Arsenal are just three victories away from securing their first Premier League title since 2004, but can they avoid a stumble against third-from-bottom West Ham on Sunday?
“This is the kind of match where Arsenal supporters will look at it and think, if they can clear this hurdle, the championship is theirs,” said BBC Sport football expert Chris Sutton.
Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League fixtures this season, competing against AI, BBC Sport readers, and a lineup of special guests.
For week 36, the former Norwich City striker goes head-to-head with world champion boxer Fabio Wardley, an Ipswich Town supporter.
Wardley is set to defend his WBO heavyweight title for the first time against Daniel Dubois in Manchester on Saturday. The fight will be broadcast live on DAZN, and listeners can follow live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t arrange a ring showdown between Sutton and Wardley, so a battle over their score predictions will have to do—along with some verbal sparring, of course, after Ipswich’s promotion to the Premier League, while rivals Norwich, Sutton’s first club, finished ninth in the Championship.
“Chris would probably call himself a Norwich legend,” Wardley said. “That lot like to do that. We’ve already done the double over them in the Championship this season, so if I can add another notch by beating him too, I’ll take that.”
“Fabio looks a bit chubby to me,” Sutton responded. “But I wish him the best in his fight, and I’m genuinely pleased his team have gone up. It’s quite convenient for me to get to Ipswich if I have to work there, and I hope they enjoy their season in the Premier League.”
Ipswich secured a top-flight return last weekend.
Wardley’s fight preparations meant he couldn’t join the celebrations at Portman Road on Saturday or attend Monday’s promotion parade through the town, but he still cheered their crucial 3-0 final-day win over QPR from a distance.
“It’s really exciting for us to be back up there, and I couldn’t be more proud of the team,” he told BBC Sport. “It was the first time in a long time I didn’t make it to the last game of the season, and I was gutted I couldn’t get to the parade either. I spoke to our chairman Mark Ashton and told him I was with the guys in spirit—but I’ve got my own job to tick off this weekend. They were more than understanding, and they will be there on Saturday night to support me as well.”
Wardley was born in Ipswich and played for Town’s academy as a boy. He fought at Ipswich’s Portman Road ground in 2024 and delivered a stunning, one-punch 10th-round knockout to stop Justis Huni.
Ipswich were promoted to the Premier League in 2024 as well, but were relegated after managing just one win in their final 19 matches.
Wardley, however, is confident things will be different next season.
“It didn’t go our way, but that season was still great for the club and for the whole area,” he explained. “Everyone was buzzing every time a big team was in town. For any side who gets promoted to the Premier League, staying up is the main goal, and we gave it a good go first time around. Clearly there were a few adjustments which we needed to make, but we have bounced straight back up, and I feel like we are way more equipped this time—firstly on an experience level, but also the quality of players we’ve got and the team unit we have. We are much better defensively, for example, and we have conceded 10 fewer goals this season compared to the last time we went up. Even just in that area, there have been some big improvements. Now we can go and grab a few new players and add to what was already a good team—and make it great.”
Chris Sutton and Fabio Wardley were speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bev.
