Four games left and almost every question still open. Matchweek 35 of the Premier League is the kind of weekend the schedule-makers dream about. The title race might be one fixture away from being settled, the top four is genuinely a five-team contest, and at the bottom of the table half a dozen sides are still trying to work out where they finish in the European places. Old Trafford on Sunday is the headline. Everything around it is good supporting cast.
This is the full weekend guide — how every match shapes the closing fortnight of the season, who’s playing for what, and the stories worth following from Friday night through to Monday’s late kick-off
How the table looks heading in
Arsenal lead the league on 73 points from 34 matches, three clear of Manchester City who sit on 70 with a game in hand. Mikel Arteta’s side beat Newcastle 1-0 last weekend to reclaim top spot — a half-time goal protected by a disciplined second half — and arrive at this matchweek with the title genuinely within reach. Manchester United are third on 61 after Monday’s 2-1 home win over Brentford. Liverpool and Aston Villa share fourth on 58, separated only by goal difference. Brighton sit sixth on 50, Bournemouth seventh on 49, and a cluster of Chelsea, Brentford, and Fulham all sit on 48. Everton are eleventh on 47.
Wolves and Burnley are mathematically relegated. The third relegation place remains open, with Leeds, West Ham, and Crystal Palace all still in the conversation depending on how the next two weekends fall.
The schedule
Friday 1 May — Leeds United v Burnley (12:30 AM IST Saturday)
Saturday 2 May — Bournemouth v Crystal Palace, Brentford v West Ham, Newcastle v Brighton, Wolves v Sunderland (all 7:30 PM IST), Arsenal v Fulham (10:00 PM IST)
Sunday 3 May — Manchester United v Liverpool (8:00 PM IST), Aston Villa v Tottenham (11:30 PM IST)
Monday 4 May — Chelsea v Nottingham Forest (7:30 PM IST), Everton v Manchester City (12:30 AM IST Tuesday)
Every match available in India on Star Sports Network and JioHotstar.
Sunday’s headliner: Manchester United vs Liverpool
The fixture nobody saw coming is now the fixture that defines the weekend. United arrive third under Michael Carrick, who took over as interim manager when Ruben Amorim’s tenure ended in January. The Carrick months have been one of the most unexpected revivals of the Premier League season — six wins from his last eight league fixtures, the 4-2-3-1 system restored, Bruno Fernandes back to producing the kind of numbers that made him a Manchester United fixture for half a decade. The 2-1 win at Anfield in October was the proof-of-concept. Sunday is the opportunity to confirm what that result hinted at.
Liverpool sit fourth, three points behind United, with a head-to-head deficit they need to overcome to win the goal-difference tiebreaker the top-four race is heading toward. Slot’s side have been the better team across most underlying metrics — best defensive numbers outside the top two, highest pass completion in the league, possession averages that match Manchester City’s. The problem has been the gaps. Crystal Palace away in September. Chelsea away in October. The Anfield defeat to United. Brentford away two weeks later. Liverpool have lost the games they should not have lost, and now find themselves needing to win at Old Trafford to keep their Champions League math intact.
Mohamed Salah remains the central figure. Diogo Dalot the matchup question. Bruno Fernandes the home side’s main man. The full deep-dive on this fixture covers the tactical breakdown — what to look for in the opening 20 minutes, where the game gets won, what each manager’s ceiling and floor scenarios look like. For weekend planning purposes: this is the must-watch.
Saturday’s title implications: Arsenal vs Fulham
Arsenal at home to Fulham at 5:30 PM BST is the fixture that could effectively settle the title. Arteta’s side have been the league’s most consistent unit since February. Five wins from six in April, the Newcastle clean sheet last weekend, and a defensive structure that has conceded only 36 goals across the season — second-best in the division.
Fulham are the kind of opponent who have caused Arsenal problems before. Marco Silva’s side jumped to tenth with the win over Aston Villa last weekend, sit on 48 points, and have nothing to play for beyond their own European hopes — but they also have very little to fear. The Cottagers’ away form has been better than their home form across the second half of the season, and they’ve already beaten Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United at various points this campaign.
