Why Arsenal are playing game in hand before Man City in Premier League title race boost

Arsenal face Wolves at Molineux on Wednesday evening - a fixture they were initially scheduled to play on the weekend of next month's Carabao Cup final

Arsenal have been handed the chance to move seven points clear of Manchester City tonight in the Premier League when they travel to basement boys Wolves.

The fixture has been rescheduled for this week as the Gunners are due to skip a game next month when they instead face City in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on March 22.

City were due to host Crystal Palace in the Premier League that weekend but interestingly, they are not playing that fixture this week like Arsenal.

The reason for that? Palace are travelling to Bosnia and Herzegovina to face HSK Zrinjski Mostar in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League play-off.

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Had the FA Cup winners snuck into the top-eight of the Conference League standings, City would have welcomed the Eagles to the Etihad.

But now the fixture will instead be squeezed in at a later date and final details are still TBC.

Depending on City and Palace's progress in Europe, there's a chance the clash could take place on the week commencing April 20.

Beyond that, it could be held later in the season, possibly during the weeks commencing May 11 or May 18.

The schedule is now tighter than ever and given City and Palace are both still in the Champions League and Conference League, it's hard to say definitively when the match could land.

Nonetheless, the fact Arsenal are now playing an extra game before City could well work in the Gunners' favour.

In the past few weeks, it looked as though Mikel Arteta's men were set to extend the gap at the top to nine points when City were trailing 1-0 at Liverpool.

But they wrestled back the tide and won at Anfield before the Gunners late dropped two points at Brentford following City's win over Fulham.

Those three results cut the gap to four points but this time around, Arsenal have the chance to pile the pressure back on Pep Guardiola's squad.

City also host Newcastle this weekend before Arsenal travel to Tottenham in the north London derby as Igor Tudor takes charge of his first match at the help in N17.

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