Tough run-in

Fixture pile-up threatens Arsenal's title challenge

LONDON (AP) -- Bidding to achieve triple success at home and in Europe, Arsenal could wind up in such a maze of end-of-season matches that the Gunners fear winning nothing.

Chasing success in the Premier League, Champions Cup and FA Cup -- the same treble won by Manchester United three seasons ago -- the injury-hit Gunners will have to play 18 games in eight weeks if they are to win all three.

The grueling run starts with Sunday's visit to Aston Villa, and another headache for manager Arsene Wenger is that he still has eight players missing because of injury.

Defenders Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Matthew Upson and Ashley Cole, midfielders Ray Parlour and Giovanni van Bronckhorst, striker Francis Jeffers and backup goalkeeper Stuart Taylor all sat out Tuesday's 2-0 loss to Deportivo de La Coruna in the Champions League.

Despite that loss, Arsenal can still make it to the quarterfinals by getting the right result against Juventus in Turin next Wednesday, three days before it faces Newcastle in an FA Cup quarterfinal replay.

Because the FA Cup game has been scheduled for that day, Arsenal's game against West Ham has to be rescheduled but the Gunners are running out of available dates.

If the Gunners reach the Champions Cup quarterfinal, the same applies to its April 1 league game against Charlton.

Dennis Bergkamp, whose fear of flying means he doesn't play in the away games in Europe, said the club had reached a crucial time of the season.

"It's no good coming up to March having won a lot of games and then throwing it all away in the last month," the Dutch forward said. "We all know that but we need a little help with more players back and a bit of luck. It would be a big blow to throw it all away now as we are so near.

"It's not really the amount of games, it's the sort of games we have to play," Bergkamp said. "In a big squad, you know that some other players can come in for certain games and it wouldn't weaken the team.

"But now we're missing so many players that you can't really rotate players. Maybe that's the problem. The sooner everyone gets back, the better it will be."

Manchester United and Liverpool, Arsenal's biggest rivals for the league title, are both out of the FA Cup so should have a slightly easier run-in to the end of the campaign. But they are still in contention for the Champions League, United having qualified for the last eight and Liverpool needing to beat AS Roma next week to also get there.

Defending champion Manchester United, aiming to become the first club to win the title four seasons in a row, holds a one-point lead and goes to West Ham. Liverpool, which hasn't won the championship since 1990 and has two points to make up, visits Middlesbrough.

Bobby Robson's Newcastle, which slipped six points off the pace after its 2-0 loss at home to Arsenal two weeks ago, hopes to make up ground by beating relegation-threatened Ipswich at home.

Fifth-place Chelsea, which has hit a spell of standout form with two 4-0 victories over Tottenham in the FA Cup and then the league, is too far off the pace to make a title challenge with 11 points to make up on Manchester United. Claudio Ranieri's team hosts struggling Sunderland and should collect three more points.

Down at the bottom, Leicester looks doomed at 12 points off the safety zone and is unlikely to gain anything at improving Southampton, which has climbed to halfway under Gordon Strachan.

The two other clubs in the relegation zone, Bolton and next-to-last Derby, meet at the Reebok Stadium, with host Wanderers holding a four-point advantage over the Rams.

A Bolton victory would probably lift it out of the relegation mire, with Ipswich and Everton level on points and facing tough games. George Burley's Ipswich goes to Newcastle and Everton, which fired Walter Smith on Wednesday, hosts FA Cup semifinalist Fulham.

On Sunday, Leeds United, a one-time leader which has slipped down to sixth, hosts a Blackburn team that climbed out of the relegation zone on Wednesday by edging Ipswich 2-1.

On Monday, Tottenham hopes to bounce back from its two heavy losses to Chelsea by beating Charlton at home.

In division one, Manchester City and Wolves are likely to clinch promotion to the Premier League with several games to spare.

Kevin Keegan's City leads Wolves by two points but more importantly is 13 clear of third-place West Bromwich Albion, which heads the teams chasing a playoff spot.

City hosts Crystal Palace on Saturday and Dave Jones' Wolves, which hasn't been in the top flight since 1984, welcomes struggling Grimsby.

Glasgow Celtic can't be far off clinching the Scottish title either.

Martin O'Neill's team holds a 10-point lead over Glasgow rival Rangers and should increase that advantage by beating fourth-from-last Dundee United.

Rangers should collect the first trophy of the season, however, when it meets division one Ayr United in the League Cup at Hampden Park on Sunday.

 

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