EPL Weekly Wrap | All the Headlines - International Break

There’s been no Premier League football for nearly a week now, but the news hasn’t stopped. With Gameweek 32 not kicking off until April 11 NZT, Arsenal are watching their squad thin out, while City have fresh silverware in the cabinet. Then there’s Tottenham, who have somehow managed to make things even worse. Read on for a breakdown of all the latest EPL news.

Arsenal are nine points clear at the top of the table, but you wouldn’t know it from the mood around the club this week. Their League Cup final loss to Manchester City - Nico O’Reilly scoring twice after a Kepa Arrizabalaga error - stung, and the fallout has been brutal on the fitness front.

Martin Odegaard, Eberechi Eze, William Saliba, Jurrien Timber and Leandro Trossard have all withdrawn from international duty. Odegaard hasn’t played since late February with a knee issue - Norway boss Stale Solbakken described him as “very frustrated and grumpy” - and Eze’s calf problem could keep him out for weeks. Saliba has ankle pain, Timber a groin problem, and Mikel Merino is done for the season.

I’m not panicking on Arsenal’s behalf yet though. Nine points is nine points. But City have a game in hand and just won a trophy, and the two sides meet at the Etihad on April 19. If Odegaard and Eze aren’t back by then, Arsenal will enter the defining stretch of the season without their two best creative players. That’s a worry.

On the Champions League front, the quarter-final draw has been confirmed. Arsenal face Sporting Lisbon over two legs in early April - about as favourable as they could have hoped for. Liverpool drew Paris Saint-Germain, a rematch from last season. Those two are the only English sides left after Chelsea, City, Tottenham and Newcastle all went out in the last 16. 

For anyone tracking football betting tips this season, Arsenal’s Champions League odds have shortened considerably.

There’s not much to report from the mid-table pack during the break. Everton sit eighth on 46 points and are looking up rather than down for the first time in years - European qualification isn’t out of the question if they can string results together after the restart. Brentford are level on points in seventh.

Newcastle, 12th on 42 points, had been leaning on their Champions League run, but that’s over now too - Bayern Munich hammered them 10-2 on aggregate in the last 16. It’s been a strange season for a squad with that much talent. 

If you’re checking NZ betting sites for top-six markets, Newcastle’s price has drifted a long way from where it started.

The biggest story of the international break landed yesterday. Tottenham sacked Igor Tudor by mutual consent after 44 days and seven matches in charge and five defeats from those seven. That’s one point from five Premier League games, plus a Champions League exit to Atletico Madrid. Tudor is the second manager sacked this season, after Thomas Frank was dismissed in February.

Tottenham are 17th on 30 points, one above West Ham and the drop zone, with seven games left. Roberto De Zerbi and Mauricio Pochettino are the leading candidates, but De Zerbi reportedly won’t commit unless they stay up. Bruno Saltor is holding things together at training for now. I can’t think of a bigger club in a worse position in Premier League history.

Below them, Wolves (17 points) and Burnley (20) look done. West Ham on 29 are vulnerable. Leeds on 33 and Nottingham Forest on 32 aren’t safe either. Forest at least have momentum and a Europa League quarter-final against Porto to look forward to. But Tottenham’s situation is the one I keep coming back to. Two managers gone, no direction, seven games.

Gameweek 32 kicks off on Saturday April 12 NZT. West Ham host Wolves at 7:00am, Arsenal face Bournemouth at 11:30pm, and Chelsea vs Manchester City is at 3:30am on Monday April 13 NZT. If you’re using betting apps to follow the run-in, the relegation battle alone is worth keeping an eye on every week from here.