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In simple terms, the competitive level of the Premier League makes all clubs very vulnerable to losing points, I agree with this statement and of course it is not only Arsenal that experiences this situation. There is no guarantee that the team challenging for the title will continue to win, be able to beat other contestants, and sweep all remaining matches in the future. There have been many surprises this season, and we have also seen several title-fighting clubs experience ups and downs in their performance. Arsenal, who have just won a big win over Crystal Palace, could be tripped up by Nottingham Forest in the future, this is an illustration of how competitive the League is. However, in my opinion, this victory is a signal that Arsenal is ready to attack Liverpool and Man City in the second half of the season.
Week 21 has 3 matches yet to be played, and one of the most interesting is the match between Liverpool and Bournemouth. We know that if the Reds stumble then City, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Tottenham will be very lucky, where the points gap will not be wider. I'm sure the four clubs hope that Klopp fleet will lose points, and indeed Bournemouth are currently in pretty good condition. In short, when looking at Arsenal chances of winning from the perspective of the depth of the squad and the teams they beat, Liverpool should also be worried because they are not strengthened by their key player M Salah. Likewise, City is still missing Halaand, these are all challenges that must be overcome by a team challenging for the title.
On the other hand, I feel that the teams that occupy the top five in the standings should be grateful, because the other two clubs, Chelsea and Man United, are in unstable performance. We can imagine that if these two clubs performed consistently, perhaps the five teams would not necessarily be able to collect the current number of points. However, when these two teams have no chance of winning the EPL trophy, they will make themselves a stumbling block for the favorite team, I'm very sure of that. We will see how the Reds finish their match today, on paper they are much better, but underestimating Bournemouth is wrong.
As you said, the clubs currently ranked in the top 5 are quite lucky because Chelsea and Man United are not in the hunt this season because of their inconsistent performance this season. And don't forget that Newcastle this season also experienced setbacks like Man United and Chelsea. It's just that Aston Villa is surprisingly involved in the hunt this season.
But with around 17 matches remaining, it does not rule out the possibility that all the teams ranked in the top 5 will be able to maintain their consistency for the remainder of this season. Because it could be that Man United, like last season, suddenly continues to get positive results in the remaining games at the end of the season and suddenly rises to 3rd place like last season. Currently Newcastle and Chelsea are also struggling to overcome their performance which has not improved. But they will definitely improve at some point, be it this season or the next season.