Arsenal need a helping hand when it comes to their chances of winning the Premier League title this season, with Manchester City leading the way. The Cityzens are one point clear of the Gunners with one game in hand as the two teams approach their final few matches.
Mikel Arteta is preparing his side to face off against Brighton before they finish the season against Nottingham Forest and Wolves. There's some hope still for the Spaniard, who said in his pre-match press conference: "Every time you win, every time you play well, every time you feel you’re competing at the level required to win this league it gives you hope.
"It’s not in our hands but certainly we’re going to have to be at our best again on Sunday. If we win that game we’re going to be a little bit closer." At this point, all the north London outfit can do is continue to win and hope that results elsewhere swing in their favour with some help along the way.
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Little did many people know that piece of hope could be... the Eurovision Song Contest. That's right, Eurovision could, in a strange twist of fate, have a huge impact on the title race due to how it has impacted the scheduling of the fixtures happening this weekend.
City make the trip to Merseyside to face Everton either side of their Champions League semi-final tie with Real Madrid, which ended 1-1 in the first leg. There's already a selection dilemma facing Pep Guardiola, given the importance of fighting on both fronts and the Toffees have shown in recent weeks that they are up for the fight at the bottom of the table.
While the manager was hoping the game would be played on Saturday, giving his players extra rest and some preparation for Los Blancos on Wednesday, he is now facing the clash being played on Sunday due to the song contest being hosted in the city on the Saturday night. Guardiola addressed this issue in his press conference, saying: "My thought is just Everton, no more than that.
“Eleven months working for the Premier League, I don’t want to be distracted for Madrid because I won’t have time. Well, not much, because we play Sunday – thank you so much. I don’t understand it, but I don’t want to fight for that any more.
“We have to adapt to it. It doesn’t matter, I don’t fight any more the schedules. In the end we can’t play Saturday because of Eurovision or something like that in Liverpool and we don’t have enough bodies to handle two important events sometimes.
“OK, you have to adapt. What can I do? We’d prefer to play Saturday to be able to prepare but it is what it is. I’m pretty sure the Premier League want to help the teams. I don’t think they make it uncomfortable.”
It could see the manager play a drastically different team with that in mind and should they slip up against Everton, it could give Arsenal a route back into the title fight.
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