Filed under: Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Premier League, Football
Arsenal's last three fixtures of the campaign do not look too daunting: if they can overcome Stoke's physical power at the Britannia Stadium then they have Aston Villa at home and then Fulham away to complete what could still be a title-winning season.Manchester United's last two games are against two clubs in the relegation shake-up - Blackburn and Blackpool - but the weekend before that, Chelsea, who could also be in the running to retain their crown, must come to Old Trafford.
At the moment that game is scheduled for Saturday May 7 but inevitably it will be chosen by Sky as one of the games to be televised live the following day. And if so - and Arsenal's remains on the Saturday - then Arsene Wenger believes both his title rivals will have been handed an unfair advantage.
The Frenchman wants, in the interests of fairness, the last three rounds of fixtures to kick off simultaneously instead of just the final day.
"There are advantages and disadvantages to kicking off later than the other teams," he told the Official Arsenal Magazine. "If you kick off later than your rivals, and they have lost, then you are in a more comfortable situation.
"Psychologically it can give you a lift, and it's true that it can apply for us or Manchester United or Chelsea, but I think it would be better not to give any team this advantage. Weekends where you win and your opponents lose become absolutely pivotal now."
Wenger also revealed that he ignores rivals' games if they are played at the same time as Arsenal fixtures. "I wait until afterwards," he said. "If they play before us, then I like to know the result, but if it's the same time, I don't mind not knowing until the end.
"I tell the players to forget about the other matches as far as possible, and just focus on how they want to play."
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While Wenger has been concentrating on the theoretical, major shareholder Alisher Usmanov has increased his stake in the club to "over 27%" through the Red & White Holdings Limited company, which is jointly owned by the Usbek oil magnate.
The American Stan Kroenke remains Arsenal's largest individual shareholder with 29.9% - just under the amount where the holder is obliged to make a formal offer for the remainder of the shares.
Usmanov - unlike Kroenke - does not have a seat on the Arsenal board and could therefore be about to do just that as he is certainly rich enough and is known to favour the club abandoning the current regime's self-financing policy in favour of a rights issue that could in theory at least take them up a level.
The fact that Arsenal could conclude their sixth season without a trophy will inevitably prompt speculation as to whether the club would prosper under such a change, especially as Wenger seems reluctant to spend heavily in the transfer market.
But one man currently at the Emirates who does seem happy for rich people to spend their wealth freely and extravagantly is striker Nicklas Bendtner who, according to his father, is about to start up a jewellery business.
Already the wags have started poking fun at the Dane, suggesting he could design a watch that tells him his time is up at the Emirates.
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