Arsenal have big Premier League title boost as brand new Man City and Liverpool fear revealed

Every match now holds heightened peril but also an opportunity for Arsenal. With seven Premier League games left to go, there is very little margin for error.

By the time they kick off against Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon they could be back down in third following Manchester City and Liverpool playing earlier. The timings now add a new layer of intrigue to every passing fixture.

The Gunners played their role in catch-up perfectly last week, responding to an early kick-off win from City with the strongest performance of all three title rivals against Brighton. Liverpool stuttered in their bid to win a second title, only able to draw against Manchester United one day later.

Plenty has happened since though, once more altering the landscape that these three titans operate on. Arsenal and Liverpool played at home in Europe on Tuesday and Thursday respectively, allowing themselves a three-day recovery. The Gunners also have the benefit of being at home this weekend when Villa come to town.

Liverpool travel to Crystal Palace on Sunday, though Jurgen Klopp took the risk - and felt the damage - of rotating his XI heavily for a disastrous 3-0 Europa League loss to Atalanta. The Reds will now have to overcome emotional and physical pain to keep their hopes of a wonderful farewell for the boss alive.

City themselves travelled to Real Madrid on Tuesday and have less time to prepare for the visit of Luton Town on Saturday afternoon. Pep Guardiola's men have possibly the simplest task in gameweek 32 on paper, but that is complicated by their recent form after being in Champions League action.

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The reigning title holders have failed to win their past five matches after playing in Europe, drawing each one. Granted that there were some tough fixtures in there, including both home and away league matches against the nutcase Chelsea side under Mauricio Pochettino.

The most recent was after the last-16 second leg in which they went to Liverpool and drew. More concerning is the 2-2 draw to Palace in December. It means that after nine games in Europe - including the Super Cup back in August, City have taken just 14 points from a possible 27, comfortably the fewest in the three-way mini-league at the top of the table.

It comes in at just 1.55 points per game compared to their 2.54 in games not played after Europe. Unsurprisingly this is also the biggest disparity in the top three.

The positive for City is that they are unbeaten in their last six following European action - a longer run than Liverpool - and they also came back from the Club World Cup in December on fire. How they react to their draw at the Santiago Bernabeu could go some way to determining the title itself.

Liverpool have a better record, possibly owing to their freedom to rotate in a less demanding Europa League campaign. The Reds are now on the verge of crashing out of the competition but have nonetheless largely not been impeded by its place on the schedule.

This would see an end to the gruelling Thursday-Sunday fixture formation on a weekly basis and in theory, would free them up to make a bigger charge at the title. In general though, the Europa League has not caused too many problems for Liverpool.

At least, that was the case during the group stage. Klopp lead his side to four wins from six after playing Europa League games before the turn of the year. This included no defeats, but draws to Brighton and Manchester United.

Since then, though, Liverpool have failed to win. After the first-leg hammering of Sparta Prague last month they held City to a draw - a respectable result - but failed to capitalise on their lead when playing United in the FA Cup following the return match.

It now leaves Liverpool without a win in their last three following on from European action and performances have gotten increasingly scratchy. Their first four games were 3-1, 2-2, 3-0, and 3-0 but since then have been much closer with 4-3, 0-0, 1-1, and another 3-4.

From their seven league games after Europa matches they have taken a solid 15 points. That is 2.1 per game compared to 2.3 after the so-called normal season games.

As for Arsenal, they top the league on all counts and have faced very few problems in balancing the squad since returning to the top table of club football. Mikel Arteta's men have won six of their eight games after European commitments - the most of the top three- and are also unbeaten in doing so.

Their standout victory was a key one, too. In October they reacted to a 2-1 defeat away at Lens to beat City at the Emirates Stadium. They also went to the Etihad a fortnight ago off the back of penalty euphoria against Porto, drawing in a true crunch battle.

In between and the Gunners have had possibly the most favourable fixtures until now. They played both Sheffield United and Burnley at home as well as welcoming Wolves to the Emirates Stadium. Brighton also went to north London, as did Newcastle. Nevertheless, Arsenal dispatched their opponents in these games, making the last two in particular look routine despite the threat faced.

They so far have 20 points from eight games after European football, coming in at 2.5 per game. That is more than their 2.21 per game in the 23 matches not following Champions League demands.

Even with the time to prepare, taking on Villa having exerted themselves against Bayern Munich is a challenge, one that looks harder than City and Liverpool have to deal with. However, with the strongest record in these games it is a chance to open up a bigger lead over their rivals as well.