As we slowly readjust from Christmas, when every day is essentially Sunday, to a world where we have to try and remember what actual day it is, we’re all strapping in for a full round of midweek Premier League action.
It’s not completely normal – the first game was on Monday evening, for example, which can in no useful way be described as midweek – but there’s a couple of belters in there in what is becoming a fascinating title battle…
Game to watch – Arsenal v Newcastle
As we approach the halfway point of the season, Newcastle bid to lift themselves from the fringes to the thick of the Premier League title race with a trip to runaway leaders Arsenal, where victory for the visitors would cut the gap at the top to just six points.
We all knew 2022/23 might be a bit different, but did anyone anywhere honestly expect anything like this? Manchester City may have shown uncharacteristic frailty, but the way the Gunners have leapt all over it is extraordinary, while Newcastle have suffered just a single defeat all season and that was pretty bloody unlucky one at Liverpool way back in August.
We’re in January, and it’s no exaggeration to say this game between Arsenal and Newcastle is the most important of the season so far. The fact it’s of far greater importance than Chelsea v City in the same midweek round is itself testament to the fact we are experiencing a bizarro world version of Premier League football.
But what we have at the Emirates is not just a clash between two of the top three but also the league’s two in-form clubs.
Arsenal have won their last five games and nine of the last 10, while Newcastle have eight wins and two draws in their last 10. In that time the Magpies have conceded just four goals, three in games won 4-1, 5-1 and 4-1 and the other when already 2-0 up at Tottenham.
For Arsenal it marks the start of a run that will truly test the extent of their title ambitions, with Tottenham and Manchester United to follow and Manchester City just around the corner.
Right now, there seems no reason to suspect the Gunners are about to fall away in the face of any of that. And there’s also a decent argument that Newcastle currently present the toughest test of the lot.
Team to watch – Manchester City
When you’ve set the standards Manchester City have over an extended period of time, it doesn’t take much for things to start looking a bit shaky. It’s all relative.
And this is a shaky patch, amplified by Arsenal…
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