Liverpool ease past Newcastle to go 13 points clear at the top
Football writer Alex Keble assesses the 2024/25 title race after a pivotal set of midweek fixtures where Liverpool beat Newcastle United and Arsenal drew with Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal lost more ground in the title race after following up a shock 1-0 home defeat to West Ham United on Saturday with a 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
Liverpool capitalised on that slip-up again, extending their lead to 13 points with a 2-0 win home win Newcastle United, albeit having played one match more than Arsenal.
| Position | Club | Played | GD | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Liverpool |
28 | +40 | 67 |
| 2 |  Arsenal |
27 | +28 | 54 |
| 3 |  Nott’m Forest |
27 | +11 | 48 |
| 4 |  Man City |
27 | +16 | 47 |
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Only once before has a team trailed by 13 points and gone on to win the title – and encouragingly for Arsenal, they were the team who did it, in 1997/98.
However, the Gunners still had 19 matches to play in that season, whereas this time around they only have 11 matches remaining.
What is the form guide?
Liverpool have taken 11 points from their last five league matches, including an impressive seven points from a tricky trio of back-to-back matches against Aston Villa, Man City and Newcastle.
Liverpool’s last seven results
| Opponent | Result | Competition |
| Spurs | 4-0 (W) | EFLC |
|---|---|---|
| Plymouth Argyle | 1-0 (L) | FAC |
| Everton | 2-2 (D) | PL |
| Wolves | 2-1 (W) | PL |
| Aston Villa | 2-2 (D) | PL |
| Man City | 2-0 (W) | PL |
| Newcastle | 2-0 (W) | PL |
Arsenal’s draw at Forest, combined with their loss to West Ham, means they have only won one of their last four matches in all competitions.
Arsenal’s last seven results
| Opponent | Result | Competition |
| Wolves | 1-0 (W) | PL |
|---|---|---|
| Girona | 2-1 (W) | UCL |
| Man City | 5-1 (W) | PL |
| Newcastle | 2-0 (L) | EFLC |
| Leicester | 2-0 (W) | PL |
| West Ham | 1-0 (L) | PL |
| Nottingham Forest | 0-0 (D) | PL |
What are Liverpool’s remaining fixtures?
Things are now set to get decidedly easier for Liverpool.
For a start, there is space to breathe. Liverpool play only one Premier League fixture in March, against bottom-placed Southampton.
Five of their six Premier League matches through March and April are against teams in the bottom half of the table, the only exception being Fulham away on 5 April.
They will still have to contend with a Champions League last-16 two-legged tie with Paris Saint-Germain and an EFL Cup final in March, but there is no doubt there is more room in the calendar this spring.
May, however, contains matches against Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion before ending – more tamely – with Crystal Palace at Anfield.
Liverpool’s remaining PL fixtures
| Date | Opp. | Date | Opp. |
| 8 Mar | Southampton (H) | 26 Apr | Spurs (H) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Apr | Everton (H) | 3 May | Chelsea (A) |
| 5 Apr | Fulham (A) | 10 May | Arsenal (H) |
| 12 Apr | West Ham (H) | 18 May | Brighton (A) |
| 19 Apr | Leicester (A) | 25 May | Crystal Palace (H) |
What are Arsenal’s remaining fixtures?
Arsenal’s fixtures look trickier.
They now travel to Manchester United and then have back-to-back London derbies against Chelsea and Fulham, followed by a trip to a rejuvenated Everton.
The good news is Arsenal only have two Premier League matches in March, which is just as well given their injury list, although of course that will depend upon how far they go in the Champions League. They will face PSV Eindhoven in the last 16.
The difficulty only really relents towards the end of April, and there is then a trip to Anfield to come in May.
Arsenal’s remaining PL fixtures
| Date | Opp. | Date | Opp. |
| 9 Mar | Man Utd (A) | 26 Apr | Crystal Palace (H) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Mar | Chelsea (H) | 3 May | Bournemouth (H) |
| 1 Apr | Fulham (H) | 10 May | Liverpool (A) |
| 5 Apr | Everton (A) | 18 May | Newcastle (H) |
| 12 Apr | Brentford (H) | 25 May | Southampton (A) |
| 19 Apr | Ipswich (A) |
Who has the better fixtures?
The Fixture Difficulty Rating (FDR) is a tool used in Fantasy Premier League which ranks fixtures from one (easy) to five (hard).
It puts Arsenal and Liverpool almost neck and neck.
Arsenal’s total score is 33, or 3.0 per match, while Liverpool’s is slightly easier, at 28, or 2.8 per game, as they only have 10 matches left.