The Arsenal angles to watch: how Arteta sets up against Silva’s two-banks-of-four (Arsenal struggle most against compact mid-blocks); whether Bukayo Saka returns to the starting XI after rotation last weekend; and how aggressive Arsenal go in the closing 20 minutes if the score is still level. With City having a game in hand, Arsenal cannot afford to drop points anywhere, and especially not at home.
A Fulham draw at the Emirates would be the result of the weekend. An Arsenal win — even narrow — likely makes the closing two matches a coronation lap.
Sunday night: Aston Villa vs Tottenham
The 7:00 PM BST Sunday game at Villa Park is the top-four question that nobody is talking about. Aston Villa sit fifth on 58 points — level with Liverpool — and have been the team most consistently underrated through the season’s run-in. The Crystal Palace defeat at the weekend was a setback, but Unai Emery’s side has been picking up results in the kind of grinding 1-0 wins that define teams who finish top four.
Tottenham arrive in patchy form. The 1-0 win at Wolves last weekend was their first league win of 2026, which captures the year Spurs have had. Heading into May with European hopes still mathematically alive but practically gone, this is the kind of match where Spurs either find one last week of focus or finish the season with a whimper. The midfield form of recent weeks has been the major drop-off, and the lack of a settled striker remains the structural problem nobody has been able to solve.
For Villa, three points keeps the top-four pressure on Liverpool and means a midweek Old Trafford result might tip the balance permanently. For Tottenham, this is about ending the season with something other than a slow drift toward mid-table.
Saturday’s mid-table fixtures
Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace (7:30 PM IST): Bournemouth seventh, Palace tenth — both still in the European hunt though needing to win out and rely on results elsewhere. Bournemouth’s home form has been good across the spring, with Andoni Iraola’s side picking up the pressing intensity that defined their best stretches earlier in the season. Palace’s away form has been worse than their home form. The Vitality should be a Bournemouth win, but Palace have produced enough one-off results across the season to make this less straightforward than the home side would like.
Brentford vs West Ham (7:30 PM IST): Brentford ninth on 48, West Ham still in relegation conversations. West Ham’s away form has been the worst in the bottom half — only one away win since January — and the Gtech is the kind of venue where they have struggled across consecutive seasons. Brentford have the structural advantage and the kind of set-piece threat that should be the deciding factor. The interest is in whether West Ham can finally produce the away result they’ve been missing all season, with Graham Potter’s job security genuinely depending on the closing weeks.
Newcastle vs Brighton (7:30 PM IST): Newcastle’s season has fallen apart since March, the loss to Arsenal last weekend confirming that the European hope of February is essentially gone. Brighton sit sixth on 50 points and have the European places largely wrapped up. Fabian Hürzeler’s side have been the most over-achieving team in the league this season — playing the kind of high-line, possession-heavy football that nobody expected from a side that lost three first-team players to injury before Christmas. Newcastle at home is still Newcastle at home, and St James’ Park remains a difficult away day, but Brighton’s underlying numbers say they can win this.
Wolves vs Sunderland (7:30 PM IST): The match between the bottom-placed side and a newly-promoted side that has done better than anyone expected. Wolves are mathematically relegated and have nothing to play for beyond pride. Sunderland sit comfortably mid-table and have been one of the surprise stories of the season — Régis Le Bris’ team playing organised, disciplined football with real intensity. The match’s interest is largely in whether Wolves can produce a parting performance for their fans and whether Sunderland can pick up the result that pushes them toward an even more impressive final position.
Monday’s closers
Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest (7:30 PM IST Monday): Chelsea sit eighth on 48 with the European place still mathematically reachable. Nuno Maresca’s side have been the most up-and-down team in the league — capable of beating Liverpool and losing to Sunderland in consecutive weekends. Nottingham Forest are 13th on points and play with the kind of compact defensive structure that has frustrated bigger sides repeatedly across the season. Stamford Bridge will expect three points, but Forest are exactly the kind of opponent capable of a 1-1 draw that hurts Chelsea’s European math more than Forest’s mid-table position.
