There are three Saturdays left in the 2025 to 2026 Premier League season and three teams are still alive for the title. Liverpool sits at 81 points after holding off Brighton at Anfield last weekend. Arsenal is one point back at 80 after Mikel Arteta's side ground out a 1-0 win at Aston Villa with Bukayo Saka returning from injury and assisting the only goal. Manchester City is at 79 with Pep Guardiola juggling a Champions League semifinal in the same window. The math is brutal. Win three and the title is yours. Lose one to a mid table side and someone else lifts the trophy.
The fixture list is the story. Liverpool plays Tottenham at home this Saturday, then travels to Crystal Palace, then closes at Newcastle. None of those matches are easy. Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou is a bottom four team in the table but an upper half side at Anfield specifically and they have something to play for in the seventh place Conference League race. Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park has been the graveyard of away teams all year. Newcastle at home in the season closer is a Champions League contender that beat Arsenal in March. Liverpool's path is a path. It is not a coronation.
Arsenal has the friendliest run on paper but the most pressure. The Gunners host Bournemouth, travel to Brentford, and finish at home against Everton. Arteta is sitting on a squad that has finished second three years in a row. Saka is back. Martin Ødegaard has been the best player in the league since February. Declan Rice is anchoring a midfield that has not lost a one goal lead since the new year. The vibe at the Emirates is the most confident it has been in two decades. The vibe in north London is also a very specific kind of nervous because Arsenal supporters have been here before.
Manchester City is the wild card. Guardiola's squad has played the most football of any club in Europe this season and the legs are showing. The Champions League semifinal against Bayern Munich is the priority. Erling Haaland is back from the calf strain that kept him out for three matches in March but he is not at full pace yet. The fixture list has City at Fulham, hosting West Ham, and finishing at Watford on the final day. None of those should be losses on paper. The question is whether Guardiola rotates aggressively for the European games and lets the title slip on a Tuesday in Munich rather than a Saturday in Manchester.
For neutrals, the closeness is the gift. The English title has been a six year Manchester City monologue with one Liverpool interruption. The Premier League's competitive balance has been criticized for years. This season is the corrective. Three legitimate title contenders enter the final three matchdays separated by two points. The away days will be packed. The bookmaker markets are moving on every team selection. Sky Sports and TNT Sports are doing record viewership numbers. The drama is real because the standings are real.
There is a secondary story under the title race. The Champions League race is a five team scrum for the four spots. Newcastle, Chelsea, Tottenham, Aston Villa, and Brighton are all within four points of each other for the third and fourth spots behind the title contenders. The relegation race has Burnley, Leicester, and Wolves separated by goal difference. Almost every match this Saturday and the next two has stakes. There is no dead rubber on the schedule.
For American viewers, the kickoffs to mark are Liverpool versus Tottenham at 12:30 ET this Saturday, Arsenal versus Bournemouth at 10 AM ET, and Fulham versus Manchester City at 7:30 AM ET. NBC and Peacock have all three matches. The Saturday after delivers the moneyball fixture, with City hosting West Ham at the same window as Arsenal traveling to Brentford. The final Sunday closer has Liverpool at Newcastle, Arsenal hosting Everton, and City at Watford all kicking simultaneously. The league moves to Sunday for the final round, the way it always has, so that no club gets the advantage of knowing other results before kickoff.
The pick here is Liverpool. Anfield in May with the title on the line has historically not been a place where teams come and steal points. Arne Slot has built a side that defends in transition better than any Liverpool team since the 2019 Champions League winners. Mohamed Salah is having a quietly dominant final stretch in what is likely his final season at the club. The path is hard, but Liverpool controls its own destiny.
For everyone else, the next three Saturdays are appointment viewing. Three legitimate title contenders. The Premier League at full volume.