Barclays Premier League Matchday 34 Fixtures and Preview

With matchday 33 completed yesterday, and Manchester United's loss to Wigan, the race to the top has closed to within five points.  Arsenal has taken a five point lead over Tottenham to solidify third place.  With that background, all but four matches will take place this weekend, with Manchester City travelling to Carrow Road on Saturday and Manchester United will host Aston Villa in Old Trafford.  All things being equal both Manchester teams should be able to edge out a win, with City having to solve the more difficult task at Norwich.

Wolves for all intends and purposes will most certainly be relegated, while Sunderland will want to move up on the table.  Blackburn will need a win against Swansea in order to escape relegation, definitely a difficult problem.  The final match on Saturday will be West Brom against Queens Park Rangers at The Hawthornes.  Manchester United plays the only game on Sunday.

Arsenal meets Wigan at the Emirates on Monday.  Wigan will feel emboldened after its win against Manchester United.  Arsenal will want to further solidify its third place standing.

Four games will not be played until the 1st and 2nd of May when Liverpool meets Fulham and Stoke City hosts Everton at Britannia Stadium.  Chelsea hosts Newcastle at Stamford Bridge, while Bolton hosts Tottenham.

The delayed games will suit Chelsea who take on FC Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals next week.

The Premier League is far from being decided and this weekend's games will move the league closer to decision points.

 14TH APRIL

NORWICH CITY . - MANCHESTER CITY     Carrow Road, Norwich                     1-6
SUNDERLAND - WOLVES                              Stadium of the Light, Sunderland     0-0
SWANSEA CITY -BLACKBURN                     Liberty Stadium, Swansea                3-0
W.B.A. -Q.P.R.                                                    The Hawthorns, West Bromwich      1-0

15TH APRIL
    
MANCHESTER UTD -ASTON VILLA            Old Trafford, Manchester                 4-0

16TH APRIL
ARSENAL - WIGAN                                          Emirates Stadium, London

1ST MAY

LIVERPOOL - FULHAM                                  Anfield Stadium, Liverpool
STOKE CITY - EVERTON                               Britannia Stadium, Stoke on Trent

2ND MAY

CHELSEA - NEWCASTLE                              Stamford Bridge, London
BOLTON - TOTTENHAM                                Reebok Stadium, Bolton




POS LP         CLUB                                             P     W   D   L    GF GA  GD  PTS
                                            
1 MANCHESTER UNITED                                 34   26   4   4     82   28     51   82
2 MANCHESTER CITY                                       34   24   5  5      85   27     58   77
3 ARSENAL F.C.                                                   33  20   4   9     67   42      25   64
4TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS                                33  17    8   8    57   38      21   59
5 NEWCASTLE                                                     33  17    8   8    50   42        8   59
6 CHELSEA F.C.                                                    33  16   8   9     56   38      19    57
7 EVERTON F.C.                                                   33  13   8  12     38 34         4    47
8 LIVERPOOL F.C.                                                33  12  10  11    30  36        4    46
9 SUNDERLAND F.C.                                           34  11   10   13  42  41        3    43
10 FULHAM F.C.                                                   33   11  10  12    43  43        0    43
11 NORWICH CITY                                               34   11  10  13   44  56     -11    43
12 SWANSEA CITY                                               34   11   9   14   38  44       -6    42
13 W.B.A.                                                                 34   12   6  16    40  47       -7   42
14 STOKE CITY                                                      33   11   9  13    32  45     -13   39
15 ASTON VILLA                                                   33     7  14  12   35  48     -13   35
16 Q.P.R.                                                                   34     8   7  19     38  57    -19   31
17 WIGAN ATHLETIC                                            33     7  10  16   31  57     -26   31
18 BOLTON WANDERERS                                    32      9   2   21   36  65     -29   29
19 BLACKBURN ROVERS                                    34      7   7  21    45  73    -28   28
20 WOLVERHAMPTON                                         34      5    8  21   34  73    -39   23