Everton vs Manchester City (12:30 AM IST Tuesday): This is City’s game in hand. Pep Guardiola’s side sit on 70 points from 33 matches, three behind Arsenal but with this fixture still in their pocket. The Hill Dickinson hosts its first big fixture of this stretch, with Everton sitting eleventh and largely safe but capable of the upsets that define their late-season identity. The Toffees have lost only twice at home since February. City need three points to keep title pressure on Arsenal heading into the closing two weekends, and Guardiola’s side have been the league’s best team across the second half of the season — Erling Haaland has scored in every City win since March, the midfield press has returned to its best form, and the squad rotation has produced the kind of fresh legs that opposition sides cannot match.
The five storylines worth tracking across the weekend
Title race math: Arsenal vs Fulham on Saturday is the swing fixture. An Arsenal win sets up a closing fortnight where City need to win all their remaining games and Arsenal to drop points twice. An Arsenal draw or loss makes Monday’s Everton-City result the most consequential single 90 minutes of the title race.
Top four cluster: Manchester United, Liverpool, and Aston Villa are all involved in fixtures with direct top-four implications. The Old Trafford result is the headline, but Villa’s match against Tottenham four hours later carries equal mathematical weight. Bournemouth and Brighton both sit close enough to make this a five-team race if the results above them go a certain way.
Brighton’s European push: Hürzeler’s side has been the most quietly impressive over-performer in the league. Sixth place is theirs to lose. The Newcastle game is one of three remaining fixtures where Brighton can effectively confirm their European qualification. A win there and the closing two weeks become victory laps.
Relegation third spot: Wolves and Burnley are gone. The third relegation place is genuinely open, with Leeds (the Friday opener), West Ham, and Crystal Palace all still mathematically vulnerable. Leeds’ result at home to Burnley on Friday night sets the tone — they need it desperately. West Ham at Brentford and Palace at Bournemouth could both shape the bottom of the table by Saturday evening.
Manager pressure: Carrick at United is auditioning for the permanent role; Sunday is the biggest data point left. Slot at Liverpool is dealing with the first sustained pressure of his Anfield tenure. Maresca at Chelsea is fighting for European football to justify the squad rebuild. Three of the most-watched managerial situations in the league all converge on this single weekend.
The viewing pick if you only have time for one match
Manchester United vs Liverpool, Sunday 8:00 PM IST. Old Trafford, top four on the line, the team Carrick has rebuilt against the team Slot has been trying to keep together. The October result at Anfield gave us the first sense that this fixture would matter more than the August fixture-list reading suggested. Sunday confirms or rejects the season’s biggest in-progress storyline.
The viewing pick if you have time for two
Add Arsenal vs Fulham, Saturday 10:00 PM IST. The match that could effectively settle the title is the kind of fixture you don’t want to miss live. Arteta’s side at the Emirates with the championship in their hands and a Fulham team capable of causing the upset nobody quite saw coming.
Quick-reference matchweek 35 schedule (IST)
Sat May 2, 7:30 PM: Bournemouth v Crystal Palace, Brentford v West Ham, Newcastle v Brighton, Wolves v Sunderland
Sat May 2, 10:00 PM: Arsenal v Fulham
Sun May 3, 8:00 PM: Manchester United v Liverpool
Sun May 3, 11:30 PM: Aston Villa v Tottenham
Mon May 4, 7:30 PM: Chelsea v Nottingham Forest
Tue May 5, 12:30 AM: Everton v Manchester City
All fixtures live on Star Sports Network and JioHotstar in India.
Suggested internal links
Manchester United vs Liverpool deep-dive preview
– Premier League title race tracker — Arsenal vs Manchester City
– Premier League top four race standings
– Relegation watch — Wolves and Burnley confirmed, third spot still open
– Brighton’s European qualification math
– Michael Carrick interim era at Manchester United
