentford?
– Can Villa use tactical chaos to get their first home win in a month?
– Can Palace put a streak together to save their season?
– Can Sunderland pull level with Liverpool?
– Will Forest get a crucial win to ease the lurking danger?
Can Man City play with renewed focus and pile pressure on Arsenal?
Manchester City’s extraordinary comeback victory at Anfield was one of the craziest games in Premier League history – and it could just be the catalyst they need to become energised, and laser-focused, for the title battle ahead.
It wasn’t just the result, nor even Erling Haaland’s stoppage-time winner. There was something about the frantic emotional energy of Pep Guardiola – flying like Gianluigi Donnarumma after his save, sprinting down the touchline like Jose Mourinho when his team scored – that suggested this is the moment Man City truly woke up and believed.
It will count for nothing, of course, if they cannot beat Fulham, but that hasn’t been a problem in the past. Man City have won the last 19 meetings between the clubs in all competitions, the longest winning run one side has had against another in English football history. Fulham have lost their last eight matches at the Etihad Stadium, by an aggregate score of 25-4.
But as Man City’s 5-4 win at Craven Cottage in December showed, winning isn’t the only thing that matters. Guardiola’s men need to do it with control, with order and with purpose: a sweeping aside that indicates they are ready to put together an ominous winning streak.
Watch: Fulham 4-5 Man City 2025/26 highlights
Will Arteta’s side have an anxious evening against stubborn Brentford?
Throughout the 2025/26 season, pundits have questioned whether Arsenal will buckle under pressure and, to the club’s credit, that simply has not happened so far. But it’s also fair to say that, should Man City beat Fulham on Wednesday, the heat on the Premier League leaders will be cranked up to a whole new level for their match at Brentford on Thursday.
It is up to Mikel Arteta to ensure that the celebrations which electrified Man City on Sunday evening do not have the opposite effect on his side. Arsenal must focus solely on their own task and ignore the shadow that grows behind them.
The fixtures have not been kind. Brentford have won six of their last nine Premier League games, second only to Arsenal in that period. Keith Andrews’ team will have no problem sitting in a deep defensive shell on Thursday, absorbing pressure in the hope of slowing their opponents down until the nerves set in.
Premier League – best five teams in last nine matches
Team
W
GD
Pts
Arsenal
6
+12
20
Brentford
6
+8
19
Man Utd
5
+6
18
Man City
4
+5
16
Chelsea
4
+5
15
There is simply no avoiding it: this will be an anxious evening for the Gunners, as it would be for any club in their position, needing to find a way through one of the Premier League’s most in-form teams.
How Arsenal navigate it could have huge ramifications in a title race that, out of nowhere, has come back to life.
Can Villa use tactical chaos to get their first home win in a month?
Matches between Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion are always chaotic. When Villa won 4-3 at the Amex Stadium in December, the two managers’ respective desires to press high and to bait the press – to push on defensively, and play sharp vertical football offensively – created a basketball game.
This surely favours Villa. Unai Emery’s side have lost their last two Premier League matches at Villa Park but Brentford and Everton were precisely the sort of low-block opponents that refused to press Villa and fall into Emery’s trap.
Brighton probably will. Fabian Hurzeler’s side have only won one of their last 12 games in the Premier League and increasingly look beatable when the contest is open. What’s more, Ollie Watkins has scored more goals (nine) against Brighton than any other opponent in the Premier League, partly because he loves being able to make so many runs into space.
Villa haven’t won a home league match since 3 January so victory would bring a sigh of relief. Another wild, high-scoring game that goes in their favour, like the one at Brighton in December, would blow away the cobwebs and put Emery’s side back on track.
Can Palace put a streak together to save their season?
Crystal Palace’s 1-0 victory against arch-rivals Brighton could be the moment their season completely changes direction, ending an 11-game winless run before two very inviting home matches against Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Win both and Palace could be back in with a shout of a top-eight finish, and just as significantly will feel the confidence flowing again in time for a run at UEFA Conference League success.
Oliver Glasner will expect to get the job done on Wednesday.
Palace haven’t lost a home Premier League game against a side starting the day in the relegation zone since losing 4-0 to Sunderland in February 2017, a run of 19 matches. Meanwhile, Burnley have now gone 16 Premier League matches without a win.
Can Sunderland pull level with Liverpool?
Man City’s late turnaround at Anfield has the potential to be hugely damaging for Liverpool, who are left with just one win from their last seven Premier League matches.
Worse, they are in danger of being cut off from the rest of the top five at a critical juncture of the season and ahead of a very challenging game at the Stadium of Light, where Sunderland remain unbeaten in the Premier League this season.
Sunderland’s record is the longest run by a promoted side since the start of a top-flight season since 1977/78, when Nottingham Forest remained unbeaten in all 21 games en route to winning the title.
They can’t go that far in a 38-game season but like Forest back then, Sunderland are very much in the hunt for a place in Europe. Given that Liverpool have won just two of their last 10 matches on the road, Regis Le Bris will believe his players can take another major scalp in midweek, pulling level on points with Arne Slot’s side in the process.
If they do, Liverpool will be in all kinds of trouble.
Will Forest get a crucial win to ease the lurking danger?
It is the nature of Wolves’ difficult Premier League season that every club hosting them demands three points and views anything less as a missed opportunity.
But that feeling is particularly acute for Forest who, after losing a vital six-pointer against Leeds at the weekend, cannot afford another step backwards.
Forest are winless in their last four matches on home soil, only further increasing the pressure on getting a positive result this time. But if they can beat Wolves, West Ham hosting fourth-placed Man Utd means there is every chance Sean Dyche’s team could be six points clear of the drop zone by the end of Matchweek 26.
Forest supporters won’t dare to contemplate anything less than a win.
